The US Mint

We visited the US Mint in Denver during Spring Break. We tried last summer but were unable to get a reservation. This time I planned ahead and got a reservation. If you just show up, you can try to get a spot on a tour as a stand by. None of us had ever visited the US Mint.


There are no pictures because the Mint doesn't allow you to take pictures inside. There are no pictures outside because basically you walk almost naked inside the Mint. We left everything we could in the car trunk. You are allowed a very small wallet and all batteries from cell phones had to be removed. You have to walk through a metal detector and I thought the screening was more thorough than the airport.


While we were there no coins were being made. They were at lunch. There were plenty of displays to look at as well as guide to lead you through the various rooms that looked into the production areas. The Guide was very informative and really pretty funny.


Coins are the only thing made at the US Mint. I guess I thought paper money was made there as well. The Denver Mint also hold as small portion of the gold reserves - 14%. We didn't get to see the gold. The new pennies that are being minted could take up to 6 months for the average consumer to see depending on the economy. The newest Lincoln Penny to come out is called "Preserving the Union." The US Mint is also one the Departments of the Federal Government that actually makes money. They sell the coins to the Federal Reserve which buys them at face value but it cost the Mint very little to make the quarter, dime, half dollar, and dollar coins. So the Mint makes a profit. Isn't that interesting?


My kids are still talking about the tour especially about how the mint has never been broken into but there is a robbery called the Great Mint Robbery that happened on the US Mint steps but no coins were stolen only paper money from the Federal Reserve. We had talked about the pennies that depicted Lincoln's life - Lincoln's birth, Lincoln's Youth, Lincoln's Career, and Lincoln's Presidency. So my kids are really interested at looking at the coins.

They have a nice gift shop. The jewelry made out of coins really caught my eye. I love that you can see the actual coin image in the back of the piece. The jewelry was out of my price range but really cool.