What Does the Denver Mint do?

The Denver Mint is the largest coin producer in the world, but what exactly does it do? And how did it come to be?

Here’s all you need to know about the United States Mint and, of course, our beloved Denver Mint.

What does the Denver Mint do?

What is the U.S. Mint? 

The United States Mint is responsible for creating the coinage we use for commerce, trade and certain commemorations. It’s also in charge of the gold, silver and other bullion in the country (looking at you, Fort Knox!). 

Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. Mint does not print any of the paper bills we use, as that’s the job of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The mint does create all the national commemorative medals and congressional gold medals, as well as any special coinage.

Although we don’t use small change as often as we used to, thanks to advances in virtual banking, the U.S. Mint is working harder than ever to keep up with the growing population! In 2020, the mint produced over 14.7 billion coins valued at over $1.1 trillion. 

We’ve come a long way from bartering with goods and paying with seashells, and the history of the U.S. Mint starts nearly as early as the post-colonial United States itself.

History of the United States Mint

The first mint in the United States predates the nation itself, dating back as early as 1652 to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston, just a few decades after the colony was established.

One of the first graduates of the Boston Latin School and, therefore, one of the first scholars to graduate from the oldest public school in the country, was John Hull, a silversmith and merchant based in Boston. Hull’s merchant connections, silversmithing skill and contacts around the world put him in a good position to solve one of the colony’s growing issues: the scarcity of currency. English currency was limited and, to many, no good in the faraway colony, and bartering and trading was becoming more complicated as the colony grew.

Hull became the first treasurer of the colony and first mintmaster after he set up the Hull Mint in 1652. Hull’s first coins to be printed and circulated were a series of silver coins, including a pine tree shilling that was widely used through the thirteen colonies. 

This mint was shut down after just 30 years, though, because it was expensive to run and it was against English law to have a currency without permission of the king.

Flash forward almost a century to 1782, a few years after the Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress authorized the establishment of a national mint, and in 1787 the first coin, the Fugio Cent, began circulating through the brand-new United States. 

The Coinage Act of 1792 saw the actual creation of the United States Mint in Philadelphia, the then-capital of the nation. The building housing the mint was the first building raised under the Constitution of the United States.

Since then, the U.S. Mint has changed headquarters, added branches, changed buildings and even changed departments in the government, but the mission has remained the same: “to serve the American people by manufacturing and distributing circulating, precious metal and collectible coins and national medals, and providing security over assets entrusted to us.”

Branches of the mint

As the years went by and the population and distribution of citizens increased, the need for more coinage grew. Coin-producing branches popped up across the country to keep up with the demand, generally located close to either large cities or local metal deposits. 

Branches opened in Charlotte, N.C.; Dahlonega, Ga.; New Orleans, and Carson City, N.V. There was even a mint in Manila, the capital of the Philippines!

Today, there are only four working mints that are currently stamping coins. The U.S. Mints in Denver, San Francisco, Philadelphia and West Point produce all the coins we use today, and you can tell where any one coin comes from by looking for the mintmark stamped into the surface. 

Fort Knox is where gold, silver and other bullion from all over the world is stored and protected. 

The Denver Mint

Out of all the current mints in the United States, the Denver Mint is the largest. In fact, it’s so large and its production so great that it’s become the single largest coin producer in the world!

The Denver Mint started as a private mint in 1860, owned by Clark, Gruber & Co. The company set up the mint in order to convert the gold dust mined nearby into pieces more suitable for shipping. In 1863, the building and all its equipment was bought by the United States Treasury who, funnily enough, paid for the transaction by stamping coinage at the very location.

In the three years that Clark, Gruber & Co. was in operation, it minted $594,305 worth of gold from Pike’s Peak!

The newly minted (hah, get it?) Denver Mint spent its early years melting, refining and casting gold from nearby mines into bars for shipping. It was only in 1906 that coin production officially began in Denver, with around $17.9 million worth of coins minted in just the first year! In 2000, the mint broke the record for most coins minted in one year in the United States — 15.4 billion coins!

Today, the Denver Mint continues to mint everyday and commemorative coinage, as well as storing silver bullion. It’s the oldest continuously-operating mint in the country. 

So, next time you’ve got some extra change, look for the little “D” signifying the Denver Mint printed on the coin. Then, if you live near our luxury Denver apartments, drive past the gorgeous building in the Central Business District, or book a tour of the facility to check it all out yourself!

Enjoy!

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/geralt