ARTICLE PROFILES THE ALASKA MINT

Tell us about your company.

Our family business is one of a kind. We offer a large variety of products including; Alaskan themed medallions, locally made native crafts, natural gold jewelry, estate jewelry, and many more. The cool part about our store is that we manufacture a lot of our products in-house in our production room. We buy raw gold nuggets and gold-bearing quartz from miners, with these natural elements, we create one-of-a-kind jewelry. While the pieces are rare, they are surprisingly affordable. We make great gifts and souvenirs not only for tourists but locals as well. Coming to the Alaska Mint is an experience in itself, getting to see all the Alaskan history on the walls, ceilings and just about everywhere you look.

What was the inspiration for opening your business?

I grew up in the jewelry business so I got introduced to it at a young age and something I noticed was that every jewelry store was exactly the same. So, I sought out to make one that was different and would stand out. I always was fascinated with coins, so one day I went to the U.S. Mint in Denver and one of the things that they let you do is mint your own coin. After minting that first coin I knew what I wanted to do, I wanted to start a mint. So I gathered all the parts to make a coin press and in 1990 I minted my very first coin, and the rest is history.

Why did you choose Downtown?

I worked at the mall and I would ride my bike downtown and I noticed it was busy with visitors everywhere. So I got a sidewalk vendor permit, there I sold 1 style of silver coin, gold nugget earrings, and rabbit skins. The coin was very popular with all the visitors, so I decided that downtown was the best place to start my store. I started out in the old City Hall in the summer of 1990, then I moved into E. street terrace, now known as bear square. The store was upstairs and the minting was done downstairs. At the end of 1999, we moved into our current location.

To read the complete article, see:
ADP PROFILE: The Alaska Mint (http://www.anchoragepress.com/news/adp-profile-the-alaska-mint/article_3fee9336-e6b5-11e7-a10a-37fb59ea2d4f.html)

To visit the Alaska Mint web site, see:
https://alaskamint.com

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