A Brief History Of The United States Mint Part 1

If you are new to collecting U.S. coins one of the first things you should learn is where the coins were minted. Many people can’t name the current mint facilities producing coins today let alone locations that are no longer in operation.

Furthermore, while each mint location shares unique characteristics each one also performs special functions specific to that location.

Overview of the U.S. Mint

On April 2, 1792 Congress created the United States Mint and charged it with the production of all U.S. coinage (all paper money is printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing) and it has been growing rapidly ever since the first facility in Philadelphia began operations. So much so that the Denver and Philadelphia mints alone produce 65 million to 80 million coins every day.

With annual revenues over $1 billion the mint is classified as a self-funded agency and any profit made during the year is put into the Treasury’s General Fund.

Purpose of the U.S. Min

• Today the U.S. Mint is charged with the following duties:

• Provide enough coins for the country to conduct daily business.

• Oversee the various coin production facilities around the country.

• Store and protect over $100 billion of gold and silver.

• Manage the distribution of coins to the various Federal Reserve banks.

• Mint special collectible coins such as proofs, uncirculated coins and commemoratives.

• Mint silver, gold and platinum bullion coins for collectors and investors.

• Monitor and replace mutilated coins that are in circulation.

Facilities of the U.S. Mint

As the country grew the demand for coins increased exponentially to the point where more and more facilities were opened. At a given period in history these Mint locations were producing coinage:

Philadelphia, PA

Charlotte, NC

Dahlonega, GA

New Orleans, LA

San Francisco, CA

Carson City, NV

Denver, Co

Today only the facilities at Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, West Point, and the bullion depository in Fort Knox, KY. remain open for business.

In part 2 we will take a more in-depth look at the Philadelphia Mint

For more information about Bullion coins visit us today at Collecting Coins where we have helpful information on learning to collect coins

US Mint Web Sites
The US Mint is the conglomeration of companies that actually make and produce the paper and metal money we spend every day. They perform the valuable service of making sure there is enough cash in the system to keep the economy running smoothly. Have you ever wondered where coins come from? Or how many of these coins are circulated everyday for tra...

Why A Twenty Cent Piece in 1875?
The United States Twenty Cent Coin, often called a twenty cent piece, was a unit of currency equaling 1/5th of a United States dollar. The twenty cent coin had one of the shortest mintages and lowest circulations in US coin history, for both the series and the denomination. It was minted from 1875-1878, but was only released for circulation in 187...

Broadstruck Error Coins Not Always Valuable
Sometimes people will have a tried and true error coin in their hands and not have much money in terms of value. This is a testament to the value that is placed on the many types of errors that can occur in the mint and how often they occur. A good example would be the broadstruck error coins. While it is true that this is a true form of error co...

Brockages Not All That Common
Another term that has some of the newer error coin collectors scratching their heads is brockages. The term is certainly not self defining that much is certain and it points to a very rare occurrence in the minting process. This is one of those errors that is extremely hard to locate and above all else, very valuable.Brockages occur when two coin...

Business Credit Information - A Description of the Major Agencies of Business Credit Information
There are a number of sources of business credit information in the United States and like personal credit agencies they keep track of businesses and companies and provide this business credit information to banks, financial institutions and other businesses upon request for a fee. Some of them include: Dun and Bradstreet, Kroll, Experian Business,...

Mardi Gras Cool Facts and Fun Parties
Mardi Gras is an event that is being awaited by millions of people throughout the US. It is an event where a lot of people from all over the United States fly over to New Orleans to be a part of the mega celebrations. Mardi Gras Day is also known as the Fat Tuesday. It is an interesting fact that Mardi Gras came to New Orleans with the French co...

A Brief History Of Postcard Marketing
The first postcardsThe first postcards really werent postcards as we know them at all. The idea came from envelopes that featured printed pictures. The first card sent post in the United States was privately printed and copyrighted in 1861. It certainly didnt have anything to do with postcard marketing. Indeed, many postcards first evolved as sort ...