ter, a $5 and a $2.5 gold coin were added, with production reaching $18,000 per week. They introduced a new coin design with, “head of the Goddess of Liberty surrounded by thirteen stars, with “Clark & Company” in the tiara. “Pikes’s Peak Gold, Denver” was on the other side, with “5D.” or “2 1/2 D.”
Business was thriving when it was abruptly terminated by an act of Congress. On February 25, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the National Currency Act established the federal dollar as the sole currency of the United States for the first time in American history. Subsequently, the Clark, Gruber & Co. was formally bought by the US Treasury in April, 1863. In its almost three years of operation, the business had minted $594,305 worth of Pike’s Peak Gold in the form of coins. Additionally, they purchased 77,000 troy ounces of raw gold, and shipped “large amounts of dust” to the Philadelphia Mint. Clark, Gruber & Co.’s final job was printing the $25,000 – authorized by the US Treasury – to buy their building, assaying and minting equipment. Clark, Gruber & Co. repositioned the business as a bank until the business was purchased by the First National Bank of Denver two years later.
The mint at Market and 16th Streets reopened later that year as a United States Assay Office. The Denver of the of the United States Mint branch 43 years later, after Denver had joined the Union. Coins produced at the Denver Mint bear a D mint mark. Today, the Denver Mint is the single largest producer of coins in the world.
For the story of the Denver Mint please visit http://wallstreetoftherockies.com/mint-robbery/
Why was in logical for Clark, Gruber and Co. to set up operations in Denver?
How did miners turn gold dust into money?
Which geographic landmark is on Colorado’s first minted coins?
What was the name of the Act that abruptly put an end to Clark, Gruber and Co.?
What is noteworthy about the Denver Mint?