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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,919 |
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New Member
United States
28 Posts |
Thought we could share our experiences and thoughts about our visits to one of the Mint branches if you had the chance or share your thoughts on which one you would like to visit and why. My experience...I live in Philadelphia and to my memory, before I got into coin collecting full on (mid 2012)...I never been to the Philadelphia Mint either on my own or through school visits. I went down on a Friday morning, which is only a 15 minute drive from my house, I was more excited that they had a gift shop and I could buy coins right on the spot and not have to wait for the mail. When I arrived, I was greeted by a US Mint Police Officer who directed me to the door to enter, I removed all metal objects and went through a metal detector, to my right was the gift shop and to my left was the beginning of the "Self-Guided" tour. You can pick up some pamphlets and proceed to escalator stairs that drops you off on the 2nd floor and has many coins in thick display cases and coin making equipment from the past, etc. The next floor is the start of a long hallway that has info and coins on the walls as you walk, some of the walls have glass that you can look down into the factory and see the machines and trays that go by full of freshly minted coins. My experience (have been to the mint 3 times now), each time, the factory always seemed closed, with not a lot of activity and I did not see a lot of people, but much is automated I am sure. The tour ends with a escalator ride down that drops you in the back of the gift shop (convenient!)...I think the best part of my visit was looking at everything in the gift shop and decided what I wanted to buy. My first visit, I picked up a 2011 and 2012 silver proof set, the 2010 and 2011 circulated ATB's, the 2011 uncirculated ATB's and Start Spangled Banner Proof Silver Dollar. They also have a change machine that dispenses the newest release P mint ATB Quarter, you can feed as many dollars as you want and get as many ATB's as you want. I thought this was pretty cool, given you hardly ever see these in the wild. My only thought about the tour is it would be better if it was a "guided" tour and part of the tour would be to walk the factory floor and to see and touch some of the machines and just to get a closer look in general. From watching videos on YouTube, I think the Denver mint has a guided tour, wonder why Philadelphia doesn't? Anyway, feel free to share your Mint visit stories! Thanks for reading! |
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Valued Member
United States
154 Posts |
Thanks for sharing! I live near San Francisco, and accidentally walked past the SF Mint, but they don't let anyone in for tours. Now I can imagine what I would've seen if they had tours.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1817 Posts |
The Denver Mint is NOT a self-guided tour and the tour guide will tell you expressly why: it is one of three Federal depositories of gold, the others being West Point and the much more famous Ft. Knox in Kentucky. It is also the only one that has had a robbery in its history, so the entry to the Denver facility is akin to passing through security at the airport. The gift shop is on the premises but not in the secure area, and signing up for the tour is well worth the time and trouble to see once, after all of the colorful stories it is just a factory just like in Philly. Not much to see as the viewing platform is above the floor.
Re: SF Mint. There used to be a US Mint kiosk in the Granite Lady, old SF Mint when she was converted into a museum. Maybe when the California Historical Society finally decides to take occupancy of the building, the kiosk will return as a nod to the rich history of the building. There is a twice annual coin show that's held at the old Mint in February and September on a Friday/Saturday, and during the show tours are given of the interior. Well worth the $5 show admission, if you've never been inside when it was a US Mint museum.
Edited by Bizybackson
01/15/2013 1:33 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12817 Posts |
Hi jimfam, and  This thread is likely to get relocated, just so you know. Anyway, I visited the Philly mint a couple weeks ago, right at the end of the year. The factory floor was fairly deserted as I'm sure operations had wound down for the year and lots of employees were on PTO. I'm sure they're busily cranking out tons and tons of cents as we speak now -- many of the punches had copper-colored rolls of metal fed into them, but were not punching. There were also many feet of conveyor belts with coppery planchets in them. I did get to see a couple of interesting things. 1. The last part of the factory tour (which, as jimfam stated, is viewed through glass windows from about 3-4 stories above the floor) had the 3" medal making area and there was a tech calibrating or performing maintenance on the press. Next to the press was a table with 3" rounds...couldn't tell from above if they were blanks or had been pressed yet. 2. Also in that last part there were warehouse shelves with large rectangular containers (maybe 4'W x 2'D x 3'H) that appeared to be full to the top of coins or planchets (there is a small viewing port in the tops). Can't imagine how heavy those are, but the shelves were quite substantial. Now if 2012 minting operations had finished up and they can't legally mint any 2013 before Jan 1, what were those?  The gift shop was nice and had the standard catalog fare as well as lot of interesting stuff that you can't get in the catalog (50-state quarter sets, coins made into jewelry, tchotchkes, 3" medal representations of the circulating coins, etc.) The museum piece of the tour is relatively short but interesting. I was expecting quite a few more exhibits and displays but what they have is nicely done. There is a small room that shows a short video about the history of U.S. coins and how money came to be in the U.S. Security isn't exactly airport-strict but you do have to pass through a metal detector. Worth your time if you're in the area, plus it's right smack dab in one of the most historic areas of our country! The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Constitution Museum and other historic places are within a very short walk. Anyone been to the Mint in New Orleans? It's some kind of museum now and was closed for renovations when I was in town a little over a year ago so missed my opportunity. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
Quote:
The gift shop is on the premises but not in the secure area Denver Mint is finishing up a new, permanent building for the Gift Shop and Tour Information Center. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
Now if 2012 minting operations had finished up and they can't legally mint any 2013 before Jan 1, what were those? they often do start striking coin for the upcoming year in December. Technically under the letter of the law this is not legal, but they fell that as long as the don't release them before jan 1st it is OK. (Packing dates in monster boxes of silver eagles have shown that in some cases they have been struck as much as five months before the date on the coin.) |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12817 Posts |
Interesting, Conder101. Thanks for the info.
I suppose another potential answer is those are still 2012's that haven't been sent off to the Fed (whatever that means).
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Valued Member
United States
447 Posts |
Denver Mint  |
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Valued Member
United States
447 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
447 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12817 Posts |
@tornandfrayed75: Thanks for the pics!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3789 Posts |
love this thread guys, appreciate the info! nice job.
and love the pics, thank you, sweet looking shot of the US Mint shield!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2311 Posts |
Wow, all sounds so nice! I never been there. I live in Pennsylvania but not right by Philadelphia
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Valued Member
United States
459 Posts |
It would be awesome to go on a tour through a mint! Living in N. Florida, I don't see that possibility anytime soon.
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,919 |
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Posted 01/15/2013 1:29 pm
