A brief history of the U.S. Mint
Have you ever looked at your pocket change, and noticed a little letter P? Or perhaps a letter D or S? Those little letters are called mintmarks, and they indicate which mint facility that coin was struck at, and sometimes those little letters will make your coin much more valuable.
The United States Mint was first established in 1792, in Philadelphia. The Mint’s purpose is to provide the nation’s coinage for trade and commerce. There are currently four active Mints in the United States, and there have been a number of branch mints over the years that are now closed.
Read on to find out more about the history of the United States Mint and its locations!
The Philadelphia Mint
The first mint that was established was the Philadelphia Mint, built in 1792 but has changed buildings 4 times since then. In 1833, the Mint moved to a larger location and the original mint building was demolished between 1907 and 1911 due to the city not helping to preserve or relocate the historic buildings.
The Mint moved locations again in 1901, and the building was sold and demolished shortly after. When they dug up the cornerstone that was buried in 1829, they found a jar that contained three coins, a few newspapers, and a paper with info on the first Mint as well as some info on the second.
The building that the Mint moved to in 1901 is still intact and is actually now the Community College of Philadelphia!
The next move of the Philadelphia mint happened in 1969, and was actually the world’s largest mint facility until 2017! This is the current building for the Philadelphia Mint and is located only a couple blocks away from where the original mint building stood.
Active Branch Mints
There are three active branch mints (plus the main mint facility in Philadelphia)
Denver Mint- San Francisco Mint
- West Point Mint
The Denver Mint
About 5 years after gold was discovered nearby, the Denver branch was established as an assay office to serve as a place for miners to bring their gold to have it melted, assayed, and cast into gold bars. Later on they accepted silver as well. In 1896, the Denver branch was officially upgraded to mint status, and on February 1, 1906, coinage operations finally began.
The San Francisco Mint
The San Francisco Mint opened up in 1854, and like the Denver Mint, was there to serve miners during the Gold Rush.
Similar to the Philadelphia Mint, the California Mint has moved locations several times, the first move happened in 1874, when they needed a larger building and moved into what is now called “the Old San Francisco Mint”.
The second move didn’t happen until 1937, when the mint was moved to the location it currently resides in.
The West Point Mint
The West Point Mint is the newest of the branch mints, and opened up as an official branch mint in 1988. Before gaining status as an official branch mint, it was the West Point Bullion Depository, and was (and still is) a location for the United States to store bullion.
The West Point mint is now where the United States produces gold, silver, platinum, and palladium American Eagle coins. Some of the most popular U.S. coins to collect.
Stay tuned next week for an article on the past branch mints that we've had over the years!
