Inside the U.S. Mint with Don Bennett

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Welcome to AMSEcast, coming to you from Oak Ridge, Tennessee,

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a global leader in science, technology, and innovation.

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My name is Alan Lowe, director of the American Museum

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of Science and Energy, and the K-25 History Center.

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Each episode of AMSEcast presents world-renowned authors,

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scientists, historians, policymakers, and everyone in between,

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sharing their insights on a variety of fascinating topics.

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Welcome to a special edition of AMSEcast as

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we celebrate 250 years of American innovation.

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With much appreciated support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services,

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or IMLS, we’re undertaking a series of AMSEcast interviews focusing on American

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innovations as part of our commemoration of the nation’s semi-quincentennial.

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I’m honored to be joined on this episode at the U.S.

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Mint in Washington, D.C. By Don Bennett, the deputy

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associate director of the Mint’s Manufacturing Directorate.

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With over 30 years in manufacturing, supply chain, and process

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improvement, Don previously worked with Oasis Corporation

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and Pinnacle Data Systems before joining the Mint in 2008.

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Don, we’re really honored to have you join

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us and excited to be here at the Mint.

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Thank you, Alan.

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So, tell us, I want to learn first a bit about the Mint.

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Where does the Mint reside within the organization of

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the U.S. Government and what are the components of it?

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Well, the Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury and we are

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responsible for producing the coins and the metals for the United States.

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And you have this location here.

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Where are the other—there are other locations, I know, around the country.

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Yeah, the other locations around the country, so

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we have the Philadelphia Mint in Pennsylvania.

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The nation’s first Mint.

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And Philadelphia produces coins and metal dies.

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They also mint circulating coins, numismatic collector coins,

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and products, commemorative coins as authorized by Congress,

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metals for congressional gold metals, bronze, silver.

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And the Philadelphia Mint is the starting point for all coin programs.

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So, that’s where all of our medallic artists are housed,

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R&D, tooling, and they offer in-person and virtual tours,

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and a gift shop to purchase souvenirs and products there.

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And that’s Philadelphia.

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The Second Mint is Denver, Colorado, the Denver Mint.

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And they produce coin and metal dies.

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They mint circulating numismatic products and

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commemorative coins as authorized by Congress.

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And they also offer in-person and virtual tours.

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And it’s actually a pretty cool tour in Denver.

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You actually get to walk through the facility more.

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I think we’ll have to go on a national

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tour, Matt, and tour all these facilities.

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Sorry, go ahead [laugh]

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.
Yeah.

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Really, really cool.

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Anytime.

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And then we have the West Point Mint, and that’s

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near the U.S. Military Academy in New York.

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And West Point Mint stores and mints silver, gold, and platinum

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bullion, along with American Buffalo gold bullion coins.

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And additionally, West Point Mint’s American Eagle Proof

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and uncirculated coins in gold, silver, and platinum, and

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palladium, and commemorative coins as authorized by Congress.

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The next Mint is in San Francisco.

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The San Francisco Mint is in San Francisco, California,

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and they mint clad-in-silver proof sets, silver

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metals, commemorative coins as authorized by Congress.

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So, San Francisco is a numismatic Mint.

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They don’t do any circulating or circulation for the FRB.

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In addition, we store a circulating reserve coin in secure locations

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around the country to support the FRB Federal Reserve Board demand.

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I see.

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Now, how do you relate to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing?

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So, the U.S. Mint is one of two agencies that manufacture physical money.

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The other bureau is the Bureau of Engraving and

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Printing, the other facility which prints paper currency.

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So, the difference.

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I see.

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Okay.

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So, when we see new coin or metal designs, how

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often are those created, or the old ones revised?

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So, good question.

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So, the Mint gets its authority to design and mint coin and metals via

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legislation from Congress and approval from the Secretary of the Treasury.

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New coin and metal designs are introduced yearly.

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Examples are Native American Dollar, the AWQ, or American Women’s

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Quarters Program, commemoratives, congressional gold metals.

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Some older designs are often reintroduced or revised to

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commemorate anniversaries or specific historical milestones.

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We also reintroduce coins due to their popularity with the collector community.

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So, most recent example is the Morgan and Peace

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Dollar coin, which is a very popular program.

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One of our flagship products is our American Eagle Coin Program, which a

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lot of collectors would know what that is, and I’m sure you guys do too.

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The law for that program allows you to make a design change every 25 years.

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So, we just recently did—well, we did one

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in 2022 is the last design change for that.

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So, I know the coin collecting community is gigantic.

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Yes [laugh]

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Right [laugh] . Right.

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Yes.

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So, when you look back, I don’t want to ask too much, but when you

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go back to the beginning of our nation, what have been the major

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innovations in how we’ve made coins, how we produce them over time?

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So, another good question, but robotics

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automated packaging assembly is new to us.

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That is something that’s reduced costs and improved our quality.

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We have high speed presses.

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Our circulating coins are capable of producing 750 coins a minute.

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Vision systems for quality inspections to validate

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that, you know, coins are the correct coins.

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We have laser technology now for our die processing and production.

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And then chrome plating, if—you know, chrome plating

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from the automotive industry is something we used to

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do to dies to protect them to get longer die life.

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Not a very clean process, [laugh] so that has been replaced by

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a process called PVD, Poly Vapor Deposition coating on dies.

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So, that’s automated.

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And then, you know, just more precision equipment.

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We use CNC machines and other equipment, so the hand milling is no longer.

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Those are the old days.

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Those are the old days.

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So, you’ve kept up with really amazing technological change

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in this country, and the Mint has been there with it, right?

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Yes.

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Yep.

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So, what about—speaking of changes in the country,

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digital economy is changing everything, it seems like.

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How has that affected the operations of the Mint in terms of physical coins?

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Well, cash is king, so we continue to produce billions of circulating

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coins yearly, which will remain in circulation for decades.

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So, there’s still going to be a need for coins and

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for paper currency into the foreseeable future.

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Now, you know, one thing I was really excited when—I was excited

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just to get to talk to you, and come to the Mint, but also I realized

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that the Mint is doing the American Innovation Dollar Coin Program.

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What led the Mint to decide to do that?

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And how are those designs conceived?

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So, like many of the Mint’s programs, the American Innovation Dollar

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Coin Program was created by a public law, 115-197, signed in 2018.

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The law requires the Mint to issue one dollar coins for each of the 50

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states, the territories, and the District of Columbia, highlighting an

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innovation or innovator or group of innovators for each jurisdiction.

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What are some of the topics covered in that so far?

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We’ve had 25 released to date.

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The very first one in 2018 was the first

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patent for Samuel Hopkins, an innovator.

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And it’s going down, you know, one each year.

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So, in 2019, number two was the Annie Jump Canyon.

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She was an innovator.

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In 2020, number seven was Massachusetts, the telephone.

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That’s pretty, that’s pretty important.

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Yeah, [laugh] yeah, so that was a big one.

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2021, number 13 was the innovation of higher education.

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In 2022, one of them, number 16 was Kentucky, and it was the Kentucky bluegrass.

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Yes, that’s my home state.

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So, I’m going to say, we have many great things

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starting in Kentucky, but that’s a— [laugh]

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Well, and, you know, my colleagues would get on me, my Michigan

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fans, but I’m from Ohio, so in 2023, number 18, Ohio, the

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Underground Railroad was [unintelligible] on those coins.

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Most recent in 2024 was Missouri, George Washington

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Carver, an agricultural scientist, an innovator.

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And one thing to note on the American Innovation Program is

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that each year, the common obverse of the coin includes a unique

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gear, and that privy marks, you know, specific to that year.

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So, that lets the collectors know what year that coin was produced, as opposed

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to on the edge of the coin where it’s really difficult to see the edge.

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I will note that in the coming year, one of our interviews on

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this series is with the superintendent of the George Washington

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Carver site in Missouri, so we’re looking forward to that for sure.

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And that’s a great list already of innovators in that one dollar coin program.

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So, how do people go about finding that or other things

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that you provide here at the Mint, collectors or other

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people, or say, “Hey, I want to go out and get that one.”

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So, they can go to the US Mint catalog at www.usmint.gov.

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I’m going to do that, of course, and now I’m obsessed.

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I’ll have to get all those.

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So, you know, this whole series is part of the

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semi-quincentennial, the 250th birthday of America.

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How is the Mint commemorating that?

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Are you commemorating that?

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Absolutely.

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So, the Secretary of the Treasury approved a design selection

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process for the coin program that was developed in consultation

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with the United States Semi-Quincentennial Commission.

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And this is to create and evaluate how that messaging of this historic

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milestone is best conveyed through our coins, the artwork itself.

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The Mint will depend on its talented artists in the federal advisory committees.

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And we are redesigning our dime, quarter, and half dollar.

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I’ve seen the designs and they look—they’re stunning.

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And you’ll tell us all about them right now, no [laugh]

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?
I can’t go into too much detail for now, but look for a press

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release from the Mint in the future, showcasing these works of art.

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That’s fantastic.

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Well, I’m excited that you all are doing that.

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It’s kind of sneaking up on us, the 250th, but I’m glad that so many people

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are paying attention to that very important birthday for our country.

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I’m glad that you’re doing what you do here, now.

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I really appreciate your time with us.

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You need to now show me the money [laugh]

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.
[laugh]

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.
No, thanks so much for your time.

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I really appreciate you joining us on AMSEcast.

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It was my pleasure.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for joining us on this episode of AMSEcast.

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For more information on this topic or any others, you can always visit us at

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And of course, thanks to our wonderful guests

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today, and to all of you for listening.

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