Video: The New Gold Bar Exhibit At The Denver Mint

Rosie Rios, treasurer of the United States, unveils the new gold bar exhibit at the Denver Mint. It's the first display of gold open to the public since before 9/11.

The gold bar exhibit is an extension of the Mint's rich history that dates back to 1858 when gold was discovered in Colorado. For its first 46 years, the United States Mint at Denver was only an assay office in the Clark, Gruber and Company Bank Building. Miners brought in gold dust and nuggets to be melted, assayed and cast into bars stamped with their weight and quality. By 1895, the Assay Office was booming, bringing in more than $5.6 million in gold and silver deposits annually. In 1904, the government converted the Assay Office into a working mint, and built a much grander facility, an Italian Renaissance style building modeled after a Florentine palace. In 1906, its first year in operation, the new Mint produced 167,371,035 gold and silver coins valued at $27 million.

Today, the United States Mint at Denver manufactures all denominations of circulating coins, coin dies, the Denver "D" portion of the annual uncirculated coin sets and commemorative coins authorized by the U. S. Congress. The Denver Mint is also a repository, storing gold and silver bullion.