The Denver Mint is a branch of the United States Mint that struck its first coins in the early 20th century. When gold was discovered in Colorado, hundreds of merchants, miners and settlers moved in for their stake. Later, the city of Denver was founded; and the U.S. government established a mint facility there. At the beginning, the Denver Mint was only an assay office in the Clark, Gruber and Company Bank Building. Miners brought in gold dust and nuggets to be melted, assayed and cast into bars stamped with their weight and quality. By the end of the 19th century, the Assay Office was booming, bringing in more than $5.6 million in gold and silver deposits annually.Later, the government decided to convert the Assay Office into a working mint, and built a much grander facility, an Italian Renaissance style building modeled after a Florentine palace. In 1906, its first year of operation, the new Mint produced gold and silver coins valued at $27 million, a treasure for the robbers!By the way, back in 1922, since the Federal Reserve Bank of Denver didn't have a large vault, money was stored at the Denver Mint. In December, four men in a Buick pulled up beside a Federal Reserve truck outside the Denver Mint just as the guards finished loading $200,000. The men robbed the guards and killed one. It took 12 years until the robbers were identified. About $80,000 of the holdup money was eventually recovered in Minnesota. Today, the Denver mint is still operating and produces all denominations of circulating coins, coin dies, the Denver "D" portion of the annual uncirculated coin sets and commemorative coins authorized by the U. S. Congress. It also stores silver bullion. It is the single largest producer of coins in the world. The Denver Mint's output can exceed 50 million coins a day. To see this beautiful facility and learn its history, take a United States Mint public tour. You will enjoy special exhibits, artifacts from the United States Mint's early days and up-close views of the coin making process.Photo Denver Mint, Denver, Colorado by Ken Lund is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0