The interest in the fate of the Philadelphia Mint's columns prompts me to offer the following for the possible interest of E-Sylum readers.

I recently presented a program to our local coin club about U.S. Mints. I began by posing the question: "How many different building facilities has the United States authorized to mint coinage?"

I suspect that many of your readers will be surprised to learn that my conclusion was: sixteen! I'm not including a list so that any readers can think about the question if they wish - and quite possibly take issue with my number. But I'll be happy to supply hints, or my facts, if anyone is interested.