Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the Osborne Mint in Cincinnati. Our group was invited to the striking ceremony for the upcoming American Numismatic Association (ANA) commemorative medal that is being struck of the Oklahoma City convention. The visit gave everyone an opportunity to see the inner workings of the oldest private mint in the United States.
Private mints in the US have a very long history. There were private mints in this country long before the US Mint began striking coins in 1792. Traditionally, these mints have operated when there has been a need for currency that was not met by local or national authorities. Most colonial coins were struck for this purpose, starting with New England coinage in 1652.
When gold was discovered in California in 1848, there was very little federal coinage in circulation locally. Private mints soon sprang up to forge the newly found gold into coinage. Some of the most famous coins in the territorial gold series were created at this time. Private mints proliferated out west until the opening of the San Francisco Mint in 1854.
Private mints continued to fill needs when federal coinage was not available. Civil War and Hard Times tokens are great examples. Many of these private issues were also struck to convey messages or for political propaganda. Coinage has been a great way to influence public opinion since ancient times.
Private mints also create private brand coins for companies around the world. This is similar to what you see in grocery stores, where they promote in-house brands that are made by third parties. Companies can create coins that are unique to their company, and with fixed costs that are established well in advance.
The Osborne Mint has a very long history, which started in 1835. The company claims to be the oldest continuously operating mint in the US. It has a very long history of producing custom coins, medals, tokens and other medallions. The company famously struck campaign tokens for Abraham Lincoln. It also produced rations tokens during World War II, including the red and blue OPA tokens many are familiar with. The company still has the dies and other paraphernalia from this project in its massive archives.
More recently, the company was acquired by HM Precious Metals, a parent company that also owns the Royal Dutch Mint and is the world's second largest private industrial holding company in the production of coins. The Osborne Mint has been in its present location since the early 1950s and is housed in what was once the meat packing district of Cincinnati.
The building is a sprawling space with traces of its distant past evident everywhere. The new ownership has obviously committed to modernization, with the latest minting technology being installed at a rapid pace. The above-mentioned ANA commemorative coin was struck on what seemed to be very new equipment.
The ANA commemorative medal is being produced by Minted Assets, a company owned by Chang Bullock from Minnesota. Like many other projects struck by Osborne Mint, Minted Assets created the program as a licensed product for the ANA World's Fair of Money convention. The commemorative will be available at the show in various metals, with bronze examples being given out for free to limited numbers of attendees each day.
There are probably dozens of private mints in the US. A few years ago, I had the privilege of getting a floor tour of Sunshine Mint in Las Vegas, which was an astounding experience. Whenever you have the opportunity, a visit to a private mint is highly recommended for collectors. It is a great chance to more fully understand the minting process. This is important information, regardless of what you collect.
Hopefully, this article will help you understand that there are a lot of coins to collect that did not originate from the US Mint. The history of this country can be traced by the many interesting coins produced in this nation, many of which were struck by private mints.
To read the original magazine article, click here
Reprinted with permission of NGC.
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For more information about Osborne Mint or its parent company, Osborne Coinage, click here - https://osbornecoin.com/osborne-family-of-companies
Established in 1835, Osborne Mint is America’s oldest continuously operating private mint. Osborne Mint is part of HM Precious Metals and the Osborne Coinage family, which includes Osborne Coinage, TokensDirect and Van Brook of Lexington. The mint, a 60,000 square foot facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, houses the development, engraving and manufacturing of numismatic quality collectible rounds, bars and coins.
Every Osborne Mint product is manufactured to strict standards for metal purity, weight and dimensions. Osborne Mint strikes thousands of collectible rounds annually and circulates them to the public through certified distributors. Gold, fine silver, copper and brass collections from Osborne Mint are truly pieces of art and are 100% “Minted in America.”
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