A VISIT TO THE THIRD PHILADELPHIA MINT BUILDING

Last week I mentioned my August 7 visit to the Fourth Philadelphia Mint. On the following day I walked North and West of my hotel to visit the Philadelphia Community College in the building that was the Third Philadelphia Mint. The building on Spring Garden Street looks just like the many postcards published when the Mint was in operation. Other college buildings have been added and signs identify the old building as the Mint Building.

I walked up the steps and into the lobby. There I negotiated with a security guard to walk around the first floor. He apologized that he had no one on staff to take my farther through the building. He also mentioned that the basement still has huge vaults.

The first floor halls have arched ceilings decorated with ceramic tiles in geometric patterns. Over some of the doorways were circles of undecorated plaster. These were the locations of the mosaics now on display in the lobby of the Fourth Mint. I suspect that most students at the college are not even aware that the Mint mosaics are missing.

I also visited the Fourth Mint when the ANA convention was there in 2000. The mozaic panels are clearly a display of items from the past and do not fit into the modern style of the current Mint. This time I bought a set of postcards to remind me of their color and beauty.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: PHILADELPHIA MINT TOUR PHOTOS: TIFFANY, PETER AND JANVIER (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n38a17.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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