Built : 1874
Architect : Alfred B. Mullett
Mint Mark : S
Check out some of our San Francisco Mint coins recovered from the S.S. Central America here.
$20 Liberty Type 2 Granite Lady AU58 CAC – $1,500
The obverse of the Double Eagle features a Greco-Roman Liberty head with her hair pulled back and a crown resting lightly on her oral sex. The turn back shows the Great Seal of the United States : an eagle holding a harbor that represents America. The eagle besides holds a duplicate ribbon, symbolic of the mint ’ south appellation .
San Francisco Mint History
California gold miner, circa 1850s California gold miner, circa 1850s Imagine you ’ re the U.S. Mint in 1849. The California Gold Rush is in broad swing. enormous quantities of gold are flooding California and your lone way to coin it is to send it on a parlous travel to Philadelphia and then transport the coins back. What do you do ?
That ’ south where the San Francisco Mint comes in. Founded in 1854, the mint turned miner ’ mho gold into coins, producing $ 4,084,207 in aureate pieces in its beginning class alone. It soon needed more space than its initial, minor brick building, and in 1874 the mint was moved to a thousand, greek Revival Style build up. The Granite Lady, as the build was dubbed, sat on a concrete and granite foundation designed to prevent tunneling into the mint and to withstand earthquakes. An intrigue legend has it that the basis was laid during a Masonic ceremony and filled with gold coins struck at the mint .
Gold Rush newspaper Gold Rush newspaper The San Francisco Mint besides played a pivotal function in the greatest nautical calamity in american english history. In 1857, more than two tons of gold dust, nuggets, coins and ingots from the California Gold Rush were loaded onto the S.S. Central America, which regularly transported aureate from California to the east coast. After being caught in a hurricane off the slide of the Carolinas, the S.S. Central America sank and the homo and fiscal loss was felt around the world.
In 1906, the mint suffered a fire ( resulting from the massive 1906 earthquake ) so intense it melted windows and made granite and sandstone blocks blow up. At the time, the mint help $ 300 million worth of gold – 33 % of our nation ’ s gold reserves, which was essential to backing up our currency .
Great Earthquake of 1906 and the fire on Sacramento Street Great Earthquake of 1906 and the burn on Sacramento Street The superintendent of the batch and his staff were able to protect the gold and the building throughout the catastrophe, from both fuel and looting, and the batch played a function in recovery, being the only supply of water for nearby residents. The Granite Lady lived to fight another day, continuing production up to 1937, when a new mint was opened .
The newly location struck coins for general circulation, stopped operations for 13 years, and started back up in 1968 by minting proof coins. The mint was officially an assay function from 1962 to 1988, after which it regained its status as a batch. In 2012, the mint started producing circulation-quality America the Beautiful quarters, which were not released for circulation but lone made available in 40-coin rolls and 100-coin bags .
today, the San Francisco Mint is the largest producer of collectible coins in the U.S. and the largest proof coin producer in the world. It besides has the alone distinction of having the oldest mint mark in the U.S .
1854-S Quarter Eagle 1854-S Quarter Eagle Over the years, the San Francisco Mint has produced coins of great numismatic quality. The 1854-S Quarter Eagle, for case, is one of the rare of all U.S. regular issue coinage, with a coinage in the low hundreds. And a mere 268 of the 1854-S Half Eagle ’ s were minted, while merely a handful exist .
We presently have San Francisco Half Eagles and Double Eagles available. If you ’ re looking for one, or any early particular San Francisco coin, give us a call at 1-888-782-6405. Let a mint from this storied mint be a function of your collection !
Read more: Las mejores herramientas NFT para encontrar los tokens no fungibles más deseados – BeInCrypto
We are please to offer a selection of San Francisco coins recovered from the S.S. Central America. Each coin is unique and comes with an authentic pinch of gold debris from the California Gold Rush .
We besides have the Double Eagles that survived the great earthquake. The San Francisco Granite Lady Hoard coins are a great accession to any collection .
If you ’ d like to own a coin from a pivotal time in our state ’ second history, give us a call at 1-888-782-6405 .
