United States Mint (San Francisco) | |
![]() The San Francisco Mint building, built in 1937 | |
Location | Hermann and Buchanan Streets, San Francisco, California |
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Coordinates | 37°46′12″N122°25′38″W / 37.7701°N 122.4273°W Coordinates: 37°46′12″N122°25′38″W / 37.7701°N 122.4273°W |
Built | 1937 |
Architect | Gilbert Stanley Underwood |
Architectural style | Stripped Classicism |
NRHP reference No. | 88000026 |
Added to NRHP | February 18, 1988 |
The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint. Opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush, in twenty years its operations exceeded the capacity of the first building. It moved into a new one in 1874, now known as the Old San Francisco Mint. In 1937 Mint operations moved into a third building, the current one, completed that year.
The San Francisco Mint began operations in 1854 at 608 Commercial Street, just west of Montgomery Street. The building sat between Commercial and Clay Streets and a historical plaque can be found today on Commercial. Since June 14, 1970, the building has been listed as a San Francisco Designated Landmark.
Within the first year of its operation, the San Francisco mint turned $4 million in gold bullion into coins. Because of the scale of its increase in operations due to economic growth, a new building was soon required.
Construction of the new location approximately 1 mile away began in 1869 at Fifth Street and Mission Street. The mint operations moved to that building in 1874.
See more: Old San Francisco Mint
The second US Mint building here, completed in 1874 for the Department of the Treasury, was designed by Alfred B. Mullett in a conservative Greek Revival style with a sober Doric order. The columns and most of the exterior and upper floors was constructed of sandstone. It was quarried at Newcastle Island, British Columbia, near the city of Nanaimo and imported for this purpose.
The building had a central pedimented portico flanked by projecting wings in an E-shape; it was built around a completely enclosed central courtyard that contained a well. These features saved it during the fire of 1906 that followed the San Francisco Earthquake, when the heat melted the plate glass windows and exploded sandstone and granite blocks with which it was faced. The building is based on a concrete and granite foundation, designed to thwart tunneling into its vaults. At the time of the 1906, the Mint held $300 million, fully a third of the United States' gold reserves. Efforts by Superintendent of the Mint, Frank A. Leach, and his men preserved the building and the bullion that backed the nation's currency. The mint resumed operation soon thereafter, continuing until 1937 at this site.
Now known as the Old San Francisco Mint, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and sold to the city of San Francisco in 2003. There are plans for adaptive reuse, including as a museum, and continued special events space.
The new Mint was opened in 1937. Beginning in 1955, circulating coinage from San Francisco was suspended for 13 years. In 1968, this facility took over most proof coinage production from the Philadelphia Mint, but continued striking a supplemental circulating coinage from 1968 through 1974.
Since 1975, the San Francisco Mint has been used almost exclusively for proof coinage, with the exception of the Susan B. Anthony dollar from 1979–81, a portion of the mintage of cents in the early 1980s, and circulation-strike America the Beautiful quarters marked with an "S" mintmark and issued only for collectors since 2012. The dollars and quarters bear a mintmark of an "S", but the cents are otherwise indistinguishable from those minted at Philadelphia (which bear no mintmarks, unlike those years' proof cents from San Francisco and circulation cents from Denver).
From 1962 to 1988, the San Francisco Mint was officially an assay office; the San Francisco Assay Office was granted mint status again on March 31, 1988 (Pub. L. 100–274). [1] The San Francisco Mint is located at 155 Hermann Street. It admits visitors only as a rare exception. On May 15, 1987, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Mint, a limited number of people were allowed to tour the facility. This tour was advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, with reservations required.
United States | |
Value | 5 U.S. Dollar |
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Mass | 8.359 g |
Diameter | .850 Inches mm |
Thickness | ? mm |
Edge | Reeded |
Composition | 90%Gold/10%Alloy |
Years of minting | 2006 |
Catalog number | ? |
Obverse | |
| |
Design | The "Granite Lady" San Francisco Old Mint. Inscriptions: '1906-2006', 'Liberty', E Pluribus Unum' & 'San Francisco Earthquake and Fire Centennial' |
Designer | Charles L. Vickers |
Design date | 2006 |
Reverse | |
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Design | A replica of the 1906 Half-Eagle Coronet Liberty eagle reverse. Inscriptions: 'United States of America', 'In God We Trust', & 'Five D.' |
Designer | Christian Gobrecht |
Design date | 2006 |
United States | |
Value | 1 U.S. Dollar |
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Mass | ? g |
Diameter | 38.1 mm |
Thickness | ? mm |
Edge | Reeded |
Composition | 90%Ag/10%Cu |
Years of minting | 2006 |
Catalog number | ? |
Obverse | |
Design | Old Mint "The Granite Lady", Instrumental in San Francisco's Recovery, 1906-2006, E Pluribus Unum, Liberty |
Designer | Sherl J. Winter |
Design date | 2005/6? |
Reverse | |
Design | Replica of the Morgan Silver Dollar Rev; United States of America, One Dollar, In God We Trust |
Designer | George T. Morgan |
Design date | 1904 |
In 2006, the United States Mint released a gold five dollar commemorative coin which commemorates the 100th year after the old San Francisco mint survived an earthquake. The mint also played a part in the city's recovery after the earthquake, providing shelter for many as it was one of the few buildings left standing.
The coin was minted as both a proof coin and an uncirculated coin, and is no longer available directly from the United States Mint. On June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush signed Public Law 109-230, legislation authorizing the production of the 2006 San Francisco $5 commemorative gold coin as well as its $1 silver counterpart. The production of the $5 denomination was limited to a maximum mintage of 100,000 coins, but separate mintage figures for each of the proof and uncirculated coins have not yet been released. The $1 silver version was limited to only 500,000 coins, both in proof and uncirculated products, but distinct mintage figures for both products has not been officially stated.
The reverse was designed by Christian Gobrecht and sculpted by Joseph Menna.
Features
In 2006, the United States Mint released a silver dollar commemorative coin which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the survival of the Old San Francisco Mintin the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The Mint also played a part in the city's recovery after the earthquake.
The coin was sold both as a proof coin and an uncirculated coin, with a maximum coinage of 500,000 coins.
Features
This coin has a design of the Old San Francisco Mint on the obverse and a replica of the 1904 eagle design on the reverse.
The quarter, short for quarter dollar, is a United States coin worth 25 cents, one-quarter of a dollar. The coin sports the profile of George Washington on its obverse, and after 1998 its reverse design has changed frequently. It has been produced on and off since 1796 and consistently since 1831.
Coins of the United States dollar were first minted in 1792. New coins have been produced annually and they make up a valuable aspect of the United States currency system. Today, circulating coins exist in denominations of 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $1.00. Also minted are bullion and commemorative coins. All of these are produced by the United States Mint. The coins are then sold to Federal Reserve Banks which in turn are responsible for putting coins into circulation and withdrawing them as demanded by the country's economy.
The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; that responsibility belongs to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The first United States Mint was created in Philadelphia in 1792, and soon joined by other centers, whose coins were identified by their own mint marks. There are currently four active coin-producing mints: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point.
The dollar coin is a United States coin with a face value of one United States dollar. Dollar coins have been minted in the United States in gold, silver, and base metal versions. Dollar coins were first minted in the United States in 1794.
Proof coinage refers to special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies and for archival purposes. Nowadays proofs are often struck in greater numbers specially for coin collectors (numismatists). Nearly all countries have issued proof coinage.
The half dime, or half disme, was a silver coin, valued at five cents, formerly minted in the United States.
The United States Bicentennial coinage is a set of circulating commemorative coins, consisting of a quarter, half dollar and dollar struck by the United States Mint in 1975 and 1976. Regardless of when struck, each coin bears the double date 1776–1976 on the normal obverses for the Washington quarter, Kennedy half dollar and Eisenhower dollar. No coins dated 1975 of any of the three denominations were minted.
The American Silver Eagle is the official silver bullion coin of the United States.
The Morgan dollar is a United States dollar coin minted from 1878 to 1904, in 1921, and beginning again in 2021. It was the first standard silver dollar minted since the passage of the Coinage Act of 1873, which ended the free coining of silver and the production of the previous design, the Seated Liberty dollar. It contained 412.5 grains of 90% pure silver. The coin is named after its designer, United States Mint Assistant Engraver George T. Morgan. The obverse depicts a profile portrait representing Liberty, modeled by Anna Willess Williams, while the reverse depicts an eagle with wings outstretched. The mint mark, if present, appears on the reverse above between D and O in "Dollar".
The West Point Mint is a U.S. Mint production and depository facility erected in 1937 near the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, United States. As of 2019 the mint holds 22% of the United States' gold reserves, or approximately 54 million ounces. The mint at West Point is second only to the gold reserves held in secure storage at Fort Knox. Originally, the West Point Mint was called the West Point Bullion Depository. At one point it had the highest concentration of silver of any U.S. mint facility, and for 12 years produced circulating Lincoln cents. It has since minted mostly commemorative coins and stored gold.
The Manila Mint was a coinage mint that briefly served as a branch of the United States Mint, located in Manila, now the capital city of the Philippines.
The quarter eagle was a gold coin issued by the United States with a value of two hundred and fifty cents, or two dollars and fifty cents. It was given its name in the Coinage Act of 1792, as a derivation from the US ten-dollar eagle coin.
The Library of Congress bimetallic eagle is a modern U.S. commemorative coin issued in the ten dollar denomination. It is the first gold and platinum bimetallic coin to be issued by the United States Mint. It was issued in proof and business strike qualities.
In 2007, the United States Mint released a gold five-dollar commemorative coin which commemorates the 400th year after the founding of Jamestown. Surcharges from the sale of the Jamestown commemorative were donated to Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Secretary of the Interior and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities to support programs that promote the understanding of the legacies of Jamestown.
In 2007, the United States Mint released a silver dollar commemorative coin which commemorates the 400th year after the founding of Jamestown. Surcharges from the sale of the Jamestown commemorative were donated to Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Secretary of the Interior and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities to support programs that promote the understanding of the legacies of Jamestown.
The America the Beautiful quarters were a series of 56 25-cent pieces (quarters) issued by the United States Mint, which began in 2010 and lasted until 2021. The obverse (front) of all the coins depicts George Washington in a modified version of the portrait used for the original 1932 Washington quarter. There were five new reverse (back) designs each year, each commemorating a national natural or historic site such as national parks, national historic site, or national forests – one from each state, the federal district, and each territory. The program was authorized by the America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110–456 .
These are the mintage quantities for strikings of the United States nickel.
The United States Mint Proof Set, commonly known as the Proof Set in the United States, is a set of proof coins sold by the United States Mint. The proof set is popular with coin collectors as it is an affordable way to collect examples of United States coinage in proof condition.
The Leif Ericson Millennium commemorative coins are a series of coins issued in 2000 by the United States Mint to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Leif Ericson's discovery of the Americas.
The San Francisco Old Mint half eagle was a commemorative coin which was issued by the United States Mint in 2006.