Week #237 Happy Friday Everyone!

[Melissa Pearce]

QUESTION:

 

By 1900 the Philadelphia Mint was shipping cents and nickels to California. Why did the San Francisco Mint not produce these coins at that time?

 

Good Luck!

 

Our first place winner will receive a signed copy of "The complete guide to Buffalo NIckels" Third edition by David W. Lange. There will also be a runner up prize given to a randomly selected player with the correct answer.

 

 

REMINDER: The Numisma-Quest ends on Saturday at midnight EST. Entries after that time will not be valid. See the Trivia info post for more details.

 

When you post your answer, only the administrators can see it. Stop back this Monday. We will make all the posts visible and announce the winners.

[zrlevin]

The philadelphia mint was making all of the cents in that time period.

[copperman]

Because they were rebuilding from the major earthquake and fire?? in 1906

[AtlaZ-migration]

Because of the disastrous earthquake of 1906 in San Fransisco?

[mhardin2413]

it was cheaper to have sf focus on minting the local silver than shipping silver east and shipping copper west.

[DC Dawg]

Under Mint policy, only the branch mint in Philadelphia could mint non-silver and gold coins. Thus, the San Francisco Assay Office (it was not a branch mint officially until 1962), did not mint copper coins until the policy was changed in 1908. Nickel production did not begin until 1912.

 

Scott

[CarolinaCollector]

The equipment at the mint did not have the capacity to mint gold, silver, and minor coins. Gold and silver were minted locally for security reasons.

[Peace_Fan]

By law, pennies and nickels could only be produced by the Philadelphia mint. In 1906, Congress passed a law allowing branch mints to begin production.

[prooflike]

Because government contracts with mining industries required only minting of gold and silver at the San Fran mint at that time.

[mark]

Until the law was changed midway through 1906, it was legal to mint cents and nickels at only the Philadelphia mint. Only after April 1906 was it legal to mint cents (and nickels) at the San Francisco mint.

 

Mark

[bsshog40]

The mint was used for storage of gold bullion at this time.

[MikeKing]

It closed.

[dan8402]

The US went to the gold standard and the San Fransisco Mint was busy coining gold.

[Amanda]

The San Francisco Mint was established to mint silver and gold coins using bullion from local mines and didn't have a provision to coin base metals until 1908.

 

-Amanda

[bulldogger-migration]

The earthquake of 1899

[amy-migration]

a stipulation of law that coins that did not contain any gold or silver could only be

produced at the philidelphia mint. western miners wanted nothing to do with coins

that did not contain the minerals they were mining!

[amy-migration]

The Law, coins that contained no gold or silver could only be produced at the philidelphia mint. Westerners also wanted nothing to do with any thing they were not mining, so the coins had to be sent out west from philly.

[bit1work]

"Initially, the production of the five-cent nickel and the one-cent bronze coin was limited by law to the Philadelphia Mint. An Act of Congress passed on April 24, 1906, provided for the making of these denominations at other Mint facilities."

[Melissa Pearce]

QUESTION:

 

By 1900 the Philadelphia Mint was shipping cents and nickels to California. Why did the San Francisco Mint not produce these coins at that time?

 

ANSWER:

 

Until 1906 the SF Mint was authorized by law to coin only gold and silver.

 

Congratulations to our lst place winner Peace_Fan, you have won a signed copy of "The complete guide to Buffalo NIckels" Third edition by David W. Lange.

 

Congratulations to our runner up winner Mark you will be receiving a display box.

 

Thanks for playing this weeks Numisma-Quest. Dont forget to stop by for this weeks PMG question

[mark]

Thank you VERY much. You surely made it a "Happy Friday" for me!

 

Mark