Has Anyone Ever Gone To The Mint?

would it be worth making your vacation center around traveling to a mint?

other than mountains and hiking stuff... what else is there to do in denver?

coretj- Boulder is a nice community to visit, near Denver. There are also neat casinos in the old mining towns outside of Denver.

Had a chance last week to go to the Philly Mint. (After all, despite my call on this forum, no one had any coin shop to recommend in the city, aside from mentioning the Mint ;))

Two remarks:

1) I would NEVER make a trip to Philly expressly to go visit the mint. If you'll be in Philly for other reasons (and there are many, many good ones, like an Eagles game), you might consider quickly passing through. Though I didn't regret going, I find it hard to recommend it very highly to anyone. If you've seen any of the various informative videos available on the web about how coins are made you actually have seen more of the process than you likely will by going to the P mint.

2) Because the chances of actually seeing them making any coins at any given moment seem pretty slim. Unless you camp out. Or hit it at a very lucky time of year. The information plaques tell you they can make millions of coins in very short spans of time and, well, there's little demand now anyway.

The visit consisted of walking along a raised hall over the middle of the mint factory floor, down and back. Along the route, there are informational posters and plaques, along with exhibits showing you commemorative medals, and glass windows allowing you to observe the (in)activity on the floor. Apparently there used to be video stations along the way as well--we kept seeing signs saying, "press this button for more information"--but they are no longer there... Perhaps one day they will come back. As we viewed stacks of planchet coils, empty conveyor belts, and all the idle machinery of modern coin striking, there were two or three workers walking around the floor, and over next to the $1 stamping machines there was a Mint worker enjoying what seemed like a very pleasant nap. (If you're as cynical as me about the chances of our going over to only dollar coins any time soon, you might see some irony in this! I was very tempted to snap a photo on the sly with my phone but half-expected alarms to set off and SWAT teams to descend on my person--such are the insistent signs warning you against taking any photography.)

Before you descend back down--past large-sized photographs of proof State Quarters...--to the entry area and the gift shop, there's an area that displays medals, commemoratives (like the Booker T. Washington, Washington/Carver, the states' commemoratives from the 30s, etc.) and a number of bullion coins. There are some very nice things to look at here, but you'll see much more at a decent-sized coin show.

For numismatists looking to enhance their collection, the Mint shop won't overwhelm, short of saving you shipping on your annual mint and proof sets. They were selling 09 Kennedy rolls too, and there's a machine in the front hall that will exchange the current unc territorial quarter for dollar bills and current Prez dollars for $5 and $10 dollar bills. At face. Some of the previous unspent quarters from the machine were available in rolls at the gift shop counter (you have to ask). I don't know if they offer rolls of the previous Prez releases because I didn't ask. On a side note, I found it funny that the Mint gift shop fellow was just as baffled as everyone else about where 2009 nickels and dimes can be found.

Anyway, that's my report. Maybe the D Mint is more impressive. Go to Philly for all it offers, than maaaaaybe swing by the Mint. At least admission is free...

-SCS

I think it would be easier for me to get to Denver. I'll just wait for next year's Chargers Broncos Game. Then I'll act surprised that the mint offers tours and talk my wife into going.

lol

I saw thousands of 2009-D Nickels pouring out of the Schuler press
into the ballistic pallet bag that day, from the hallway above.
(so did about 50 other people on the tour with me, but I may have
been the only one who knew the true rarity of what I was seeing!)

It just makes me sick that they were all trucked to the
Federal Reserve Branch ten blocks north of the Mint, and they're
still sitting in 'oblivion'...

Like I said, the Denver Mint is the only active U.S. Mint that you
can tour where 'classic' numismatic key date coins were minted in
the same building. (such as the 2009-D Nickel?! )

You can also visit the museums that were the New Orleans Mint
or the Carson City Mint (and in 2012, the old San Francisco Mint).

I have been to the Philadelphia mint, but it was a long time ago. Nicely enough, I live about 45 minutes from the city, so it's an easy trip.