A Brief History of the Philadelphia Mint
The United States Philadelphia Mint was one of the first priorities for the fledgling US Government after ratifying the US Constitution in the late 1780's. Congress realized that the new nation's citizens needed a national identity and a way to conduct commerce. In 1792 the Coinage Act was passed by congress that permitted the government to begin producing currency. In the act itself it stated that all coins should have "an impression emblematic of liberty". Liberty was a very important concept to the founding fathers of the US and so Liberty was placed on the coinage.
That same year President Washington appointed David Rittenhouse to be the first mint director. Since the capital of the USA at the time was in Philadelphia, Rittenhouse purchased land in the city to build the mint. By September 1792 the smelter was installed in the new building, this being the first building the US Government had built. Another structure was added soon thereafter facing the street. The building was definitely not very big, only 37 feet wide and 33 feet deep with three floors and basement vaults to keep the gold and silver. This would serve as the US Mint until 1833, however in 1816 the smelter building caught fire and was never repaired. All smelting was done off site after that disaster. Here is a picture of the building in 1908:
photo Wikipedia, first Philadelphia Mint building
An example of first dollars produced:
photo: cnbc.com
It was a rather tiny building but an important one is US history. The building was sold off to private hands and eventually demolished in the early 1900's. The owner had tried to have the building moved to save it, but when no one ponied up the money it was demolished.
In the late 1820's more space was required for coin production so a second mint building was constructed. All of the machinery was salvaged from the first building and installed in the new building was running by 1833. However they soon realized the machinery was outdated so they couldn't produce enough coins to meet demand. To resolve this issue Franklin Peale was sent to Europe to study advanced coinage processes. He returned with new machinery and knowledge that allowed the mint to dramatically increase their production. This building was used until 1901. Needing more space a new building had been constructed. The second mint building was sold in 1902 and quickly demolished.
photo Wikipedia, second Philadelphia Mint building in 1902
An example half dollar from the mint:
photo mine
The third mint building went into production in 1901. One big advantage was that this building was only a block away from the United States Smelting Company. It was also so large that it filled an entire city block. In one year at this location they were able to produce 501 million coins for the US and 90 million coins for foreign countries.
An interesting factoid about the building, it has seven stained glass mosaics designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. He was the creator of the Tiffany Lamp and design director for Tiffany & Company. This building was used up until 1969 when the current mint building was completed. It 1971 it was sold to Philadelphia Community College, and is the only former Philadelphia Mint building that wasn't demolished.
photo Wikipedia, third Philadelphia mint building, now Community College of Philadelphia
A Peace Dollar produced at the mint:
photo mine
In 1969 the mint move into their new building which is located only two blocks from the original mint building location. The Tiffany glass mosaics were moved and reinstalled in the new facility. It was the largest mint in the world capable of making one million coins in just 30 minutes. Not too shabby! But with increased rate of production you also get more error coins which slip through to collectors delight!
photo Wikipedia, current Philadelphia Mint building
example of dollar from current mint building:
picture: PCGS
I just thought that Ike Dollar looked really cool so had to share it even though it from PCGS. That's it for today, if you have any comments or questions feel free. Have a great day and keep on stacking!
And my disclaimer: Gold and silver stacking can be a fun hobby but isn't for everyone. You can lose money. I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, please always do your own research before spending your hard earned money.
References:
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Mint
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Comfort_Tiffany
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Wow, thanks for the history of the Philadelphia Mint, @thebighigg !
I'm glad the third building wasn't demolished! It was put to good use.
Is it still the largest mint in the world? Those Tiffany stained glass windows must cost a fortune in today's market!
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I know the US Mint is the largest in the world over all their sites, as of 2017 Philadelphia had the biggest mint. I couldn't find anything more current, but I imagine is still most likely is the largest.
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Such humble beginnings of this former little mint, now a big mint!
From a tiny building to world powerhouse!
I can't wait for U.S. Mints to be Stamping Out Staggering amounts of our New Product Line of Silver and Gold Coins and Shipping them all over the World...
Amazing how it started in a tiny building only 37 feet wide!
And then you look at the latest photo of today's Philadelphia mint very impressive my friend😀
I'm amazed they were able to produce much of anything in that first tiny building!
Very true, I’m not sure how they produced any volume, or quality !🤔
Then they managed to burn down their smelter, they weren't exactly pros when they started!
Wow…… can you imagine working there back then…….😳
Philadelphia in summer is hot and humid, I couldn't imagine working in a cramped hot building like that!
Probably pretty nasty, grew up in Cincinnati I understand hot and humid !🥵
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