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50-627: The Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) is a program of the United States Mint , established in 2003, which invites American artists to create designs for U.S. coins and medals, most notably the 50 State , DC and US Territories , and America the Beautiful quarters . The goal of the AIP is to enrich and diversify the design of United States coins and medals by contracting a collection of artists with varying artistic skills and talents. The program

100-692: A federal law enforcement agency, is responsible for the protection of Mint facilities, employees and reserves. The production and sale of circulating coinage and the other functions of the Mint are funded through the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, established in 1995. Any profits made by the Fund in excess of operating requirements are returned to the Treasury. Government procurement regulations do not apply to

150-526: A "P" when ostensibly struck at the Philadelphia mint. This practice allowed the additional minting of coins at the San Francisco mint ("S") and West Point mint ("W") without the use of their respective mint marks to address circulating coinage needs without the concern of creating scarce varieties that would be plucked from circulation by collectors. In the single year of 2017 the Philadelphia "P"

200-521: A dishonest mint official debasing the coin, or putting less precious metal in the coin than specified. The first mint marks, called "Magistrate Marks" were developed by the Greeks , and named the Magistrate in charge of producing that coin. Debasing a coin, or otherwise tampering with it, was a very serious crime, often punishable by death in many civilizations. For example, in 1649, the directors of

250-532: A great deal of commemorative and proof coinage bearing the W mint mark. In 1996, West Point produced clad dimes, but for collectors, not for circulation. The West Point facility is still used for storage of part of the United States' gold bullion reserves, and West Point is now the United States' production facility for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium American Eagle coins . In 2019, West Point produced limited quantities of circulating quarters bearing

300-491: A minting facility, it produced both gold and silver coinage in eleven different denominations, though only ten denominations were ever minted there at one time (in 1851 silver three-cent pieces , half dimes , dimes , quarters , half dollars , and gold dollars , Quarter Eagles , half eagles , eagles , and double eagles ). A new branch facility was opened in Carson City, Nevada , in 1870; it operated until 1893, with

350-434: 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 field 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

400-537: A small portion of America the Beautiful quarters minted in circulation-quality (but not issued for circulation) since 2012. The West Point branch is the newest mint facility, gaining official status as a branch mint in 1988. Its predecessor, the West Point Bullion Depository, was opened in 1938, and cents were produced there from 1973 to 1986. Along with these, which were identical to those produced at Philadelphia, West Point has struck

450-525: A three-year hiatus from 1886 to 1888. Like the Charlotte and Dahlonega branches, the Carson City Mint (CC mint mark) was opened to take advantage of local precious metal deposits, in this case, a large vein of silver . Though gold coins were also produced there, no base metal coins were. In 1911 the Mint had a female acting director, Margaret Kelly , at that point the highest paid woman on

500-438: Is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It should not be confused with a mintmaster mark which is the mark of the mintmaster . Mint marks were first developed to locate a problem. If a coin was underweight, or overweight, the mint mark would immediately tell where the coin was minted, and the problem could be located and fixed. Another problem which could occur would be

550-656: Is called "The Great American Coin Hunt". The S mintmark were also used for circulated coins until 1980. Although the US and several other countries use the initial letter of the city for its mint marks, this practice is not universal. For instance, Germany used A for Berlin, D for Munich, E for Muldenhutten, F for Stuttgart, G for Karlsruhe and J for Hamburg. When Spain adopted decimal coinage in 1848, it used stars with different numbers of points as mint marks. Madrid used six pointed stars, Barcelona used eight pointed stars, and so on. After

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600-537: Is the Philadelphia Mint . The current facility, which opened in 1969, is the fourth Philadelphia Mint. The first was built in 1792, when Philadelphia was still the U.S. capital, and began operation in 1793. Until 1980, coins minted at Philadelphia bore no mint mark, with the exceptions of the Susan B. Anthony dollar and the wartime Jefferson nickel . In 1980, the P mint mark was added to all U.S. coinage except

650-689: The Georgia Gold Rush and put its first mint marks on the gold coins struck there. Like other countries, the United States has since placed mint marks not only on its own coins but also those of its territories, such as the Philippines, and other countries for which it has contracts to strike coins, such as Fiji. In the 19th century, numismatists (coin collectors) did not generally collect coins according to mint mark; rather, they attempted to obtain date sets of coins. A turnaround began after 1893, when A. G. Heaton 's "A Treatise on Coinage of

700-518: The Charlotte (C mint mark) and Dahlonega (D mint mark) Mints were opened to facilitate the conversion of local gold deposits into coinage, and minted only gold coins. The Civil War closed both these facilities permanently. The New Orleans Mint (O mint mark) closed at the beginning of the Civil War (1861) and did not re-open until the end of Reconstruction in 1879. During its two stints as

750-892: The Congress of the Confederation of February 21, 1782, and the first general-circulation coin of the United States, the Fugio cent , was produced in 1787 based on the Continental dollar . The current United States Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792 , and originally placed within the Department of State . Per the terms of the Coinage Act, the first Mint building was in Philadelphia , which

800-753: The Dahlonega Mint (production of coins started on February 12, 1838), C for the Charlotte Mint (March 27, 1838), O for the New Orleans Mint (May 8, 1838), S for the San Francisco Mint (April 3, 1854), CC for the Carson City Mint (February 11, 1870), D again (Dahlonega had closed in 1861 never to reopen) now for the Denver Mint (March 12, 1906), M for Manila Mint (July 15, 1920) (where an official US Mint began with

850-454: The Spanish colonial American Mint at Potosi , in what is today Bolivia , were condemned to death for seriously debasing the coinage. The initials of the assayer as well as the mint mark were immediate identifiers when the coins were inspected. In some cases the symbols found in the field of ancient Greek coins indicated mints, not magistrates. Mints in territories conquered by Alexander

900-471: The cent . Until 1968, the Philadelphia Mint was responsible for nearly all official proof coinage . Philadelphia is also the site of master die production for U.S. coinage, and the engraving and design departments of the Mint are also located there. The Denver Mint began in 1863 as the local assay office , just five years after gold was discovered in the area. By the turn of the century,

950-493: The "W" mint mark for the first time. While not a coin production facility, the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox , Kentucky , is another facility of the Mint. Its primary purpose is for storage of the United States and other countries' gold and silver bullion reserves. The US Treasury owns 8133.5 tonnes of gold, 7628 tonnes of which is stored in US Mint storage facilities, namely, 4582 tonnes (147.3 million troy ozs) in

1000-654: The 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. Most Philadelphia Mint coins from earlier than 1980 were unmarked with the notable exceptions being wartime nickels (1942-1945), and Susan B. Anthony dollars (1979-1999). The P mint mark was first used on the Susan B. Anthony Dollars starting 1979. From 1980 until 2017, the Lincoln cent was the only coin that did not always have a mint mark, using a "D" when struck in Denver but lacking

1050-588: The Bicentennial of the Constitution. The Mint's functions include: The Mint is not responsible for the production of American paper money; that is the responsibility of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing . In 2000, the Mint was responsible for the production of 28 billion coins . See United States Mint coin production for annual production values of each coin. The United States Mint Police ,

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1100-490: The Dahlonega, Charlotte, and New Orleans mintmarks (D, C, and O, respectively) on the obverse (front) side, 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. The Manila Mint (the only overseas U.S. mint, which produced U.S. Territorial and U.S. Commonwealth coinage) used the M mintmark from 1920 to 1941. Between 1965 and 1967, as

1150-520: The Denver and Dahlonega mints used the same mint mark D, they were never in operation at the same time, so this is not a source of ambiguity. The San Francisco branch , opened in 1854 to serve the goldfields of the California Gold Rush , uses an S mint mark. It quickly outgrew its first building and moved into a new facility in 1874. This building, one of the few that survived the great earthquake and fire of 1906, served until 1937, when

1200-546: The Great struck coins with the types he used in Macedon but marked with a local symbol. For example, Rhodes struck coins with Alexander's types marked with a rose, a local symbol previously used on its own coins. A reform of Diocletian made mint marks a regular feature of ancient Roman coinage. These mint marks were placed at the bottom of the reverse of the coin and contained three parts. The first part indicates that this

1250-399: The Mint labored to replace the silver coinage with base metal coins, mintmarks were temporarily dispensed with (including on the penny and nickel) 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. Due to

1300-478: The Mint's procurement and contracting activity. Mint Pennsylvania none Mint Mint Mint 1879-1909 Mint none Mint 1889-1893 Mint none 1920–1922 1925–1941 none West Point Mint (1988-) none With the exception of a brief period in 1838 and 1839, all coins minted at U.S. branch mints prior to 1908 displayed that branch's mintmark on their reverse . Larger denominations of gold and silver coins were labeled with

1350-573: The New World when they authorized Mexico City to open a mint on 11 May 1535. The Spanish Empire established mints throughout its American territories, each with their own mint mark. After its revolution, Mexico continued to use its colonial Mo monogram mint mark shown on either side of the date in the Spanish Milled Dollar . The United States of America established mints in Charlotte, North Carolina and Dahlonega, Georgia in 1838 after

1400-589: The Philippines . Originally part of the State Department , the Mint was made an independent agency in 1799. It converted precious metals into standard coin for anyone's account with no seigniorage charge beyond the refining costs. Under the Coinage Act of 1873 , the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury . It was placed under the auspices of the Treasurer of the United States in 1981. Legal tender coins of today are minted solely for

1450-648: The Treasury's account. The first Director of the United States Mint was renowned scientist David Rittenhouse from 1792 to 1795. The position is currently filled by Ventris Gibson . Henry Voigt 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 , and Christian Gobrecht . The Mint has operated several branch facilities throughout

1500-677: The US Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky, 1682 tonnes (54.1 million troy ozs) in the West Point bullion storage facility in upstate New York, and 1364 tonnes (43.8 million troy ozs) in the US Mint facility in Denver, Colorado. The Mint manages extensive commercial marketing programs. The product line includes special coin sets for collectors, national medals, American Eagle gold, silver and platinum bullion coins, and commemorative coins marking national events such as

1550-603: The United States Branch Mints" was published. Heaton cited example after example of mint-marked coins that were much scarcer than Philadelphia products and that should bring high premiums. When the United States abandoned silver coinage in 1964, mint marks were removed from the new copper-nickel coins in the belief that it would reduce the removal of coins from circulation by collectors. The silver coins quickly disappeared from circulation, and it

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1600-413: The United States since the Philadelphia Mint opened in 1792, in a building known as "Ye Olde Mint". With the opening of branch mints came the need for mint marks , an identifying feature on the coin to show its facility of origin. The first of these branch mints were the Charlotte , North Carolina (1838–1861), Dahlonega , Georgia (1838–1861), and New Orleans , Louisiana (1838–1909) branches. Both

1650-469: The coinage of a one centavo coin on July 15, 1920) and lastly a W for the West Point Mint . The West Point Mint began coin production on July 29, 1974 to ease the shortage of quarters and other minor coinage and bore no mint mark. Thus West Point coins could not be distinguished from those made at the Philadelphia Mint. The West Point mint mark, "W", was first used on the $ 10 gold coins commemorating

1700-591: The government's payroll. She stated that women were paid equally within the bureau. A branch of the U.S. mint ( Manila Mint ) was established in 1920 in Manila in the Philippines , which was then a U.S. territory. To date, the Manila Mint is the only U.S. mint established outside the continental U.S. and was responsible for producing coins (one, five, ten, twenty and fifty centavo denominations). This branch

1750-415: The inscription CONOB, meaning the pure standard of Constantinople, which was used by a variety of mints. Mint marks continued on copper coinage until the second half of the seventh century, however. Mint names began to appear on French coins under Pepin and became mandatory under Charlemagne . In 1389, Charles IV adopted a system called Secret Points. This scheme placed a dot under the first letter of

1800-404: The legend on coins of Crémieu, under the second letter for Romans, up to the twenty-second letter for Bourges. In the fifteenth century letters or symbols placed at the end of the legend indicating the mint were used in addition to Secret Points. In 1540, Francis I discontinued Secret Points in favor of a system of letters; A for Paris, B for Rouen, …, Z for Lyon; in the field. He also made it

1850-425: The limited numbers produced at each facility, they might have been hoarded as collectibles. For 2017, in commemoration of the U.S Mint's 225th Anniversary, the P mintmark was placed on the obverse of Philadelphia-minted Lincoln cents for the first time in the coin's 100+ year history. The P mintmark did not re-appear for 2018 and subsequent circulation strikes minted in Philadelphia. Mint mark A mint mark

1900-534: 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, with the exception of 2017 Lincoln Cents, still bears no P mintmark. The circulating cents struck in the 1980s at San Francisco (except proofs) and West Point also bears no mintmark, as their facilities were used to supplement Philadelphia's production. Given

1950-414: The office was bringing in over $ 5 million in annual gold and silver deposits, and in 1906, the Mint opened its new Denver branch. Denver uses a D mint mark and strikes mostly circulation coinage, although it has struck commemorative coins in the past, such as the $ 10 gold 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Commemorative. It also produces its own working dies, as well as working dies for the other mints. Although

2000-510: The present facility was opened. It was closed in 1955, then reopened a decade later during the coin shortage of the mid-60s. In 1968, it took over most proof-coinage production from Philadelphia, and since 1975, it has been used almost exclusively for proof coinage, with the exceptions of the Anthony dollar (1979–1981), a portion of the mintage of cents in the early 1980s, (these cents are indistinguishable from those minted at Philadelphia), and

2050-443: The revolution of 1868, small dates were placed in these stars. The small dates indicated the year the coin was struck, as opposed to the large date on the coin which was the year it was authorized. Many mints of the world commonly use a Privy mark , which is a symbol unique to each mint. The Royal Canadian Mint commonly uses a maple leaf privy mark. Segovia, Spain used an aqueduct, a local landmark, before it switched over to

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2100-782: The rule for mint-masters to place their personal marks on coins, as they had done with increasing frequency since the coinage of Louis XI . This was one of the few royal practices continued by the Republic of France. The mint letters continued until 1898 (briefly revived in 1914 and from 1942 to 1958) and the mint-masters marks, supplemented by the mark of the Chief Engraver, are still used. Some Medieval English coins used mint names . When William III retired hammered coinage, branch mints which helped strike machine made coins to replace it put their initials below his bust. The Royal Mint established branches to coin sovereigns near

2150-579: The sources of gold. These issues show the initials of Sydney, Melbourne, Victoria, and Perth Australia as well as Canada, South Africa, and India. The privately owned Soho Mint obtained a contract to strike royal copper coins with steam presses and put its name on these coins and on coins it minted for other countries. When it closed, Ralph Heaton acquired its equipment, founded the Birmingham Mint , and put his H mint mark on coins of Canada, among others. The Spanish Empire introduced mint marks to

2200-538: Was a coin with either SM for Sacra Moneta, M for Moneta, or P for Pecurnia. The second part was an abbreviation of the name of the mint such as ROM for Rome or LON for London. The final part indicated the workshop within the mint. The reform of Anastasius , which is the traditional dividing point between the coinage of the Roman and the Later Roman (a.k.a. Byzantine) empires, replaced the mint marks on gold coins by

2250-582: Was added to the Lincoln cent to celebrate 225 years of Philadelphia Mint service. Generally 21st century coins with an "S" or "W" do not circulate, being mostly produced as bullion , commemorative , proof coinage or other "collector coinage" sold by the US Mint to either authorized bullion wholesalers or directly to collectors. There was also an exception, the 2019-W quarter made for circulation. Only 2 million were made for each design. The West Point Mint continues to make W quarters intended for circulation. This

2300-402: Was created after some entries in the 50 State quarters series were described as being of poor quality, with a Mint spokesperson saying the AIP would ensure "excellence in design". This coin-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . United States Mint The first authorization for the establishment of a mint in the United States was in a resolution of

2350-496: Was feared that if collectors saved too many of the new coins, there would be a serious shortage of coinage. Mint marks were returned to United States coins in 1968. The current mint marks on United States coinage are P, D, S, and W for the 4 currently operating US Mints. The letter P is used for the Philadelphia Mint , D for the Denver Mint , S for the San Francisco Mint , and W for the West Point Mint . Over time there have been 9 official United States Mints. The first US Mint

2400-422: Was in Philadelphia which began coin production with large cents and the half cents of pure copper in early 1793. Other US Mints, prior to the twentieth century, were considered "branch mints". United States mint marks were originally used to distinguish coins not made in Philadelphia. The 8 mint marks used to distinguish coins not minted in Philadelphia (in the chronological order of their first coinage) are: D for

2450-583: Was in production from 1920 to 1922, and then again from 1925 through 1941. Coins struck by this mint bear either the M mintmark (for Manila) or none at all, similar to the Philadelphia mint at the time. A branch mint in The Dalles , Oregon , was commissioned in 1864. Construction was halted in 1870, and the facility never produced any coins, although the building still stands. There are four active coin-producing mints: Philadelphia , Denver , San Francisco , and West Point . The Mint's largest facility

2500-642: Was then the capital of the United States; it was the first building of the United States raised under the Constitution . The mint's headquarters is a non-coin-producing facility in Washington D.C. It operates mint facilities in Philadelphia , Denver , San Francisco , and West Point, New York , and a bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky . Official Mints (Branches) were once also located in Carson City, Nevada ; Charlotte, North Carolina ; Dahlonega, Georgia ; New Orleans, Louisiana ; and in Manila, in

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