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LOOSE CHANGE: MARCH 23, 2025Here are some additional items in the media this week that may be of interest. -Editor A Coin World article reported that U.S. Mint Director Ventris Gibson is stepping down. Here's a short excerpt - see the complete article online. -Editor
Gibson was asked to step down to accommodate President Trump's yet unannounced appointee to the 41st directorship of the United States Mint. Whoever Trump nominates will need the approval from a vote of the full Senate. The Treasury Department hierarchy informed Gibson by telephone of the wishes of the president. The Mint director's five-year term is a special term appointment that allows the director to remain in office until such time as the incoming chief executive decides otherwise. Gibson joined the U.S. Mint as deputy director and acting director on Oct. 25, 2021, and was approved by the full Senate June 22, 2022, to a five year term. With Gibson's departure, the bureau will be directed in the interim by Deputy Director Kristie McNally. Gibson regularly met with collectors at events such as the ANA World's Fair of Money, and was part of the Mint delegation to last year's dedication of the new headstone for the third Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, Christian Gobrecht. -Editor 
Philadelphia Mint Superintendent Robert Kurzyna, Mint Director Ventris Gibson, Chief Engraver Joe Menna
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Another Coin World article notes that the fate of the third San Francisco Mint is under review. Here's a short excerpt - see the complete article online. -Editor
The facility has been the stalwart of numismatic sets, primarily Proof coinage and medals, for decades, having first being pressed into service in 1937 at 155 Hermann Street. The San Francisco Mint has also produced coins for general circulation. It served as an assay office for a time before being returned to full Mint status on March 31, 1988, under the same law, Public Law 100–274, that established the West Point Mint as a full Mint from a bullion depository. The San Francisco Mint is not open to the general public. The San Francisco Mint employs 152 people. None of the U.S. Mint facilities receives appropriations determined by Congress. All funding is derived from the U.S. Mint's Public Enterprise Fund, established under Mint reform legislation in 1996, that receives revenue from the profits generated from what the Mint produces: numismatic product, commemorative coin, bullion coin and circulating coin sales. Since the PEF's establishment, more than $17 billion has been returned to the Treasury to help reduce the national debt. So clearly the Mint is not a money-losing operation, but still, the real estate it sits on could be quite valuable if sold. Moving the manufacturing operation and demolishing the sturdy fortified structure could be expensive, though. Perhaps a buyer could be found who would repurpose the existing building. Back on the mid-1980s I visited an old roommate who'd moved to San Francisco. I spent a day touring the city on foot, and walked miles to get to the Mint site only to learn that it was closed to the public with no tours. Poor planning on my part, but those were the days before the internet. It was a long but fun day despite that disappointment. -Editor
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The U.S. Mint has apparently backpedaled and restored the January 6th medals to its website. I confirmed this before publication this evening. -Editor 
A commemorative bronze duplicate of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is once again available for purchase, just a little more than a week after it was found to have abruptly vanished from the U.S. Mint's website. HuffPost first noted the coin's removal in late February. When reached for comment at the time, the Mint did not say why the coin had been removed and said only that it "periodically" conducted a review of its portfolio to "focus on those products with the broadest appeal to collectors and other customers." The Mint ignored repeated inquiries specifically seeking answers on whose decision it was to remove the coin. D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, who was attacked on Jan. 6, 2021, by rioters supporting President Donald Trump, said he also asked the Mint many times about the coin's removal.
To read the complete article, see:
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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