Old United States Mint

The Old United States Mint is located at 333 Market Street in San Francisco, California and plays a crucial part in the nation's coinage. This facility does not produce circulating coins but rather is the only manufacturer of both regular and silver proof coin sets. In 1854, the San Francisco Mint opened its doors and began converting miners' gold into coins, producing $4,084,207 in gold pieces by December of that first year alone. The new mint soon outgrew the small brick building in which it occupied and in 1874 it moved to a new facility, with walls of stone, resembling an ancient Greek temple. The Mint's production of coins was uninterrupted for 32 years, until the disastrous earthquake of 1906.

Today, the Old United States Mint in San Francisco does not allow for visitors or accommodate tourists because the space is required for personnel and machinery used to produce the coinage. The facility is known for producing quality craftsmanship and fine artistry and because of the spirit of excellence is known throughout the world. The building is unique in architecture and design and draws some crowds of tourists to take photos of the unique Greek structure.