The Collection of Historical Records of the SF Old Mint. Various contributors credited. 1 1

[Mike Meenderink]

This is the collection of historical records of the San Francisco Old Mint.  Feel free to post any relevant persons, coins, historical information, correspondence, pictures, references, links etc... in a concise and meaningful manner as you see fit. Open forum for discussion of the mint and related industries. Feel free to ask questions as well. Thanks for your interest and/or contribution. - Mike

Edited Saturday at 10:37 PM by Mike Meenderink

[RWB]

Nice article. Too bad the author doesn't tell readers what is shown in the photos.

Also, the earthquake did not do serious damage to the city - but it damaged gas lines and that caused the fire. Flames might have consumed the Mint building, if it did not have its own well and water pumps. (See letter, below)

Those who want to read the first hand reports and telegrams can go to the NNP and look in:

RG104 Entry 229 box 244, and

RG104 Entry 235 volumes 355, 357 and 358

Most of this material is typed, so even youngsters ("phonesters?") can read it.

Edited June 2 by RWB

[Mike Meenderink]

Old SF Mint 1900/2018

Then and now....

Edited June 9 by Mike Meenderink

[Mike Meenderink]

Old SF Mint 1906/2018                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Then and now...

Edited June 9 by Mike Meenderink

[Mike Meenderink]

 Single sheet Report of Gross Production for July 1,1881 to December 31st,1881. Cower (?) & Co. Mining Company, Moores Flat (Post Office), Nevada County, California. No other information is filled in.  To: San Francisco Mint Superintendent

[Mike Meenderink]

Receipt of gold (California grains) deposited by S. A. McMeans, signed by Cahill for the San Francisco Branch Mint. Dr. S. A. McMeans was born in Dandrdige, Tennessee in 1808 and fought in the war with Mexico. He arrived in California in 1849. He was elected as State Treasurer in 1853 and during his term finances all over the state of California were in deplorable condition. According to Bancroft, "Millions had been wrung out of the people to support extravagant county and municipal governments." While reform was underway, it began too late to avert catastrophe and a deficit was discovered in the accounts of McMeans, the State Treasurer. McMeans was also involved in the bank failures of 1855 and 1856. He died in Virginia City in 1876.

[Mike Meenderink]

The most famous coins of the SF Old US Mint

 

“Crème de la Crème” of San Francisco Mint Coins in S.S. Central America Treasure

- July 16, 2018
 

Now certified by PCGS, the public can see them for the first time at the ANA 2018 Philadelphia World's Fair of Money^®.

The latest recovery of sunken treasure from the legendary "Ship of Gold," the S.S. Central America, includes six coins that now comprise the finest known "San Francisco Mint denomination set" for $1, $2.50, $3, $5, $10 and $20 gold pieces, according to the California Gold Marketing Group (CGMG).

The Double Eagle in the recently assembled set is graded PCGS MS67+, the highest grade ever given to any 1857-S $20 by Professional Coin Grading Service.

Exhibiting original, gorgeous red glow luster, the finest known of any Liberty Head Double Eagles, this 1857-S $20 Spiked Shield variety, PCGS MS67+, will be one of the highlights of the S.S. Central America sunken treasure to be displayed at the 2018 ANA Philadelphia convention. Photo credit: Professional Coin Grading Service www.PCGS.com. (Click to enlarge)

PCGS Co-Founder David Hall and California Gold Marketing Group Managing Partner Dwight Manley hold the finest known Liberty Head Double Eagle, an 1857-S recovered from the S.S. Central America and now graded PCGS MS67+. It will be publicly displayed for the first time at the 2018 ANA Philadelphia World’s Fair of Money^®. Photo credit: Donn Pearlman

"It's the King of Siam set of the S.S. Central America," declared CGMG Managing Partner Dwight Manley, referring to the coveted special set of United States coins presented in 1836 to the King of Siam (now Thailand) as a diplomatic gift on behalf of President Andrew Jackson.

"Just like they assembled the crème de la crème of coinage from a youthful America for that presentation gift, this stunning San Francisco Mint type set from the California Gold Rush we've assembled from the sunken treasure is the greatest set of all the finest known coins.  And they all were discovered during the most recent recovery expedition.  Some were found securely wrapped inside a ship’s safe," said Manley.

The six coins will be publicly displayed for the first time at booth #225 during the American Numismatic Association 2018 Philadelphia World's Fair of Money^®, August 14-18.

A total of 3,134 gold federal, private mint and world coins from the S.S. Central America were carefully retrieved from various debris fields and miners' pokes on the Atlantic Ocean seabed during the last recovery expedition in 2014.

"We now know that dozens of those coins are either the finest known of their kind or tied for finest," said Manley.  "Among the best-of-the-best are five exceptionally special 1857-S coins and a stunning 1856-S that are the crème de la crème of all San Francisco Mint coinage, surpassing even the coins in the famous Clapp and Eliasberg collections."

The finest known 1856-S Type II Liberty Head $1, PCGS MS65+, will be part of the San Francisco Mint “gold denomination set” of recovered S.S. Central America coins on display at the 2018 ANA Philadelphia convention. Photo credit: Professional Coin Grading Service www.PCGS.com. (Click to enlarge)

These are the six superlative San Francisco Mint coins recently examined and cataloged by CGMG and will be in the upcoming World's Fair of Money display:

• 1856-S Type II Liberty Head $1, graded PCGS MS65+, the finest known.
• 1857-S Liberty Head $2.50 , PCGS MS64+, tied for finest known.
• 1857-S Indian Princess $3, PCGS MS67, the finest known of all San Francisco Mint $3 gold coins.
• 1857-S Liberty Head $5, PCGS MS66, finest known.
• 1857-S Liberty Head $10, PCGS MS64+, finest known of all San Francisco Mint No Motto variety Eagles.
• 1857-S Liberty Head $20 Spiked Shield variety, PCGS MS67+, with an original, gorgeous red glow luster, and the finest known of any Liberty Head Double Eagle.

"If we'd seen just one gem 1857-S $20 in the 1970s, it would have been the talk of the coin show!  The S.S. Central America treasure is probably the greatest numismatic discovery of all time," asserted PCGS Co-Founder and Collectors Universe, Inc. President David Hall.  "All of these finest knowns and the rarities galore are one of the greatest things to happen in the coin market."

Retrieved from the fabled “Ship of Gold” sunken treasure and now ready to be exhibited by the California Gold Marketing Group at the 2018 ANA Philadelphia convention, this 1857-S Liberty Head $10, PCGS MS64+ is the finest known of all S Mint No Motto Eagles. Photo credit: Professional Coin Grading Service www.PCGS.com. (Click to enlarge)		Recovered from the legendary S.S. Central America, this 1857-S Liberty Head $5, PCGS MS66, is the finest known and will be exhibited with other crème de la crème San Francisco Mint coins at the ANA 2018 Philadelphia World’s Fair of Money®. Photo credit: Professional Coin Grading Service www.PCGS.com. (Click to enlarge)

The finest known of all San Francisco Mint $3 gold coins, this 1857-S Indian Princess, PCGS MS67, can be seen with other recovered S.S. Central America sunken treasure at the 2018 ANA Philadelphia convention. Photo credit: Professional Coin Grading Service www.PCGS.com. (Click to enlarge)		Tied for finest known, this 1857-S Liberty Head $2.50, PCGS MS64+, will be one of the crème de la crème of recovered San Francisco Mint S.S. Central America coins exhibited in Philadelphia at the 2018 ANA convention. Photo credit: Professional Coin Grading Service www.PCGS.com. (Click to enlarge)

In addition to the San Francisco Mint gold denomination set, CGMG will exhibit other S.S. Central America treasure, including historic assayers' ingots as well as California Gold Rush era Fractional and Territorial coins recovered during the 2014 expedition.

Bob Evans, the chief scientist on the 1980's mission that first located and recovered a portion of the fabulous sunken treasure and who assisted with the 2014 recovery, will be at the exhibit each day during the show to meet with visitors.  At 11 am on Friday, August 17, he will present a lecture, "The Many (and New) Treasures of the S.S. Central America: Revelations & Stories from the 2014 Recoveries," in room 121B of the convention center.

"This certainly will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many people to see an important portion of America's greatest sunken treasure," said Manley.

The S.S. Central America was a 280-foot long, three-masted side-wheel steamship carrying tons of California gold that had been shipped from San Francisco to Panama when she sank in a September 1857 hurricane during a voyage from Aspinwall (now Colón), Panama to New York City.  The loss of the gold cargo was a major factor in the economically devastating financial panic of 1857 in the United States.

The California Gold Marketing Group LLC of Brea, California acquired the 2014 treasure from Ira Owen Kane, Receiver for Recovery Limited Partnership and Columbus Exploration, LLC in a court-approved transaction in November 2017.  In 1999, the group acquired all of the available treasure that was recovered in the 1980s.

Article provided by PCGS at www.pcgs.com

[Henri Charriere]

A bit off the beaten track, but I'm curious.  Did they ever catch the guy(s) who stole the chimneys off the Mint's roof?

They are prominently featured in the first photograph but noticeably missing from your "before" and "after" photos.

[RWB]

The Library of Congress has additional photos, and there is a lengthy HABS/HAER/HALS survey on the SF Mint building. The LoC materials are available on-line. Readers will find original floor plans and other information in my book From Mine to Mint. (Plans for other mints and assay offices are also included.)

Edited June 4 by RWB

[RWB]

From: Structural Engineers Association of Northern California

[https://legacy.seaonc.org/structure/old-san-francisco-mint/]

The Old San Francisco Mint is a three-story brick masonry and stone-clad bearing and shear wall structure that measures approximately 220.5 feet in the north-south direction by 165 feet in the east-west direction. There is a courtyard in the center that measures about 102.5 feet north-south by 43 feet east-west. The building sits on a massive mat-type foundation of unreinforced concrete that is approximately 4 to 4.5 feet thick below the basement level. The average building height from ground level to the roof is 52.5 feet. The first and second floors are constructed of wrought iron beams supported on the masonry walls and cast-iron columns. The floors consist of shallow brick arches with a concrete rubble fill on top spanning between the beams. The floors are typically finished with stone pavers or hardwood floor. The attic floor system is made of shallow, corrugate iron arches with a concrete rubble fill on top. The roof framing includes wrought iron beams and trusses with stacked timber joists and straight timber sheathing, creating the roof diaphragm.

There are two large, main chimney stacks on the roof that taper from 12 feet square at the base to 11.5 foot square at the top. These chimneys were originally extended 69 feet above the gable roof. The top 25 feet of both main chimney stacks was clad with ornate cast iron. Each chimney has a central flue and four corner flues.

The top 25 feet of the chimneys, including the ornate cast-iron, was removed after sustaining damage in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

[Mike Meenderink]

On 6/4/2024 at 8:29 AM, RWB said:

The top 25 feet of the chimneys, including the ornate cast-iron, was removed after sustaining damage in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

@Henri Charriere

.

Article provided by PCGS at www.pcgs.com

[Mike Meenderink]

Contributor RWB     Left/ 1 pg Document Regarding funds allocation May 5, 1906 To: SF Mayor From: SF Mint Secretary. Right/ 2 pg Document May 14,1906 regarding the effects of the 1906 SF earthquake to the US Mint. To: Sec. of The US Treasury. From: Director of SF Mint.  

Edited June 5 by Mike Meenderink

[RWB]

Looks like Mike has been busy. Usually best to crop these presscopy pages, and use only 1 or 2 per post so they remain readable.

There's a lot of Carson Mint material in the Mint archives, but little relating to specific events. (I'm not sure what is in the 3-vol set published a year or so ago, but It might be mostly about specific coins and or newspaper articles.)

[Mike Meenderink]

Letter dated April 18,1906 telling of the fires in San Francisco and how the US Mint was the only building left standing for blocks. Contributor RWB

 

[RWB]

One of the building photos Mike posted shows Mint employees on the roof, possibly spraying water to prevent damage.

[Mike Meenderink]

On 6/5/2024 at 4:08 PM, RWB said:

One of the building photos Mike posted shows Mint employees on the roof, possibly spraying water to prevent damage.

 

@RWB This has now been corroborated. Mint employees were in fact fighting the 1906 fire on the roof as seen in the photo. Fact.

Edited June 15 by Mike Meenderink

[Mike Meenderink]

Contributor RWB

Edited June 5 by Mike Meenderink

[Mike Meenderink]

Letter dated April 11,1900. To: Mint Director Roberts. From: Superintendent Leach.   Discussing the theft by assay office employee B.C. Bergen and his eminent dismissal. Contributor RWB

Edited June 7 by Mike Meenderink

[Mike Meenderink]

Contemporary newspaper article April 11,1900.  Referencing B.C. Bergen mint assay office employees arrest and firing. Contributor: RWB

Edited June 7 by Mike Meenderink

[Mike Meenderink]

Approval of Requisition for Funds/ Dated: January 10, 1906 / Treasury Department- Bureau of the Mint. To: SF Mint Superintendent Leach From: Acting Mint Director Robert E. Preston. US Treasury Department letterhead. The letter lists all the operating expenses requisition in total of $35,000.00 as related to the operation of the San Francisco Mint and that it has been approved for the month of January 1906.  Contributor RWB

Edited June 9 by Mike Meenderink

[Henri Charriere]

[I read everything posted on this thread, Mike. Great stuff!  The hue and cry was raised many years ago about the wanton destruction of newspaper morgues due primarily to the prohibitive cost of storing records.  After an interval, they were routinely being destroyed. Photographing copies proceeded rapidly to microfilming and scanning with storage in cyberspace.  However, much like the Chat Board, besieged with material contributed steadily and continually resulting in exponential storage needs, files are deleted.  When deletion occurs, records are lost.  With loss of records, history is lost. When history is lost, it's gone forever. Informal notes and secondary sources are consulted if they exist.

Research extends to oral histories and institutional memories  This is true for every field of endeavor. Regrettably, while diamonds are forever, the storage of data isn't and there is presently no oversight body empowered to review the matter of storage of cyberstorage and it has since been disclosed that with the stroke of a key massive amounts of are continually being destroyed.  Without photographs and newspaper accounts and books on the same, what is one left with? Nothing.

[RWB]

To add to Henri's cogent comments, all the digital records of the Egyptian 4th Dynasty were lost when the system architect (a son of Pharaoh Shepseskaf) forgot to install an "ON" button and tried to hot wire the system using an old Hyundai ignition coil.

[Mike Meenderink]

Authentic 1890's Comstock Lode (Virginia City, NV) pure silver ingot. SF Mint 1st generation seal. Serial # 220   6.15 oz 999.75 Fine Silver 5" x 3.2" x 1.1" This is an example of the earliest small silver ingots produced at the SF Mint. Ingots like this could be used as a form of currency if needed. A rare specimen as many of these ingots had been melted at some point in time.

Edited June 12 by Mike Meenderink

[Mike Meenderink]

Comstock Lode Silver/Gold Ore, Cedar Hill Mine Virginia City NV 1869

A high-grade dual ore sample from one of the top producing mines of the Comstock Lode that supplied the SF Mint with precious metals.

Edited June 10 by Mike Meenderink

[RWB]

Nice examples. The SF bar might be listed in mint documents held at NARA in San Bruno, CA. I don't believe the bar number is significant - it should refer to a deposit or a bar made on one day to match bookkeeping records. That is, the bar numbers are not sequential. I'll check.

Edited June 10 by RWB

[RWB]

In checking my database, bar numbers were usually assigned in numerical order at the beginning of a month, quarter, specific deposit or other event for the purpose of matching the bar number to its source. There was never a master number system. The number stamped on this bar is not significant except for tracking the metal's source in an inventory and bookkeeping system. Thus "low number" has no particulate meaning except within and unknown production context.

[I find no explicit instructions on numbering bars, but will remember that as something to be aware of.]

[RWB]

Little bars, like the one illustrated, were usually silver remaining from refining a native California gold deposit. The so-called Comstock Lode had a much lower gold proportion than California or other gold producing regions. That makes a little bar of silver a suspicious commodity.  It would be nice to see the authentication evidence for such a small silver bar.

Merely asking.

[Mike Meenderink]

On 6/11/2024 at 2:43 PM, RWB said:

Little bars, like the one illustrated, were usually silver remaining from refining a native California gold deposit. The so-called Comstock Lode had a much lower gold proportion than California or other gold producing regions. That makes a little bar of silver a suspicious commodity.  It would be nice to see the authentication evidence for such a small silver bar.

Merely asking.

The information that was associated with the bar above was an auction description from 2015. The bar was described as a first-generation early bar from the SF Mint. The description specifically stated the bar was among the bars that were impressed with the 1st generation SF Mint seal. The mint seal impression does appear to be a match. The seals that were used type 1, 2, 3. I have found an article that delves into this subject that may add more specifics. My research indicates the dates below are a bit shallow and the type 1 mint seal was used from the beginning of the mints production as there is no other types known prior to the type 1. I believe the seal was used prior to 1900 on some small ingots but the majority of small 4 oz-6oz ingots were made during the 1920s -1950s. Research continues.

Ingots are an older form of Mint 5-ounce silver bullion pieces

• By Ken Conaway
  
• Published: Jun 10, 2015, 3 AM

Shown left to right are Type I, Type II and Type III 5-ounce silver ingots from the San Francisco Mint, dating from the 1930s to late in the 20th century.

By Ken Conaway 

If you are a coin dealer, coin collector, or just a numismatic enthusiast, chances are good that you have encountered a U.S. government issued silver bar before. Silver bars or ingots were produced at the U.S. Assay Office at New York, the Philadelphia Mint and the San Francisco Mint, collectively, for almost 100 years, 1892 to 1984. 

I have been collecting these historical gems over the past six years but find that information about their production is more scarce than the ingots themselves.

My research and collection efforts to date have focused on those produced at the San Francisco Mint in the 5-ounce class. I have been able to identify the various series that were made but continue to search for information that would certify a production timeline. I have been writing about my findings and posting photographs for two years now on my blog. Hopefully, through this article I can reach out to Coin World readers to assist with this research. 

Pictured here is an ingot that dates back to what I believe to be the very first series from the early 1930s, bearing what is known as a Type I oval hallmark. I have been able to approximate the dating of this particular type through a number of early 1930s coin auction catalogs by M.H. Bolender, Orangeville, Ill., and a documented donation to the American Numismatic Society on June 21, 1939, by David M. Bullowa. A note with the donation states that the donor purchased the ingot in 1935 for $5.

These Type I oval hallmark ingots were produced with three different font sizes, each with two different fineness stamps, 999.75 or 999.5, and then in a series without serial numbers, for a total of seven varieties. The latest of these was produced in the mid 1940s as evidenced by a receipt that is part of my collection. Accurate dating and chronological organization of all others remains the task to complete. 

The Type II oval hallmark, also pictured, appeared around 1946 but is found on very few 5-ounce class ingots as it seems that most ingots being produced in that time frame were in the 25-ounce class range and larger. 

And finally, in 1959, a round dated hallmark was introduced on 5-ounce class ingots. There are round dated hallmarks on larger ingots as late as 1960 as well as U.S. Assay Office oval hallmarks from San Francisco, as the Mint was identified between 1962 and 1988, but nothing later on 5-ounce class ingots than the hallmark in the nearby picture.

If anyone has any information that will help with my efforts to accurately date and chronologically organize almost 150 5-ounce class examples presently in my collection, please contact me.

Ken Conaway discusses U.S. Mint silver bars at his blog at http://silveringot.blogspot.com/. He can be reached at kenconaway@aol.com or 614-571-0614.

[Mike Meenderink]

Another SF Mint Ingot #432 5.78 oz 999.75 Fine Type 2 Seal

Edited June 12 by Mike Meenderink

[RWB]

Thanks. That helps a little but without more details on original sources it's anonymous anecdotes. None of the 3 illustrated types are germane to Nevada mining. Conaway's 2nd sentence, "Silver bars or ingots were produced at the U.S. Assay Office at New York, the Philadelphia Mint and the San Francisco Mint, collectively, for almost 100 years, 1892 to 1984," places the three "types" well out of Comstock range, and likely the same for his research.. Also, the small weights of the silver bars remains suspicious. Standard US Mint bars were approx 400 oz for gold and 2,000 oz for silver.

What are your sources, Mike?