New Orleans Mint Tour...

[TonerGuy]

Had a chance to visit New Orleans last week and while I was there decided to finally visit a US Mint. I had never been to any of the US Mints but after visiting this one I have decided to try and visit all of them over the next several years... I should be able to make it to Philly, CC and SF easily. Not sure about Denver or Charlotte though. Does anyone know if you can even visit the West Point Mint ?

 

As for New Orleans I cant say that the tour was enthralling. Its a rather limited display. And the guard was quite honest in telling me that even though the building is the original US Mint building, the vast majority of the building is used for other purposes and originally they werent even going to add the Mint items to it. Most of the building is used for a music museum and for live events.

 

It is located in a nice area and right across the street is the French Market, a tourist trap, but fun to walk around in and grab some food at. J's Seafood Dock is my personal recommendation... great oysters, shrimp and crab.

 

The part of the building that is used for the Mint tour is only one large room about 75 feet by 50 feet. But if you are ever in NOLA I suggest stopping by.... at least its free.

 

Oh - and if you have time, definitely visit the WW2 Museum in NOLA. That is very cool. There are pavilions that are still being built but there are several areas that are open to the public.

 

I never realized that New Orleans & its citizens built 92% of all of the Navy ships used in WW2... hence the reason for it being located there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RWB]

Looks like you had a good time!

 

Re: "I never realized that New Orleans & its citizens built 92% of all of the Navy ships used in WW2... hence the reason for it being located there."

 

There were at least 18 full-time ship yards in the US during WW-II. New Orleans was one, but it did not build "92% of all the Navy ships." Also, the location of a mint in New Orleans had no connection to ship building.

 

One last mistake on the information tag on the press: This type of toggle press typically produced 80-120 coins per minute or 4,800+ per hour; the maximum pressure was 150 tons/sq inch and was adjusted by a wedge. Maximum pressure was rarely used since it crushed the dies.

[mtnstyne]

Thanks for sharing!

[messydesk]

There were at least 18 full-time ship yards in the US during WW-II. New Orleans was one, but it did not build "92% of all the Navy ships." Also, the location of a mint in New Orleans had no connection to ship building.

Depends on what your definition of "it" is. I believe "it" refers to the WWII museum mentioned in the previous paragraph.

 

I suppose "it" could also refer to New Orleans itself, being purchased from the French predicting the need to build warships there 140 years hence.

[CSdot]

Thanks for the photos. I may be mistaken, but I believe the San Francisco mint is not open for tours. Make sure to check before you plan a trip.

[TonerGuy]

There were at least 18 full-time ship yards in the US during WW-II. New Orleans was one, but it did not build "92% of all the Navy ships."

 

Well I should have said designed by Higgins- I misread the sign. Its a little confusing since it says 20,000+ boats were built in NO... oh well.

 

[TonerGuy]

Thanks for the photos. I may be mistaken, but I believe the San Francisco mint is not open for tours. Make sure to check before you plan a trip.

 

I will thank you... do you (anyone) know if the old SF is open for tours ? I would actually rather tour that one.

[orifdoc]

I recently visited the WWII museum too. The sign is probably accurate, if you do the math based on "total number of things that float". They manufactured most of the landing craft and small utility boats. In terms of total tonnage, the number coming from NO would be much, much lower.

 

The same logic is used when declaring McDonalds as the largest distributor of toys in the world.

[rrantique]

Thanks for the tour. (thumbs u

[RWB]

It's what is called "Local Pride Logic" or "Fun with Facts." It keeps the local Chambers of Commerce happy.

[Conder101]

The old SF mint for several years has been in development for having a museum in it, and has been rented out for several events. (for a couple years there has been an annual coin show there.) but in a newspaper article published recently(3/7/2014) it appears the City of San Francisco is kicking out the group that has worked of the project for the past ten years and is looking for a new partner to continue the development. So I suspect you won't be able to tour the interior. The current SF mint is not open to the public and neither is the West Point Mint.