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portico of the New Orleans Mint building's fa?ade in June 2005, seen from across . The trees along the street in front of the Mint have grown tall, such that it is very difficult to obtain a good photograph of the old mint's fa?ade today.
The New Orleans Mint (: Monnaie de La Nouvelle-Orléans) operated in , , as a branch
from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. During its years of operation, it produced over 427 million
coins of nearly every , with a total face value of over
307 million. It was closed during most of the
After it was decommissioned as a mint, the building has served a variety of purposes, including as an , a
storage facility, and a .
Since 1981 it has served as a branch of the . Damaged by
in 2005, after over two years of repairs and renovations, the museum reopened in October 2007.
Exhibits include instruments used by some of New Orleans' notable
musicians, photographs, and posters, now part of the . The site is also a performance venue for jazz concerts, in partnership with the
and the private Music at the Mint organization.
The Louisiana Historical Center is located on the third floor of the building. The center includes collections of colonial-era manuscripts and maps, and primary and secondary source materials in a wide range of media. It is open to anyone with an interest in Louisiana history and culture.
The New Orleans Mint has been designated a , and it is the oldest extant structure to have served as a U.S. Mint. Along with the , it is one of two former mint facilities in the U.S. to house an .
This photo from the Louisiana State Museum in the old U.S. Mint shows the original 1835 plans for the building by William Strickland. The Mint building retains this basic W-shaped design today.
The rapidly growing United States in the early 1830s experienced a shortage of coins. It is estimated that in 1830 there was one small silver coin (quarter, dime or half dime) per person. Also, production of silver dollars was suspended in 1804 because they were being exchanged for underweight Spanish coins in the . That left the half-dollar as the largest denomination of circulating coin being minted in the U. S. Foreign coins were being circulated in the U. S. to alleviate the shortage. The
had been the only U. S. mint until 1838, when operations began at the first branch mints.
a rechartering of the , an institution which he felt extended
commercial
at the expense of the ordinary frontiersmen of the , a region with which Jackson, a , strongly identified. In 1836 Jackson had issued an
called the
which demanded that all land transactions in the United States be conducted in cash. Both of these actions, combined with the economic depression following the
(caused partly by Jackson's fiscal policies) increased the domestic need for minted money.
As a result, in 1835 the
established three branch mints: the
in North Carolina, the
in Georgia and the New Orleans Mint. Dahlonega and Charlotte were in gold mining regions and these mints produced only gold coins. New Orleans was selected because of the city's strategic location along the Mississippi River which made it a vitally important center for commercial activity, including the export of cotton from the area's plantations. Large quantities of gold from
also passed through
In the early 19th century, New Orleans, which was the fifth-largest city in the United States until the Civil War, conducted more foreign trade than any other city in the nation. It was also located relatively near to gold deposits recently discovered in . While the
produced a substantial quantity of coinage, in the early 19th century it could not disperse the money swiftly to the far regions of the new nation, particularly the South and . In contrast to the other two Southern branch mints, which only minted gold coinage, the New Orleans Mint produced both gold and silver coins, and in much greater quantities and total value, which marked it as the most important branch mint in the country until the
began minting a large monetary value of gold coins in the mid 1850s.
The Mint's location occupies a prominent place in civic history. It sits at one of the two
corners of the , which had been the entire city, or Vieux Carré, of New Orleans. Under
rule this location was home to one of the city's defensive . In 1792 the Spanish governor, , erected Fort San Carlos (later ) here. The fort was demolished in 1821; and the nearby area was later named
in honor of Andrew Jackson. As a general in the , Jackson's leadership had saved the city from invading
forces during December 1814 and through January 8, 1815, the date of the famous , the last significant battle of the .
View through a window in the old U.S. Mint showing one of the rear courtyards
Shallow jack arches between steel I-beams provide the structural support for the floors of the Mint.
An illustration by
in 1867 showing the
built behind the New Orleans Mint. Remains of the smokestack's foundation can still be seen today.
The Mint building, which was constructed in red brick, was designed by architect
style, like most 19th-century public buildings in the United States. Strickland was a student of the architect , a disciple of
who had helped design the
building in
Strickland himself, based in , had already designed the Philadelphia Mint building and the Second Bank of the United States, and would design the
facilities, making him the architect of the first four U.S. mint buildings.
supervised the building's construction, which was undertaken by , the master carpenter and joiner, and , the master
and builder.
On the north
the mint building features a central projecting
, supported by four monumental columns that are flanked at the ends by square . The top of the portico contains a simple , crowned by a flat roof in front of a simple, unadorned . This entrance, which sits on top of a basement story, fronts the rectangular central core of the facility and is flanked by two large wings of multiple
of rectangular windows. These wings wrap around the central rectangular core to form a "W"-shaped structure with two square
at the rear.
and posts adorn the sections of the building's south fa?ade that adjoin the courtyards. Architectural historian
described it thus: "it has those graceful, original proportions so characteristic of Strickland's work. Even today [1944], condemned to a use so different from that for which it was designed, it remains one of the most distinguished of the earlier buildings of New Orleans."
On the interior, Strickland placed the grand staircase that connects the three levels immediately behind the portico in the central core of the structure. The floor system is composed of fired-clay jack arches supported on steel I-beams, a common feature of warehouses and other long-span structures. On the second floor, many of the larger rooms, which were used for coining and melting, contain ceilings with beautiful high arches supported by the walls and freestanding . The smaller rectangular rooms on the second level (and the basement), such as the former
office, also contain these arched ceilings with a single . The basement formerly contained the
inside a brick cage, but now contain museum exhibits devoted to the minting processes as well as the Coin Vault at the Mint, a coin shop.
Strickland did not take into account the swampy lowland and high
that characterizes the terrain around New Orleans, and so during its career the New Orleans Mint building has encountered numerous structural problems from the shifting soil beneath its . In the 1840s the building was reinforced with iron rods inserted between the floors. In 1854, the federal government hired
engineering graduate (and Louisiana native)
to fireproof the building, rebuild the arches supporting the basement ceiling and install
flooring. Beauregard completed the work in conjunction with Captain
by 1859. During this period, the Mint's heavy machinery was converted to
(since demolished) was built at the rear of the structure to carry away the fumes.
Less than two years later, Beauregard would rise to national fame as the
who ordered the April 1861 assault on
harbor, , thus beginning the . It was during the war that Beauregard would secure his place in American history as one of the Confederacy's most capable generals.
A scale for weighing coinage used at the New Orleans Mint in the 19th century
Like any other mint the New Orleans Mint was a factory to make coins. Operations at the New Orleans Mint began on March 8, 1838, with the
of the first Mexican gold . The first coins, 30 , were struck on May 7. Until it was taken over by the Confederacy in 1861 it produced many different denominations, all of which were either silver or gold: silver
(1851 only), , dimes, , , , , $2.50 , , $5 , $10 , and $20 .
Many interesting characters served at the Mint during the early years of operation. One was , who served as melter and
at the Mint from 1839 to 1848, and, outside of his job, pursued interests in botany, medicine, chemistry, geology, and physics. He invented the binocular . He also wrote on , publishing in 1845 a book entitled Monograph of the Silver Dollar, Good and Bad, Illustrated With Facsimile Figures, and two years later an article by him appeared in
called "The Mint at New Orleans—Processes Pursued of Working the Precious Metals—Statistics of Coinage, etc." Riddell was not held in high esteem by everyone, however: his conflicts with other Mint employees were well-documented, and at one point he was accused of being unable to properly conduct a gold melt.
Throughout the 19th century the New Orleans Mint was frequently featured in magazines, newspapers and other print publications. Articles discussing and images picturing the Mint, in addition to the one by Riddell noted above, were featured in , published in , and the widely circulated .
struck at New Orleans in 1861
The New Orleans Mint operated continuously from 1838 until January 26, 1861, when Louisiana
from the United States. On January 29, the Secession Convention reconvened at New Orleans (it had earlier met in ) and passed an ordinance that allowed Federal employees to remain in their posts, but as employees of the state of Louisiana. On February 5, 1861, during the proceedings of the Convention of the State of Louisiana in New Orleans, the committee appointed by the Convention to take an inventory on February 1, 1861, of public property in the hands of the officers of 'the late' Federal government reported that the Sub-Treasurer's vault at the mint contained $483,983 in gold and silver coins. The National Archives records in Rockville, Maryland, indicate the $483,983 consisted of $308,771 in gold coins and $175,212.08 in silver coins. The only gold coin produced in January, 1861 was the $20 gold double-eagle. This means 15,438 $20 gold coins were minted by the New Orleans Mint during January, 1861. Mint coinage records for the $20 1861-O gold double-eagle indicate only 5,000 $20 gold pieces were minted by the Federal Government in January, 1861. This discrepancy is explained in a Numismatist Journal article.
In March 1861, Louisiana accepted the
government retained all the mint officers. They used it briefly as their own coinage facility. The Confederates struck 962,633 of the 2,532,633 New Orleans half-dollar coins dated 1861. Research suggests that 1861-O half dollars bearing a bisected date die crack ("WB-103") and 1861-O half-dollars with a "speared olive bud" anomaly ("WB-104") on the reverse had been minted under authority of the Confederacy. Confederate officials designed alternate reverse
which they used to strike
in New Orleans (see image). The exact number of the half-dollar coins struck by the Confederate mint with the alternat but only four are known to exist today. One of them, which was sold at auction for a large sum, had once been owned by , the only
Confederate minting operations continued from April 1 until the
ran out later that month. The staff remained on duty until May 31, 1861. After that the mint was used for quartering , until it was
along with the rest of the city the following year, largely by
under the command of Admiral .
A piece of the U.S. flag William Mumford tore down from the New Orleans Mint in 1862
For many Southern sympathizers, the Mint soon became a symbol of their hatred for the Union occupation. After
under Farragut had raised the U.S. flag on the roof of the Mint in April 1862, a professional steamboat gambler named
ascended the roof and tore the flag down. He ripped the banner into shreds, and defiantly stuffed pieces of it into his shirt to wear as souvenirs. Union General , the military governor of New Orleans (who was soon to be derisively nicknamed "Spoons" for allegedly pocketing the silverware of New Orleans citizens arrested for treason against the United States), ordered Mumford executed in retaliation. And so, Mumford was hanged from a flagstaff projecting horizontally from the building on June 7, 1862. Mumford's hanging made national headlines. Jefferson Davis demanded that Butler immediately be executed if captured. The event stuck in the minds of many New Orleanians: eleven years later, in 1873, a visitor to the city named Edward King mentioned it in his description of the structure.
The mint reopened as an
in 1876. Its machinery was evidently damaged during the war, but because of its importance, unlike the mints at Charlotte and Dahlonega, in 1877 U.S. Mint agent James R. Snowden asked the superintendent of the office, Dr. M. F. Bonzano, to report on the condition of the facility for minting. Upon receipt of Bonzano's report, new minting equipment was shipped to New Orleans. The building was refurbished and put back into active minting service in 1879, producing mainly silver coinage, including the famed
from 1879 to 1904.
An 1899-O . Some of the most famous American coins, today they are the most widely available of the types produced in New Orleans.
The refurbishment and recommissioning of the New Orleans Mint was due partly to the fact that in 1878 the Federal government in Washington, D.C. had passed the , which mandated the purchase and coining of a large quantity of silver yearly. The
needed additional facilities to do so. It reopened the New Orleans facility primarily to coin large quantities of silver dollars, most of which were simply stored in the building instead of circulated. President
appointed former
and governor
the new superintendent of the mint.
During this second period of operation, the Mint also struck dimes, quarters, half dollars, $5 half eagles, $10 eagles and, in 1879 only, 2,325 double eagles. It should also be noted that the New Orleans Mint was used by the Federal authorities in 1907 to coin over five and a half million silver
pieces for the Mexican government as part of the American government's program of producing foreign coinage. The New Orleans Mint, whose coins can be identified by the "O"
found on the
of its coinage, earned a reputation for producing coins o their luster is usually not as brilliant as those of other mints, and center areas tend to be flattened and not sharply struck. Thus, well-struck New Orleanian coinage is prized in the numismatic world today.
A water cooler given as a gift to the head of the coining department at the New Orleans Mint in 1891 by his staff
Men made up the majority of the workers at the mint. They worked such jobs as coiners, melters, pressers, cutters, and rollers. The mint was overseen by a superintendent, who was always male. He was a political appointee whose term usually did not last much longer than the
which held the presidency remained in power.
But it was also during the mint's second tour of duty that women began to find work at the New Orleans Mint. Several women workers were sent from the Philadelphia Mint to teach those in New Orleans how to adjust money. About this time, the mint employed forty-four women. Thirty-nine worked as adjusters – employees who weighed the unstamped coin
to make sure they were the proper weight before coining. These women would sit at long narrow tables, filing the planchets down to the proper weight, wearing special aprons with pouches attached to the sleeves and the waist to catch the excess dust. Five women served as counters and packers before the coins were shipped to Washington, D.C. Some women were eventually employed at the coining presses.
The women worked from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily – not long hours – but the working conditions were probably unbearable by modern standards. New Orleans has a warm, wet climate. The process of adjusting, however, required the utmost attention to the
balance, and the slightest draft could upset it. The draft could also carry off the silver dust from the coin planchets the women would file. For these reasons the windows and doors were almost always kept shut, resulting in a very hot working environment. Workers relied on water coolers to provide relief from the heat and avoid dehydration. The women mint employees were judged to enjoy better working conditions than many other American women workers in the late nineteenth century.
A close-up of the "O" mint mark on a New Orleans $10 gold piece
By the early twentieth century, the U.S. Treasury had mints operating in New Orleans, , , and the main center in Philadelphia, which more than met the demand for minted money. In 1904, the government ceased the minting of the silver dollar, which accounted for the bulk of the coinage the New Orleans branch had been producing since 1879. In 1909 Treasury officials declined to appropriate funds for the mint's operation, effectively halting subsequent minting activity in New Orleans. In 1911, the New Orleans Mint was formally decommissioned and the machinery was transferred to the main U. S. Mint facility in Philadelphia,.
Twenty years later, in ,
would rail against this loss when he ran for the office of U.S. Senator against incumbent . In a circular distributed by his campaign to the citizens of New Orleans, Long listed the loss of the Mint as the very first of many complaints against Ransdell's lengthy service record in the Senate. Long went on to win the election, although he did not take office until his term as governor expired in 1932. At some point, however, the original New Orleans machinery was lost, and, at present, has not been located.
The basement of the old U.S. Mint contains artifacts and photographs from the era , and is the part of the museum devoted exclusively to the building's function in that capacity.
After the mint closed, it performed a variety of functions for the Federal government. It was first downgraded to an assay office for the U.S. Treasury as it had been from 1876 to 1879. Then, in 1932, the assay office closed and the building was converted into a , in which capacity it served until 1943. The
then took over the building as a nominal storage facility, though in truth the structure was largely abandoned and left to decay until it was transferred to the state of Louisiana in 1965. During the , when many believed there to be a high risk of nuclear war, the old Mint was considered to be the best
in the city.
The state agreed to save the structure from demolition on the condition that it be renovated and converted to some new purpose within fifteen years. Between 1978 and 1980 this goal was met. Since 1981, the Mint building has functioned as a museum of its coin production history. Additional exhibitions housed in the facility have been devoted to
(since moved to
building on ),
music (a large exhibit and research materials previously in the
– donated by the N.O. Jazz Club), and . All three phenomena have contributed to New Orleans' fame.
On the third floor, the Mint houses an archive of maps and documents, including French and Spanish colonial records. Along with , the Presbytere, the , and , this facility is one of five branches of the
The Mint building is located at 400 , not far from the .
The mint building suffered significant roof damage from the hurricane. Water entered the building and came into contact with approximately 3% of the New Orleans Jazz collection, portions of which were removed and cared for at , the , and the .
Years minted
Three-cent pieces
Silver three-cent
The "O" mint mark is to the right of the Roman numeral "III" on the reverse. This was the only year three-cent pieces were struck by a branch mint. This also marks the smallest denomination silver coin minted by any branch mint.
Half dimes
44, 1848–60
The 1853-55 coins were minted in two varieties: one with arrows at the date, and one without them. The arrows indicated a slight reduction in weight.
Seated Liberty
The mint mark is located in the wreath. The Seated Liberty dime of 1838 is said to be the first silver coin minted in New Orleans. Arrows also appear around the date for some of the 1853 and all of the 1854-55 issues.
Note the mint mark on the reverse below the wreath. The 1895-O is considered the "key" issue of the Barber dime series.
Seated Liberty
Arrows appear in some of the 1853 and all of the 1854-55 issues.
Most Barber coins from New Orleans and other U.S. mints were widely circulated, which explains why this example is so worn and its details are hard to make out.
Half dollars
The two years that this coin was minted in New Orleans marked the first time in American numismatic history that mint marks appeared on the obverse. After 1840, mint marks would generally be found on the reverse, with the exception of the Lincoln Cents beginning in 1909, until 1968. Coins dated 1838 are exceedingly rare. Coins dated 1839 are somewhat more accessible.
Seated Liberty
Some of the 1853 issues have both arrows at the date and rays on the reverse. The 1854-55 have just arrows. Coins minted on January 25 of 1861 would be the last silver coins minted by the US Government in New Orleans until 1879. Coins minted on the 26th were silver coins minted by the State of Louisiana. Thus, the Seated Liberty Half Dollar would be the last US silver coin minted here until 1879.
The first year of issue, the 1892-O, is generally considered the "key" issue of this series, although it remains readily available in lower grades. Until the mint closed half dollars were minted most following years.
Seated Liberty
, 1859–60
The most common coin produced by the New Orleans Mint.
Years minted
Liberty Head
The 1849 issues were only struck with an open wreath on the reverse.
Indian Princess
(no image available)
Quarter eagles ($2.50)
Classic head
(no image available)
Liberty head
–3, 50–2, –7
This example shows the mint mark merging with the arrow feathers below the eagle, a common occurrence on nineteenth century U.S. coins.
Three dollars
Indian head
(no image available)
This was the only year in which three-dollar gold pieces were struck in New Orleans.
Half eagles ($5)
Liberty head
Indian head
(no image available)
These coins were that is, the die pattern was pressed into the planchet.
Eagles ($10)
Liberty head
79–83, –5, , –4, 1906
The banner above the eagle with the motto "In God We Trust" was added to $10 gold pieces in
saw one of the highest mintage totals for eagles at the New Orleans Mint.
Double eagles ($20)
Liberty head
The largest denomination of circulating coinage issued by the U.S. Mint.
(). . National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. . Archived from
This refers to literally the face value of all the coins produced by the Mint added up. For example, the 720,000 3-cent pieces produced by the mint have a face value of US$0.03 x 720,000 = US$21,600.00. It does not reflect the value of coinage adjusted for inflation, nor does it account for the coins' numismatic value for collectors.
. Louisiana State Museum 2017.
. New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park 2015.
. Music at the Mint 2015.
. Music at the Mint. Archived from
on 30 April .
on the Charlotte Mint's history. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
March 12, 2007, at the .
Winter, Douglas (2006). . Irvine, CA: Zyrus Press.  .
See Thomas Bailey, David Kennedy, And Lizabeth Cohen, The American Pageant: A History of the Republic, 11th ed. (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998), 276–9, 289.
Behind New York City, Baltimore, Boston and Philadelphia
The Old U.S. Mint: A Historic Property of the Louisiana State Museum. Brochure. New Orleans: Louisiana State Museum, c. 2005. n.p. (second page).
Greg Lambousy, "The Mint At New Orleans." Numismatist (March, 2003), 38.
George Greenlief Evans, Illustrated History of the United States Mint (Philadelphia: G. G. Evans, 1885; new revised edition, 1894), 163.
Lambousy, 38–9.
Plaque on the fa?ade of the Old U.S. Branch Mint, New Orleans. Accessed June 22, 2005.
Talbot Hamlin, Greek Revival Architecture in America, 1st ed. OUP 1944, p58 Dover ed. 1964.
Evans, 163.
Museum exhibit placard, Old U.S. Branch Mint, New Orleans. Accessed June 22, 2005. Also see Lambousy, 41–2.
Cents and copper-nickel five-cent pieces were never struck at the New Orleans mint. Below is a listing of the coinage produced by the New Orleans Mint, gathered from www.coinfacts.com. Also see Lambousy, 39.
Museum exhibit placard, Old U.S. Branch Mint, New Orleans, accessed June 22, 2005. Also see Lambousy, 40.
Museum exhibit placard, Old U.S. Branch Mint, New Orleans, accessed June 22, 2005. Also see Lambousy, 36–7, for a reprint of the Ballou's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion illustration.
The Numismatist Journal, April 2013, p. 53 and 54: A Mystery Solved NEW ORLEANS MINT 1861 COINAGE RECORDS.
Lambousy, 42.
Yeoman, 191
Wiley, Chapter 6, 1861-O
Lambousy, 42–3.
Museum exhibit placard, Old U.S. Branch Mint, New Orleans. Accessed June 22, 2005.
Lambousy, 43.
See David Lange, A History of the United States Mint and its Coinage (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2005).
Q. David Bowers, The Official Red Book of Morgan Silver Dollars: A Complete History and Price Guide. (Atlanta: Whitman Publishing, 2004), 11, 42, 49–50.
The information for this entire section has been gleaned from various museum exhibit placards at the Old U.S. Branch Mint, New Orleans. Accessed June 22, 2005. Also see The Old U.S. Mint: A Historic Property of the Louisiana State Museum. Brochure. New Orleans: Louisiana State Museum, c. 2005. n.p. (third page).
Lange, A History of the United States Mint and Its Coinage.
See T. Harry Williams, Huey Long (New York: Knopf, 1969; first Vintage edition, 1981), 466; for full details of Long's election campaign, see pp. 460–80.
The Old U.S. Mint: A Historic Property of the Louisiana State Museum. Brochure. New Orleans: Louisiana State Museum, c. 2005. n.p. (third page).
Bailey, Thomas A., David Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant: A History of the Republic, 11th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
Bowers, Q. David. The Official Red Book of Morgan Silver Dollars: A Complete History and Price Guide. Atlanta: Whitman Publishing,
Evans, George Greenlief. Illustrated History of the United States Mint. Philadelphia: G. G. Evans, 1885. New revised edition,
Irwin, David. Neoclassicism. London, UK: Phaidon,
Lange, David. A History of the United States Mint and Its Coinage. New York: Whitman,
Taxay, Don. The United States Mint and Coinage: An Illustrated History from 1776 to the Present. New York: Arco,
The Old U.S. Mint: A Historic Property of the Louisiana State Museum. Brochure. New Orleans: Louisiana State Museum, 2005. 4 pp.
Various exhibit placards, Old U.S. Mint, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans.
Williams, Harry T. Huey Long. New York: Knopf, 1969. Reprint, Vintage,
Wiley, Randy, Bill Bugert. The Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Half Dollars. DLRC Press, 1993. O viewable on-line.
Yeoman, R.S. The Official Red Book - A Guide Book of United States Coins 2008. Atlanta: Whitman Publishing,
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