What is in the Mint's vaults?

[jtryka]

I doubt anyone really knows, but I found this statement interesting from the FY02 annual report:

 

"The custodial gold and silver reserves included in this Schedule are primarily in bar form, but may occasionally be in coin or other form. The custodial reserves also include foreign gold coins that have been held by the Treasury for many years."

 

It would be really interesting to see what sort of coins they "occasionally" hold, perhaps old gold coins, or silver dollars, or maybe just junk silver coins, who knows. If they have foreign gold that's been held for many years, who's to say they don't have a hoard of branch mint Saints from the 1920s, or maybe even a bag of 33s! But I guess this is all just dreaming on my part.

[keithdagen]

If anything was in the vaults in coin form, I would bet that it is in the form of gold or silver eagles minted since 1986. I thought that the GSA sales cleaned out any of the rare coins that were in the vaults.

[LanLord]

Well then maybe the mint needs to create a bunch more old coins for another GSA sale, that could help the national debt problems.

[CosmicBob]

Don't they own the '33 Saint that the Smithsonian has (or had five years ago) on display?

[jtryka]

No, the Smithsonian owns that one as well as a sister coin, both of which were added to the National Numismatics Collection in 1934.

[gmarguli]

No, the Smithsonian owns that one as well as a sister coin, both of which were added to the National Numismatics Collection in 1934.

 

I thought the Treasury owned it or some other gov't organization. I was under the impression that it was "on loan" to Smithsonian.

[Leothelion]

One way or another, we all probably own those coins through our tax dollars.

 

Leo

[jtryka]

Well, this is from the NNC's website:

 

Welcome to the National Numismatic Collection (NNC) of the Smithsonian Institution, one of the largest numismatic collections in the world and the largest in North America. Located in the National Museum of American History, Behring Center, the NNC includes approximately 1.6 million objects. There are over 450,000 coins, medals and decorations and 1.1 million pieces of paper money (including the recently acquired “Confederate Treasury horde” of cancelled Confederate paper money) in the collection, highlighting the entire numismatic history of the world.

 

The collection emphsizes the development of money and medals in the United States. The core of the U.S. collection, consisting of more than 18,000 items, including coins of great rarity, came to the Smithsonian in 1923 from the United States Mint. Among exceptional rarities in this section are the Brasher half doubloon, the 1849 double eagle (first of the gold 20 dollar pieces), and two 1877 fifty dollar patterns. Other rarities are the very popular and rare 1913 Liberty head nickel as well as all three types of the 1804 dollar, and two of three known examples of the world's most valuable coin, the 1933 double eagle, the third of which recently sold for 7.6 million dollars. Among recent donations are the unprecedented Josiah K. Lilly holdings, consisting of 6,150 gold coins, including an almost complete US gold coin collection, a very rich Latin American gold section, and many of the great rarities of European gold coins, such as a 20 excelentes de la Granada of Ferdinand and Isabella, and two large and heavy 100 ducats of Austria and Poland.

 

And specific to the 1933s:

 

Late in 1934, the 1933 $20 coins were melted down, with the exception of the above two coins and a small number of other specimens, including the recently auctioned King Farouk specimen. The two coins pictured above were added to the National Numismatic Collection on October 9, 1934.

 

From what I see, they are owned by the Smithsonian, which I think is owned by the governement as it was established by an act of Congress in 1846.