The West Point Mint is a U.S. Mint production and depository facility erected in 1937 near the

U.S. Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

, New York, United States. the mint holds 22% of the United States'

gold reserves A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of ...

, or approximately 54 million ounces (over $100 billion USD ). The mint at West Point is second only to the gold reserves held in secure storage at Fort Knox. Originally, the West Point Mint was called the West Point Bullion Depository. At one point it had the highest concentration of silver of any U.S. mint facility, and for 12 years produced circulating Lincoln cents. It has since minted mostly commemorative coins and stored gold. It gained official status as a

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...

of the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

on March 31, 1988. Later that year it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Building

Prior to its 2005 remodel that added a second story, the mint was a one-story reinforced concrete structure with a flat roof. The walls are mostly featureless with some recessed arches at the entryways. There are four

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

s at the corners that are actively used in the building's security. It is on a parcel of land near the northern facilities of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

, with parking lots on either side. The interior contains minting presses and bullion compartments.

History

As of 1937, it served as a storage facility for

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

bullion and was thus nicknamed "The Fort Knox of Silver." Even without United States Mint status, it produced U.S. coinage. From 1974 through 1986, the West Point Mint produced Lincoln cents bearing no

mint mark A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It should not be confused with a mintmaster mark which is the mark of the mintmaster. History Mint marks were first developed to locate ...

, making them indistinguishable from those produced at the

Philadelphia Mint The Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national ...

. The years 1977 to 1979 saw

Washington quarter The Washington quarter is the present quarter dollar or 25-cent piece issued by the United States Mint. The coin was first struck in 1932; the original version was designed by sculptor John Flanagan. As the United States prepared to celebrate ...

s produced as well. Approximately 20 billion dollars' worth of gold was stored in its vaults in the early 1980s (although this was still significantly less than at Fort Knox). September 1983 saw the first appearance of the "W" mint mark (from this still unofficial U.S. Mint) on a $10 gold coin commemorating the

1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

. This was the first

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...

U.S.

gold coin A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia, Canadian Maple Leaf, and American Buf ...

minted since 1933. In 1986,

American Gold Eagle The American Gold Eagle is an official gold bullion coin of the United States. Authorized under the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985, it was first released by the United States Mint in 1986. Because the term "eagle" also is the official United S ...

bullion coins were solely produced at this facility, again, with no mint mark. The West Point Bullion Depository was granted mint status on March 31, 1988 (). Starting in 1999

American Silver Eagle The American Silver Eagle is the official silver bullion coin of the United States. It was first released by the United States Mint on November 24, 1986. It is struck only in the one- troy ounce, which has a nominal face value of one dollar ...

bullion coins were also produced at the mint. In 2002, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point was honored for its 200th anniversary, and a bicentennial commemorative silver dollar was issued and unveiled on March 16 of that year, featuring a cadet

color guard In military organizations, a colour guard (or color guard) is a detachment of soldiers assigned to the protection of regimental colours and the national flag. This duty is so prestigious that the military colour is generally carried by a young ...

on the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

and the helmet of

Pallas Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...

on the reverse. The coin was produced only at the West Point Mint.

Special West Point coinage

An unusual coinage from West Point occurred in 1996, when a commemorative Roosevelt dime was produced for the 50th anniversary of the design. Given as an insert with the standard mint sets sold that year, over 1.457 million were produced. Thus, although this "W"-mint-marked dime is not particularly scarce, it was made only for collectors. In 2015 another "W"-mint-marked dime was issued along with a 2015-W dollar, these as part of a three-coin set to commemorate the March of Dimes. Only 75,000 sets were produced. In 2014, a reverse-proof silver Kennedy Half Dollar which was part of a commemorative set, along with the 24K gold proof Kennedy Half Dollar were produced there to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Half Dollar design, again with the "W" mint mark. In 2015, the West Point Mint struck

Sacagawea Dollar The Sacagawea dollar (also known as the "golden dollar") is a United States dollar coin introduced in 2000, although not minted for general circulation between 2002 to 2008 and again from 2012 onward because of its general unpopularity with th ...

s for the first time. Released as part of a special “Native American Coin and Currency Set”, only 90,000 were produced. The first cents to display the "W" mint mark were produced for collectors in 2019. These West Point Lincoln cents were added to traditional mint and proof sets and were minted in three different finishes. An uncirculated 2019-W cent was included with the uncirculated set, a proof 2019-W cent was included with the proof set, and a reverse-proof 2019-W cent was included with the silver proof set. There are no mintage limits for these sets and individual buyers are not limited in the quantities they are allowed to order. On April 2, 2019 the United States Mint announced that 10 million quarters would be placed into circulation containing the "W" mint mark in an effort to promote the hobby of coin collecting. Although quarters had been produced at the West Point Mint before, none of them included the "W" mint mark. These quarters are a part of the "America the Beautiful" quarters program; 2 million of each of the five national park quarters released in 2019 were scheduled to contain the "W" mint mark. This was continued in 2020, with the 2020 coins including a special "V 75" privy mark commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. On January 10, 2020, the United States Mint announced that each of the three annual sets released in 2020 would include a "W"-mint-marked

Jefferson nickel The Jefferson nickel has been the five-cent coin struck by the United States Mint since 1938, when it replaced the Buffalo nickel. From 1938 until 2004, the copper-nickel coin's obverse featured a profile depiction of founding father and third ...

, just as was done with the Lincoln Cents the previous year. A proof nickel was included with the clad proof set and a reverse-proof nickel with the silver proof set. Originally the uncirculated coin set was to contain a 2020-W uncirculated nickel, but this plan was scrapped due to the ongoing coin shortage caused by the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

Present

Today, all American Eagle series proof and uncirculated bullion coins in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium are produced at West Point, along with all gold commemorative and a few silver

commemorative coins Commemorative coins are coins issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collectors items only, although some countries ...

. Bullion and proof gold Eagles and some uncirculated and all proof silver Eagles, as well as all commemoratives from West Point are struck with the "W" mint mark. Since 2006, the West Point Mint has also made all

American Buffalo American Buffalo may refer to: *American Buffalo (play), ''American Buffalo'' (play), a play by David Mamet *American Buffalo (film), ''American Buffalo'' (film), a 1996 film of Mamet's play directed by Michael Corrente *American Buffalo (coin), a ...

gold bullion coins. The West Point Mint still acts as a gold bullion depository, and silver is kept on site only in quantities to meet minting demands. Due to the presence of so much gold bullion on site, security is high. The mint does not give public tours, and its address is withheld by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

in its National Register listings, though

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

gives the site as 1063 NY-218, West Point, NY 10996.

References

External links