Visiting the US Mint

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!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Thanks for relaying your experiences and what we can expect during a visit.
It's one of my goals before too long to visit one of the U.S. Mint facilities.
-L

 

I am happy you had a good time at the mint. I for one to not like being felt up or molested by gooberment pukes. Thanks for the warning.

 

They do not touch you, you just remove all metal and walk through the detector, if it still beeps, they have a hand wand. the 3 times, I never had an issue and went though it in seconds.

 

Here's a thread I posted over the holidays regarding our trip to the Carson City mint. Memorable because its the first time my wife and daughters have been there, and they actually loved it!

http://www.cointalk.com/t218690/

 

Every year at the ANA Summer Session a tour of the Denver Mint is an optional event during non-class days/hours. If I remember correctly, the charge was minimal - bus and lunch.

 

It's also a good idea to schedule a tour ahead of time. My wife and I wanted to see the Denver mint when we were in Colorado but it was booked for the dates we were there so we couldn't go.

 

Hmm, do you fly from time to time? As far as I remember (visited the US Mint in Philadelphia in 2010), security was not a big deal. What was a little inconvenient was that they do not have any lockers - after all, you cannot take your bag inside with you. But the check was not "tougher" than security checks elsewhere ...

Yes, a guided tour would be nice. Of course I appreciate the fact that you can come at any time and visit the mint (without having to pay an admission fee), but why not offer an additional tour with a guide, say once a week?

One nice thing - when we came in, we were asked provide some photo ID, and I had my passport with me. Only a few seconds later I was given a mint brochure in German. Neat!

Christian

 

Just wondering how the prices were at the store? Huge mark ups or spot or what?
JON

 

same prices as the website, just no $4.95 shipping and handling and waiting for the mail and hoping nothing got damaged or bent, etc.

 

The tour at the Denver mint is also unguided. The tour you can take as part of the ANA summer seminar on the other hand is a guided floor tour down on the factory floor itself. They don't let the general public down on the shop floor for security and safety/liability reasons. The tour isn't guided because that costs money. The self guided tour used to be more interesting because you could see a lot more. Now for OSHA safety regulations everything is enclosed and you really can't see what is going on, especially from a distance.

 

The San Francisco Mint does not offer tours now, but in August 1949 a group from the ANA convention went on a tour and watched coins being struck, including silver dollars.

 

What silver dollars were they striking in 1949? Mexican Pesos? (I believe we were restriking Mexican Pesos (1898?) for use in China at that time.)

 

Where could I obtain one of the silver dollars that was struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1949?

 

We went over Thanksgiving holiday, and we had a guided tour. Or maybe your definition of "guided" and mine are different. Someone earlier mentioned reservations, and those are definitely required. They sell out fairly quickly too, and there are only a limited number of tour slots. We ended up having to be there early for the 8AM tour on a Monday because it was the only one left open when I finally remembered to do it.

That being said, it was an enjoyable tour. No pictures allowed, for security reasons. But the guy who took us through the tour had lots of great stories, and kept the kids entertained. They were not actively making coins at the time which was a little disappointing, but the guide had lots of statistics about how many coins they used to make (by hand, basically) versus with the new machines.

When we left I asked my oldest what he thought was the best part, and he said that he liked the security guard "nest" that was over the original front door. He had a tommy gun and a push pedal to release gas if the mint was ever under attack / being robbed. He remembered that the best.

 

Thanks for the correction. Good to hear that it is guided, and that the guide knows what he is talking about.

 

My boys loved it. The guide shared a couple of stories about people who tried to rob the mint... both were caught. One story was about the rat catcher. Seems that during his rounds he would stick gold inside of the dead rats, and then when the rat bodies were moved outside (I guess they didn't let him do that part himself) he would go retrieve the bodies and remove the gold. Eventually the mint figured out what was going on.

We talked about having the US drop the cent as well. He said that it's easy to look at the direct costs of making the full copper cent (more than $0.01 in cost) and the reasons for going to the copper/zinc. But he said the costs of dropping production altogether (as Canada has recently done) are less conclusive. For example, if they drop the cent how many more nickels will they have to produce? Will that become a hidden cost of dropping the cent? So while they are certainly aware of the suggestion, the way he presented it they're not absolutely sure that the overall cost would be reduced, and they're "continuing to evaluate their options" or something like that.

The tour is fairly short (less than an hour if my memory is correct).

 

My wife and I toured the Philadelphia Mint last summer while in town. We didn't go through a metal detector or any sort of security procedure other than showing a valid id and walking through the door. Unfortunately it was after working hours so the factory floor was dead. But, it was still an interesting experience and one I'd do next time I was in town.
Guy

 

Another great place to visit is The Money Store. That is the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington DC (and Fort Worth, TX). It's a free 40 minute tour. You have to get tickets for the tour. They are same day tickets. One person can get up to four.

Another very cool thing is that you can get a "personal tour" by going through your local US Senator or US Representative.

I went on the normal tour within the last year. I saw, looking down at the production floor, one of the "Congressional Tours" taking place. They were down there by the machines and talking to some of the workers! How cool would that be! Has anyone done that?

 

I went to the Philly Mint in 2011. The tour was very dated, but I think they were going to update it.
The factory looked to be in full operation. The most interesting part was watching a guy blasting the 2011-P Glacier pucks.
The change machine was not operational that day, but you could exchange your money for rolls of Vicksburg quarters.