My Sister is heading to San Francisco this week and asked if I wanted anything from the gift shop. Is there something there I can get that isn't offered anywhere else? I know this is a vague question, but I am hoping there is something that is exclusively sold at the S.F. mint and not online. Any suggestions that aren't gold? -g
I'm almost certain there is no gift shop at the SF mint. In fact, you can't even get very close to the building itself. Guy
Well that answers my question. I'll tell my sister shes needs to know the password when the guards confront her.
I think the Old San Francisco Mint is now open for tours. Not sure if they have a Gift Shop (but my guess is 'Yes, they do.'
haha tell her to try open saysme... always worked on those dumb Carson City mint guards till their boss found out and closed em down
Tell her that she won't be giving you a gift, but you will get her a gift of freedom through a bail bond
When my Dad went to San Fran about ten years ago he said that the mint facility was a condemned building and hoboes lived in it.
The old mint there has been closed since after the 1989 earthquake. It was sold to San Francisco for a silver dollar a few years ago and they have been slowly turning it into a city museum - but the seismic retrofits are taking a long time. It will be nothing like it was back in the late 1970's when they had an amazing gold exhibit of pioneer gold coins and bars. They even had a million dollar gold bar display in one of the vaults. They had an amazing store and I still have the souvenirs I bought there. The last time I had gone to the mint was in the late 1980's. By then all the gold exhibits and most of the coins were gone because of insurance hassles. The front entrance served as a public toilet for vagrants, and the smell was sickening.
The old mint is kind of open. They are still doing some work and the planned museum is still in the future, but they do rent out the building for banquets and other events http://www.theoldmint.org/
