VISIT TO DENVER MINT IN 1915 LETTER

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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 23, 2026, Article 10

Roman Golebiowski submitted the following article about a letter written in 1915 by a woman named Margaret about her visit to the Denver Mint, including a significant description of the minting process. -Garrett

I came across this interesting letter written in 1915 by a woman named Margaret to Mr. Charles King of Kansas City Missouri. It documents her experiences of a trip she made with a woman named Floy to Denver, Colorado. In her letter, Margaret describes in great detail their visit to the Denver Mint. Of particular interest is the way in which she describes her initial impressions of the Mint upon arrival, as well as the coin minting process that they learned during what seems to be a tour.

"We went to the Mint. It was interesting and instructive. They have a beautiful white stone building. As you enter the lobby there is a great gold American Eagle medallion set in the floor. We stepped on it. I think of walking on gold just as though it were common flooring. Every so often they have to put new gold on the eagle as it wore off."

"The first room is the place where they melt the stuff and make it into bars 12x 2 ½ x ½ inches. Then it goes into a room where it is pressed to the thickness of the coin. Where that is done the strips are fed into a machine which punches the coins out. They were making pennies today. Floy said she didn't see why it couldn't have been a $20.00 gold piece. The coins are taken into the next room where a man has a box with sections length wise just the length of the coin. He shakes the loose coins around in the box until they are stacked and feeds them into a pipe on a machine which mills them (puts on the grooves of the edge)."

There is, however, a slight inaccuracy in the last part of her description here. She states:

"He shakes the loose coins around in the box until they are stacked and feeds them into a pipe on a machine which mills them (puts on the grooves of the edge)."

We must note that in this part of the process the edges of the coins are "upset" or raised slightly to aid in the striking process thus turning a blank into a planchet. This process is not a milling process; it's essentially turning a type 1 planchet into a type 2 planchet (or, more precisely, a "blank" into a "workable "planchet").

"Then they [the coins] are put into hoppers and the impressions are made on the sides of the coin (or faces green it is). Next, they are put in a machine which feeds them onto a moving band and as they move past a man and woman examine them for any deficiencies or imperfections there may be. Next, they are weighed and last a man shakes the coins over a board with grooves for coins. When the grooves are full there is $10 worth of pennies on the board and he dumps them in a sack marked $10.00. Neat way of counting all right. I hope you can see the mint someday it is certainly most interesting and instructive."

The letter consists of six pages in total. Pages 1-3 focus on Margaret and Floy's visit to the Denver Mint including Margaret's own sketches of a "pipe" and a "board" used in the coin production process. The final 3 pages detail their travel experiences throughout the Denver area to such places as: The Library, State Capitol Building, State Museum, and Post Office. Margaret also mentions a future to Moffat, Colorado.

Through Margaret's detailed account, we get a glimpse of her natural curiosity and of the joy that this trip brings her. Her Denver observations detail her wonder at things such as: the price of a stamp, people riding bicycles instead of Ford cars, and getting a letter at the "General Delivery Window" from her "mama" telling Margaret and Floy "not to go out at all at night". Interestingly, she even mentions hearing a player piano playing "full tilt" next door to where she and Floy were staying at the time, identifying the four songs that were playing. Her letter shares a genuine excitement for traveling and learning new things.

Through her firsthand account, Margaret seems to mail this letter to us all, inviting us to journey with her to a 1915 world as seen through her eyes.