US Mint
The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States
to conduct its trade and commerce. The main Mint facility is located in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and branch facilities are located in
Denver, Colorado, San Francisco, California,
and West Point, New York.
The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within
the Department of State. Per the terms of the Coinage Act, the first Mint building
was located in Philadelphia, then the U.S. capital. It was the first building of
the federation raised under the Constitution.
The Mint's first director was renowned scientist David Rittenhouse. The position
is currently held by Edmund C. Moy. Henry Voight was the first Superintendent and
Chief Coiner, and is credited with some of the first U.S. coin designs. Another
important position at the Mint is that of Chief Engraver, which has been held by
such men as Frank Gasparro, William Barber, Charles E. Barber, James B. Longacre,
Christian Gobrecht and Anthony C. Paquet, among others.
The Mint was made an independent agency in 1799, and under the Coinage Act of 1873,
became part of the Department of the Treasury. It
was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States in 1981.
Historical
Facilities
Current US Mint Facilities
MINTMARKS
With the exception of a brief period in 1838 and 1839, all coins minted at U.S.
branch mints prior to 1909 displayed that branch's mintmark on their reverse. Larger
denominations of gold and silver coins were labeled with the Dahlonega, Charlotte,
and New Orleans mintmarks ("D," "C," and "O," respectively) on the obverse (just
above the dates) in those two years. Carson City, which served as a U.S. branch
mint from 1870 to 1893, produced coins with a "CC" mintmark.
Between 1965 and 1967, no American coins displayed mintmarks as the mints labored
to replace the silver coinage
with base metal coins, in order to discourage the hoarding of coins by numismatists.
Mintmarks were moved to the obverse of the nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar
in 1968, and have appeared on the obverse of the dollar coin since its re-introduction
in 1971.
On the nickel, the mintmark is currently located near the rim, clockwise from the
date. Dimes have their mintmarks above the date, while quarters have a mintmark
to the right of Washington's bust. The half dollar has a mintmark just to the right
of Kennedy's bust, and the Sacagawea dollar's mintmark is just below the date.
Due to a shortage of nickel during World War II, the composition of the five-cent
coin was changed to include silver. To mark this change, nickels minted in Philadelphia
(which had featured no mintmarks until then) displayed a "P" in the space above
the dome of Monticello. Nickels from San Francisco were minted in the same fashion,
and Denver nickels reflected the change in 1943. This new mintmark location continued
until 1946, when the nickel returned to its pre-war composition.
The "P" mintmark, discontinued after the war, reappeared in 1979 on the Anthony
dollar. By 1982, it had appeared on every other regular-issue coin except the cent,
which still bears no "P" mintmark. The circulating cents struck in the 1980's at
San Francisco (except proofs) and West Point also bear no mintmark, as their
facilities were used to supplement Philadelphia's production. Given the limited
numbers produced at each facility, they might have been hoarded as collectibles.
Information taken from Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.