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U.S. Mint &
U.S. Bullion Coins

The U.S. Mint

The U.S. Mint and its satellite branches produce all of the Gold, Silver, and Platinum, American Eagle bullion coins.

To provide maximum availability to the public, the United States Mint distributes US Bullion coins to a network of wholesalers, brokerage companies, precious metal firms, coin dealers, and participating banks known as the "Authorized Purchasers."

The U.S. Mint does not sell any bullion coins directly through their website.

The United States Mint also produces all numismatic coins and coins for circulation.

You can purchase Numismatic & Circulated Coins directly through the U.S. Mint's Website here.

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The History of the US Mint

First Director of the US Mint

The First Director of the United States Mint

After the U.S. Constitution had been ratified, the Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton prepared plans for a National Mint.

On April 2, of 1792, Congress passed The Coinage Act.

President George Washington appointed David Rittenhouse, who was the former treasurer of Pennsylvania, to be the first Director of the United States Mint.

His annual salary was $2000.00.

David Rittenhouse was also a celebrated astronomer and philosopher.

His achievements readily place him in the same distinguished class as Benjamin Franklin.

Rittenhouse believed that a coin’s design was a piece of artwork.

A year after Rittenhouse was appointed, the first US coins were minted.

Silver “half dimes” were the first official United States coinage struck by the mint, it is rumored that the silver came from George and Martha Washington’s very own silverware.

1794 Silver Half Dime (courtesy WikiMedia)

Under Rittenhouse, in March of 1793, the US Mint produced its first circulated coins, 11,178 copper cents.

David Rittenhouse resigned from the Mint on June 30, 1795, due to poor health, he died a year, later on, June 26, 1796.

In 1871, Congress approved a commemorative medal in Rittenhouse's honor.

In 2012, one of these early copper coins sold at auction for 1.38 million, see the article here: 1793 penny fetches $1.38M at U.S. auction - USA TODAY

"Ye Olde Mint"

The Coinage Act created the U.S. Mint and authorized construction of
the first United States Mint to be built in Philadelphia, PA., which
at the time was the nation’s capital.

Shortly after David Rittenhouse was appointed, as the Director of the U.S. Mint, on July 18, 1792, he purchased two lots of land, in Philadelphia, at Seventh Street and 631 Filbert Street, for $4,266.66.

The construction of the first U.S. Mint began on July 31, 1792, and by
September, a smelting furnace was installed.

The smelt house was the first government building erected by The
United States.

"Ye Olde Mint" (1792 - 1833)

A three-story brick structure was built a few months later; it bore
the name "Ye Olde Mint" (photo - left), it faced Seventh Street in Philadelphia.

The newly built U.S. Mint site consisted of the "Ye Olde Mint" building, a smelter house, a mill house and in the basement of the Mint, large brick vaults were constructed to contain gold, silver, copper bullion bars, and pressed coins.

The Ye Olde Mint produced coins at this location for more than 20 years.

Unfortunately, in 1816, there was a fire at the Olde Mint, it destroyed the smelter house and the mill house.

The mill house burned to the ground and was replaced with a
large brick building; it included a new powerful steam engine in the basement to run the coin pressing machinery, on the floor above.

The smelting house was not rebuilt and was moved to a second Philadelphia location.

In 1833, all U.S. Mint operations were moved to the second Philadelphia Mint location and the property where the first U.S. Mint stood, was sold.

The "Ye Olde Mint" building was demolished a few years after the photo above was taken, in 1908.

In contrast concerning the production of capacity; the modern-day Philadelphia Mint can strike as many as one million coins in a half-hour whereas it would have taken the “Ye Olde Mint” three years to produce the same amount of coins.

Designers & Engravers

The initials found on the bottom half of U.S. minted coinage are those of the coin's Designer, and the Engraver.

On the coin photo, to the right, you can see the Designer's initials and the Engraver's initials are circled in red.

If the coin has the same designer and engraver, there is no specification as to which side of the coin the initials will be found, however, they will be found somewhere on the bottom half of the coin.

This method of recognizing a U.S. coin's designer and engraver is commonplace among modern US coins.

US Bullion Coin Values

The "Face Value" of a bullion coin, does not represent the "Real Value" of a precious metal bullion coin.

US Bullion Coins are bought and sold based on the current market spot price of gold, silver or platinum, plus a small premium to cover minting, handling, distribution, and marketing costs.

Gold, Silver and Platinum Spot Price Charts are located on every one of the bullion coin pages below.