"My talk on literature and illustrations of the Philadelphia Mints ran longer than the time suggested. I had at least a half an hour of additional material that I could have included. As an example, I did not tell of my attempt to visit the first Philadelphia Mint.

The current Mint shows a map of the location of previous mints and mentions a marker on the Federal Building commemorating the first mint. I walked around three sides of the Federal Building and could not find a marker. I asked two guards at the public entrance and they had never heard of a marker for the first mint. Another guard at the employee entrance had the same reaction. She suggested I try the GSA office on the fourth floor saying they would know if anyone would. There I found two more people who had never heard of a marker for the first mint. One woman said that she had worked for the government for 29 years and had worked in that building since it was opened. She assured me that there was no marker on the building.

I talked to someone at the ANA convention who had seen the marker on a previous visit. The south end of the Federal building was inaccessible because of construction. I suspect the marker, if it still exists, was behind the construction fences. I wonder if any of the workers in the current Federal Building are aware that they occupy the site of the first building constructed by our government."