Philadelphia Mint
A photograph of the Seventh Street building taken around 1908 show that by then, the year 1792 and the words "Ye Olde Mint" (in quotes) had been painted onto the facade.
In the late 19th or early 20th century, the property was sold to Frank Stewart, who approached the city, asking them to preserve or relocate the historic buildings.
The second Philadelphia Mint, the "Grecian Temple", was constructed of white marble with classic Greek-style columns on front and back.
Franklin Peale was sent to Europe to study advanced coinmaking technologies which were brought back and implemented, increasing productivity and quality.
[3] A massive structure nearly a full city block, it was an instant landmark, characterized by a Roman temple facade.
Visitors enjoyed seven themed glass mosaics designed by Louis C. Tiffany in a gold-backed vaulted ceiling.
Most of the videos on the tour were narrated by Harry Kalas, a Baseball Hall of Fame announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies and NFL Films broadcaster.
They made off with $265 in gold pieces (equal in face value to $9332.08 today), but due to the rarity of the coins, the men were quickly apprehended while trying to spend them in local shops.
[9][10] In 1893, Henry S. Cochran, a weighing clerk, was found to have embezzled $134,000 in gold bars from the mint vault (equal to $4,544,089 today) over a period of 8–10 years.
King Farouk of Egypt contacted Nellie Tayloe Ross, then Director of the U.S. Mint, and requested one 1933 double eagle for his extensive coin collection.
After the deaths of Farouk and the general who inherited the king's collection, the coin disappeared into a European collector's possession.
While the provenance and paperwork proving ownership was debated ad nauseam in courts, the coin was transferred to Fort Knox for further safekeeping.
[12] In 2003, a Philadelphia woman named Joan Switt Langbord found ten 1933 double eagles in a safe deposit box that once belonged to her parents; when she took them to be appraised, they were seized by the United States Treasury as stolen property.
Investigators claimed that Langbord's father, Israel Switt, conspired with a clerk inside the mint to steal the coins.
He had been investigated previously for the crime, leading to the confiscation of several gold pieces, but the statute of limitations had prevented him from being prosecuted.
[14] In September 2011, former mint officer William Gray pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing error coins valued at $2.4 million and selling them to a distributor.
