Going To The Mint

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by collect4fun, Jul 16, 2004.

  1. collect4fun

    collect4fun Senior Member

    I am heading to Philly in two weeks and was interested in doing a tour of the Mint. I contacted my state senator via his website, but have not heard a response.

    For the tour, do you need to show proof that you contacted your senator or do they have some kind of "list" at the door with your name on it?

    It won't ruin my vacation if I can't go, but it would be interesting.
     
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  3. National dealer

    National dealer New Member

    An appointment must be done through a congressional office or senate office. Contact them each day, or several times a day time permitting.
     
  4. collect4fun

    collect4fun Senior Member


    Thanks ND for the advice. I'll give it a try.
     
  5. collect4fun

    collect4fun Senior Member

    I guess I will not be going to the mint this trip. All tours are booked for the next 4 weeks :(
     
  6. National dealer

    National dealer New Member

    Did you tell them that you are traveling half way across the country? Don't give up on booked tours. Many book tours and for whatever reason don't make it. Explain that you are traveling for a short period, and are a coin collector. If that doesn't work, PM me, and I will put you in contact with someone that will help.
     
  7. Andrew

    Andrew New Member

    So how does a tourist from another country go about getting a tour of a US mint? Or is the mint not open to foreigners?
     
  8. National dealer

    National dealer New Member

    Just contact any congressman or senator. Foriegn visitors are certainly allowed. This is a new effort being made at the mint and BEP. Just a sign of the times.
     
  9. collect4fun

    collect4fun Senior Member

    Well, I did make it to the mint, but did not get to go in. My congressional sponsorship came the day we were LEAVING Philly. My family and I did get to walk see the bldg and got pictures in front of the sign. We also got to talk to a security guard (Mint Police) who had worked there for 17 years. He gave us some neat info and gave the kids some trinkets ( no coins).

    With the heightend security level that came out last week, there werer several Philly policeman walking around the city with assault rifles. Thats a scary thing to see!!

    We did get to go through Independance Hall and see the Liberty Bell, after going through a security check point and metal detector.
     
  10. jimmy_goodfella

    jimmy_goodfella New Member

    what a shame, i dont understand why they dont make it a tourist attraction would be a nice spin off buisness.

    in uk you can go a tour of practically anything including the royal mint.You can even take a tour sellafield our biggest nuclear complex and where the hold 10% of the worlds plutonium to make the bombs.I fully intend to have a tour of the mint one day soon.
     
  11. sylvester

    sylvester New Member

    but not Sellafield hey?
     
  12. jimmy_goodfella

    jimmy_goodfella New Member

    well sylvestor i have started taking trips to whitehaven to fish there its a lovley little town and i pass the front gate, and one of these days curiosity is gonna get the better of me.

    they have mullet clearly visible swimming in the harbour :)
     
  13. collect4fun

    collect4fun Senior Member

    One bit of info that the mint police told us was that the "gift store" is not even run by the mint, but is instead operated by the guy that owns the Denver Bronco's. You can buy most stuff offered, cheaper on the mint website.

    He also stated that it is not a musuem, but a working mint. DUH. We as tax payers and coin collectors would still like to see how the coins are minted.

    Just walking past the concrete barricades and police with M16's and bullet proof vests makes you not want to go in.
     
  14. GoldenRuler

    GoldenRuler New Member

    At what point were appointments necessary for mint tours? I can remember as a young boy going through in 1975 and seeing the whole minting process and even watching them stamp a commemorative medal and watching it get dropped in a little bag and then taking the bag home with me....
     
  15. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    It started after 9/11.
     
  16. chrisild

    chrisild Coin Collector

    Just dug up this old thread about visiting the US Mint production facilities. The above may be true for Philadelphia but not for Denver. The tour requirements for Denver specifically include legal name, date-of-birth and Social Security number for all people requesting a tour. http://www.usmint.gov/mint_tours/index.cfm?action=denver The word "all" is in bold and underlined ...

    So a non-US citizen may get a tour there, but only if s/he has a US SSN. Not sure about Philadelphia, though. The conditions there http://www.usmint.gov/mint_tours/index.cfm?action=philadelphia seem to be a little different and less discouraging :)

    Christian
     
  17. ernie11

    ernie11 Member

    I live in Philly, and as recently as 2000, you just walked in and took the escalator up to the floor above the minting area, there was no screening or anything. Now (unless this has just changed), I think you can still go into the Mint shop on the first floor and buy products without advance notice, but you have to go thru a metal detector to enter.
     
  18. National dealer

    National dealer New Member

    The last visit I took (2002), you could visit the Mint store without the whole approval situation. I have emailed congressman Mike Castle of Delaware to find out about the foriegn visitors being permitted to see what hoops they have to jump through.
     
  19. Andy

    Andy Coin Collector

    "It started after 9/11."

    Yeah, when I used to live in the wall street section of New York, on Gold Street, the whole area used to be wide open except for the private plain dressed armed security and a few law enforcement agencies. It was easy to get into any building including the Federal Reserve Building. But even before 911 things changed. They changed around the first twin towers car bomb attack and the empire state building shootings. By the time I moved to the upper east side, the streets in the old financial district were already closed off to traffic and just about every fourth person on the street was carrying a weapon from every branch of government and private security firm you could think of. The NYPD sudo-military presence itself happened after 911.
     
  20. GaryBurke

    GaryBurke Senior Member

    Wow. I'm surprised that things have changed so much.

    Used to just walk up to the Denver Mint doors, and go in.

    9-11 I suppose has caused the new conditions.

    My tours of the Denver Mint have proven boring. Looking through plate glass windows down at the top of minting machinery isn't too thrilling.

    I will say however that the tour guide provided some interesting information.

    :)
     
  21. KLJ

    KLJ Really Smart Guy

    When I visited the Philadelphia mint twice in the 1980s, I seem to remember that all they let us do was look down from above on the minting machinery. And I seem to remember the same was true when I went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing as well (last was there sometime in the '90s).
     
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