My November 2009 Denver Mint trip + coin pickups (includes crusty bustie)

This post got zero responses on the PCGS forum, maybe because I didn't have CAC in the title or all the coins were raw. Who knows?

My wife and I took a little weekend trip to Denver the past weekend, and of course one of our stops was the Denver Mint. We had booked our tour online and picked a 9 AM time for 11/09/09. What fun discovering that the 9 AM tour was cancelled when we made our way to the door! However, the guards there were accomodating and said we would get first crack at the 10 AM tour. After some latte and walking around, we made our way back there and found the guards and the guide waiting. Security there is pretty tight and you pretty much removed everything but your pants, but the guards were friendly about it. Our tour guide told a few cheesy jokes and talked to some of the kids there before he whisked us in for our tour. There was no regular production going on that day, but we did see some coins being struck for the mint sets, along with some employees putting the sets together. You really can't look at all the displays in the short time you get there, but it was a 30 minutes well spent (no pun intended). We also helped out the economy by patronizing the gift shop.

There actually was a guy out in front of the Mint selling some coins - didn't buy anything from him, but he did recommend that we head to Broadway and Alameda to find some decent coin shops. Rocky Mountain Coin was one of them and they had a nice inventory, mostly raw. I don't have the names of the other two places, but they also had some coins worth looking over too. I ended up with 3 pickups, methinks I did pretty good on the pictured halves.

If this is just a G, I'll take a few more. Not a major find, but it looked nice to me:






This 1943 Walker is a blazer with no major hits in the fields. I think I did OK for $40





This last one was my favorite, a very nice looking 1831 Capped Bust half. I paid low EF money for it, it looks a bit better to me and appears original in hand. Came from Rocky Mountain Coins.

 

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Great post! Boy, would I sure Lovveee to take a stroll down to the San Fran mint someday...

 

Nice finds! I really like the bust half, but then I am partial to them. Thats cool. I didn't even know the mint conducted tours. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I'm in Philly. I read a few weeks back that when the remodeled the Canberra mint in Australia they included an elevated glass walled walkway where one can look in on minting activities. I wonder if our mints will ever be so accomodating?
Guy~

 

just wonderring if the mint had some things for sale?

 

The mint gift shop had the 2009 uncirculated sets for sale, along with rolls of 2009 half dollars. No current cent, nickel, dime or quarter rolls though, and of course no Chronicles sets. It's pretty easy to spend some bucks in there!

 

Went to Philly mint about 1 year ago and took the tour. Well worth the time and the people there were very friendly. I think the mint has come a long way from before on being "fan-friendly".

 

Sounds like it was time well spent, love that 1943 half, wartime production, great look to it. Thanks for the update on the tour. See we're nicer than the PCGS forum. :smile

 

I do like the friendliness of this forum for sure. I've never had a bad experience at the PCGS forum, in fact I've gotten some great coins from board members. However, there seems to be a vibe that if you don't have CAC stickers on all your slabs (preferably PCGS), your collection is basically a pile of marginally saleable junk. I do prefer their slabs for the red Lincolns, but any nice coin raw or otherwise, CAC or not is OK in my book. I think there are folks there afraid to buy anything or even go to the bathroom without the seal of JA's approval. What is the fun in that?

 

Went to the philly mint about 6 mo ago. Much easier to get in then denver (you just walk in on most days). Also liked their coin changing machine (got some Guam quarters there). Also liked going to the fed reserve building nearby (a nice exhibit, some PR quarters (I think) in their machine & a bag of shredded cash).

Glad you got a tour. When I was in Denver I got in too late (2:00) and they were closed for the day.

Also love the Walker, (I can't grade but) nice details & luster for a raw coin.

 

I went to the Philadelphia mint this past summer. My tour was a lot like the one described above except that there was no waiting and very few people there. However, I was disappointed in the gift shop and didn't buy anything.

 

I went to Philly about 4 years ago. I had to get clearance from my US Senator.
Fun trip, but security is extremely tight. My mother wanted to bring in her purse and they said no way. She had to lock it in a cage before the tour.

I would love to visit San Fran and watch the proof coins being made, but it is not open to the public. Same as West Point, no entrance to the public.:crying:

 

This past summer, the only security was to walk through a metal detector. No senatorial permission or reservation required.

 

I envy you.

I went to Denver a few weeks ago on business. I tried to reserve a tour spot several weeks in advance, but they were already booked during the only free time I had.

I did manage to visit a few of the local coin shops, and purchased a couple of coins, but was pretty disappointed overall.

Congrats!