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{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} | {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}The '''Denver Mint''' is a branch of the [[United States Mint]] that struck its first coins on February 1, 1906.<ref>[http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=press_release&ID=639 "United States Mint at Denver Celebrates 100 Years of Change"]. The United States Mint. Retrieved Jun 20, 2009.</ref> The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as mint sets and commemorative coins. Coins produced at the Denver Mint bear a '''D''' mint mark (as did the Dahlonega Mint, which closed before the Denver branch opened). The Denver Mint is the single largest producer of coins in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Denver US Coin Mint |url=https://www.usacoinbook.com/encyclopedia/coin-mints/denver/ |website=usacoinbook.com |publisher=USA Coin Book |access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref> | ||
The '''Denver Mint''' is a branch of the [[United States Mint]] that struck its first coins on February 1, 1906.<ref>[http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=press_release&ID=639 "United States Mint at Denver Celebrates 100 Years of Change"]. The United States Mint. Retrieved Jun 20, 2009.</ref> The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as | |||
==History== | ==History== | ||
===Clark, Gruber & Co.=== | ===Clark, Gruber & Co.=== | ||
The predecessors of the Denver Mint were the men of Clark, Gruber and Company. During the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, they coined gold dust brought from the gold fields by the miners. In 1858, Austin M. Clark, Milton E. Clark and Emanuel Henry Gruber founded a brokerage firm in Leavenworth, Kansas, and then established an office in Denver at the beginning of the Colorado Gold Rush. Desiring to save on shipping and insurance costs associated with shipping gold back east, the firm opened a private mint. On July 25, 1860, the mint opened in a two-story brick building on the corner of Market and 16th Streets, minting $10 gold pieces at the rate of "fifteen or twenty coins a minute". "On the face is a representation of the peak, its base surrounded by a forest of timber and 'Pikes Peak Gold' encircling the summit. Immediately under its base is the word 'Denver', and beneath it 'Ten D.'. On the reverse is the American Eagle encircled by the name of the firm 'Clark, Gruber & Co.', and beneath the date, '1860'."<ref name=Voynick>{{Cite book |last=Voynick |first=S. M. |year=1992 |title=Colorado Gold: From the Pike's Peak Rush to the Present |location=Missoula, Mont. |publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company |isbn=0878424555 |oclc=314614194}}</ref>{{rp|26–27}} | |||
A $20 gold coin was added, "the weight will be greater, but the value the same as the United States coin of like denomination". A $5 and a $2.5 gold coin were added, with production reaching $18,000 per week. On the front was the "head of the Goddess of Liberty surrounded by thirteen stars, with "Clark & Company" in the tiara. "Pikes's Peak Gold, Denver" was on the other side, with "5D." or "2 1/2 D."<ref name=Voynick/>{{rp|27}} | |||
A $20 gold coin was added, "the weight will be greater, but the value the same as the United States coin of like denomination". A $5 and a $2.5 gold coin were added, with production reaching $18,000 per week. On the front was the "head of the Goddess of Liberty surrounded by thirteen stars, with "Clark & Company" in the | |||
In the almost three years of operation, they minted $594,305 worth of Pike's Peak gold in the form of gold coins. Additionally, they purchased 77,000 troy ounces of raw gold, and shipped "large amounts of dust" to the [[Philadelphia Mint]]. The building, assaying and minting equipment was formally bought by the [[United States Department of the Treasury|US Treasury]] in April 1863. Clark, Gruber & Co. remained a bank until bought by the First National Bank of Denver in 1865.<ref name=Voynick/>{{rp|27}} | In the almost three years of operation, they minted $594,305 worth of Pike's Peak gold in the form of gold coins. Additionally, they purchased 77,000 troy ounces of raw gold, and shipped "large amounts of dust" to the [[Philadelphia Mint]]. The building, assaying and minting equipment was formally bought by the [[United States Department of the Treasury|US Treasury]] in April 1863. Clark, Gruber & Co. remained a bank until bought by the First National Bank of Denver in 1865.<ref name=Voynick/>{{rp|27}} | ||
===Act of Congress 1862=== | ===Act of Congress 1862=== | ||
Established by an [[Act of Congress]] on April 21, 1862, the United States Mint at Denver opened for business in late 1863 as a United States Assay Office. Operations began in the facilities of Clark, Gruber and Company, located at 16th and Market Streets and acquired by the government for $25,000, which it was simply able to print off at the location. | |||
Established by an [[Act of Congress]] on April 21, 1862, the United States Mint at Denver opened for business in late 1863 as a United States | |||
Unlike Clark, Gruber and Company, though, the | Unlike Clark, Gruber and Company, though, the Denver plant performed no coinage of gold as first intended.<ref name=Voynick/>{{rp|77}} One reason given by the Director of the Mint for the lack of coinage at Denver was, "…the hostility of the Indian tribes along the routes, doubtless instigated by rebel emissaries (there being a Civil War) and bad white men." | ||
Gold and nuggets brought there by miners from the surrounding area were accepted by the Assay Office for melting, assaying, and stamping of cast | Gold and nuggets brought there by miners from the surrounding area were accepted by the Assay Office for melting, assaying, and stamping of cast gold bars. The bars were then returned to the depositors as imparted bars stamped with the weight and fineness of the gold. Most of the gold came from the rich beds of placer gold found in the streams and first discovered in 1858, the same year Denver was founded. | ||
When the supply of gold was exhausted from the | When the supply of gold was exhausted from the streams, the emphasis turned to [[lode]] mining, uncovering veins of ore with a high percentage of [[gold]] and [[silver]]. By 1859, the yearly value of the gold and silver deposited at the Assay Office was over $5.6 million. During its early years as an Assay Office, the Denver plant was the city's most substantial structure. | ||
===Continuing history=== | ===Continuing history=== |
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