Print this page

Dawn of shiny new life for Old Mint: Feinstein, Pelosi preside over ceremonial minting of coins to fund its reincarnation

San Francisco -- Under the watchful eye of a veteran U.S. Mint employee named Ed Trautner, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Nancy Pelosi took turns coining money Friday.

They each produced a single ceremonial silver dollar, struck with the image of San Francisco's Old Mint on one side and an American eagle on the other.

These are big coins, 1 1/2 inches in diameter, as hefty and sound as your grandfather's silver dollar.

Feinstein held one up, and it gleamed in the light. "These are beautiful coins,'' she said.

Feinstein and Pelosi were the stars of a ceremonial minting of commemorative silver coins, on sale by the U.S. Mint. A proof set of the silver dollar sells for $39 and an uncirculated silver dollar for $35.

There is also a gold $5 piece, with a different picture of the Old Mint and a different eagle on the reverse side. The gold coins sell for $255 for a proof coin and an uncirculated coin for $245.

The coins -- now being produced at the San Francisco Mint near upper Market Street -- were authorized by a special act of Congress. The money they will bring in -- called a surcharge -- will help to turn the 132-year-old Old Mint at Fifth and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco into a history museum.

The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society hopes to raise $8.5 million from the sale of the coins. The society gets $10 for every commemorative silver dollar sold and $35 for every gold commemorative coin.

Feinstein and Pelosi took turns telling the story of the Old Mint. They called it "the Granite Lady,'' as if it were a venerable human being. They described how it was built in 1874, how it survived the great fire and earthquake of 1906, how it was closed to the public in 1994 and how it will be transformed.

"The Old Mint,'' said Erik Christoffersen, the society's executive director, "used to be a place where gold dust and nuggets were converted to coin. Now it will be a place where stories of the past come alive.''

The government sold the mint to the city of San Francisco for $1 in 2003; the city in turn is leasing it to the Museum and Historical Society, which hopes to open the museum by the year 2010.

"It produced half the currency in the United States at one time,'' Feinstein said. "It is very special.''

Pelosi marveled at the treasures the Old Mint held once -- "Two hundred million in gold was saved" in the 1906 disaster, she said. "You can imagine how much that gold would be worth today.

"Today," she said, "marks a bright new day for the Old Mint.''

However, the bright new day depends on a lot of factors, most of them involving money. Bringing the old building up to seismic standards and refitting it as a museum of San Francisco history and the history of coinage, and as a tourist information center, is expected to cost $86 million.

So far, Feinstein said, the Museum and Historical Society has cash and pledges of about $35 million. "That leaves $51 million to raise to make the future secure.''

Pelosi and Feinstein did their part, helping to convince the Republican-controlled Congress to pass the commemorative coin legislation.

Both women plugged the commemorative coins. "They make great Christmas presents, and as other gifts,'' Feinstein said.

Even the dignitaries at the ceremony Friday didn't get to keep their coins. As soon as Feinstein minted one of the new coins, an attendant took it and put the silver dollar in a little envelope. "They made me give it back,'' she said.

There is little doubt that the silver and gold coins will be snapped up by collectors. Only two commemorative issues have been struck in 2006 -- the San Francisco Mint coins and coins honoring Benjamin Franklin issued by the Philadelphia Mint.

"Our members are pretty excited about this,'' said Michael Wehner, president of the San Francisco Coin Club. He said numismatists are particularly interested in the coins because they bear the small letter S on the reverse side -- a sign they were minted in San Francisco.

That, he said "makes them very important.''

The coins are available from the U.S. Mint at www.usmint.gov, or from the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society at www.sfhistory.org. The coins can also be obtained by calling the mint at (800) 872-6468.

The Old Mint commemorative coins must be ordered by Dec. 1. After that, they become history.