Silver Dollar Blog - San Francisco Mint

In 1854 the San Francisco Mint opened to serve gold mines during the California gold Rush.

The California Gold rush started in 1848 when James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. During that time around 300,000 folks came to California in search of gold, and they weren't all from America people from as far as china, Australia, Europe and Latin America were making their way to California to strike it rich.

It didn't take long for the San Francisco Mint to outgrow their first building and need to move into a new one. In 1874 they did just that. This building was call "Old United States Mint" or "The Granite Lady". They built it with a concrete and granite foundation to ensure no one could tunnel into the vaults. This proved to be helpful during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake the Old United States Mint because it stayed standing. There was some $300 million  in the vaults at the time a third of the United States' gold reserves. The Old United States Mint was open until 1937 when the present day San Francisco mint was opened. In 1961 the Old United States Mint was designated as a National Historic Landmark.

San Francisco Mint minted Morgan Silver Dollars from 1878-1904 + 192.  You can tell if you have a San Francisco minted Morgan Dollar by looking at the reverse side of the Morgan Dollar. Directly about the D and the O you will the the letter S that stands for San Francisco Mint. 

Image Source: Library of Congress