The US Mint announced on October 27 that they have begun striking San Francisco Commemorative silver proof coins at the San Francisco branch mint. Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Dianne Feinstein joined members of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society to witness the striking ceremony.
Authorized by Public Law 109-230 [GPO: text/pdf], San Francisco Old Mint Commemorative Coin Act “require[s] the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the Old Mint at San Francisco, otherwise known as the ‘Granite Lady’.” Sales of the commemoratives will include a $35 surcharge for the gold coin and $10 for each silver coin. Proceeds will be distributed to the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society to rehabilitate “the Historic Old Mint in San Francisco as a city museum and an American Coin and Gold Rush Museum.” It has a potential to raise $8.5 million for the project.
The silver commemorative will be minted in a 90-percent silver and 10-percent copper alloy with the obverse design based on the San Francisco Mint Medal by Sherl J. Winter. The reverse will use the reverse design of the 1904 Morgan Dollar design by George T. Morgan.
Four months from passage of the law to first striking is the government and coin process mechanisms moving at light speed. Let’s hope that the coin will be as impressive as it sounds and produced in a similarly impressive manner.