If You Could Travel Back In Time To A US Mint.......

Sometimes I dream about what it would have been like to tour our first Mint in Philadelphia in its very early years. It's hard to believe today, but "Ye Olde Mint", as they called it back then, actually used horses to power some of their machinery.

In answer to your question, volfan, I'll pick the Philly Mint in 1794. While I'm there, I'll take 100 silver dollars, please.

Some of the Mint buildings mentioned earlier in this thread are still standing. Alas, "Ye Olde Mint" is long gone. The last of it was demolished around 1910.

Thanks for the topic, volfan!

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Originally posted by The_Cave_Troll

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Originally posted by sn31

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Originally posted by Irishraider

Denver - 1927 - if money doesn't count into the equation and you get to choose 100 coins then it would be the 1927D Double Eagles. I would get 100 of them and come back to now and never have to make another man rich off of my blood, sweat and tears.

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:) sn31

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The problem is that 100 of those on the market would change their value significantly. It wouldn't be a million dollar coin anymore, maybe just a 100 thousand dollar coin. And isn't the problem that they were never circulated and then they were melted down en masse? That means your odds of getting one in a roll would be pretty slim. Not that it is a bad choice.

I think I would go to Philadelphia in 1796and get 20 each of quarter dollars, half dollars, eagles, half eagles, and quarter eagles. hmmm, that would be nice!

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Wouldn't put them all on the market at once. I am not a greedy man. 1 a year would be enough for me not to have to work for the rest of my life. I don't know if they put these in rolls back then either. I don't know everything, I was merely dreaming. Thanks for taking my dream away, now I will have to slave away for the rest of my life.

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Originally posted by just carl

There is a problem with the entire idea. First, unless robbery was the intent, you would have to come up with money of THAT time to use to purchase the coins. Secondly, anything brought back would change the present enough to possibly even make your birth never happen. Third, the records of what happened to certain coins would be changed and some rare coins would not be rare anymore. Fourth, such a modification in the time line could possibly make the usage of coins no longer required.

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Ah, someone else who recognizes the conundrum and paradox of time travel. Must be a Trekkie like myself .

First, Carl, welcome to the forum! Looks like you're gonna fit in very nicely here. As you've already observed, the CC family is very friendly and its collective knowledge is awesome.

Other than the violation of a number of laws of physics (and probably theology, probability, mathematics and a few other fields) making time travel into the past impossible (Star Trek series notwithstanding), yet putting all this aside to presume it can be done, the ramifications and laws of unintended consequences must be considered. A perturbation in the time line of even the smallest dimension could create a massive disturbance of the time line. For example, if one were to go back in time to, say, the Carson City mint in 1889 to pick up 100 Morgan silver dollars fresh off the presses. (Presume there are no Time Police.) Just before going up the steps, one were to step on a migrating ant, a seemingly insignificant act. Well, this ant was to have been the progenitor (Founder Effect) of its whole species which was to dominate the Nevada and surrounding parts of the southwest, but by removing it from the population, the species does not become dominant. Another, more aggressive, reproductively successful, and worse a poisonous ant species migrates in, becomes an infestation and quickly takes over Nevada, then Utah, Arizona, southern central and southern California and other regions adjacent. When the traveler goes back to his/her own period, s/he finds the entire southwest is uninhabited except for ants. The issue of the value of the 89CC Morgans becomes irrelevant since the perpetrator time traveler is captured as soon as s/he returns to his/her originating time line and is immediately hanged (there are no trials in the new time line).

The moral of the story is: "Don't mess with Mother Time.".

Fred-the-Vulcan

PS - The thought behind this story is from an original Twightlight Zone or Outer Limits episode in which a guy travels back, kicks a rock, and changes wives. He kept changing wives looking for a perfect one until, at the end, he got one... well, she was more than he hoped for.

United States Assay office of Gold (once Moffat & Company) for me !!! I can just feel that pocket full of 10 and 20 dollar Gold Pieces hot off the presses !!! the year 1852 !!!

Not only would the investment have been worth while, this time in US History is truely intriguing,, to think that private mints could operate producing legal tender coins which were readily accepted by the masses !!

Rick

id go to one of two places- Phidelphia 1792-93, or Denver 1964. I think this is self explanitory!

Well, since it's just a fantasy, what the heck.

I'd go to Philadelphia in 1793 and get 100 Chain Cents. I'd come back and keep one of each variety, sell the rest and buy one fantastic collection with the proceeds.

You know, going forward about 200 years would be good, because then you could come back and buy today's coins that will be worth a lot then, but you would have to live that long to cash in, so I guess not. Unless you also got the key to long life so you COULD live that long. HHMMMMM.......

I would go to the New Orleans mint. No specific time, just get what I could when I got there. It's my favorite city as well as my favorite mint!