The predecessors of the Denver Mint are…
November 1863 CE
During the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, they have coined gold dust brought from the gold fields by the miners.
In 1858, Austin M. Clark, Milton E. Clark and Emanuel Henry Gruber had founded a brokerage firm in Leavenworth, Kansas, then established an office in Denver at the beginning of the Colorado Gold Rush.
Desiring to save on shipping and insurance costs associated with shipping gold back east, the firm had opened a private mint.
On July 25, 1860, the mint had opened in a two-story brick building on the corner of Market and 16th Streets, minting $10 gold pieces at the rate of "fifteen or twenty coins a minute".
"On the face is a representation of the peak, its base surrounded by a forest of timber and 'Pikes Peak Gold' encircling the summit. Immediately under its base is the word 'Denver', and beneath it 'Ten D.'. On the reverse is the American Eagle encircled by the name of the firm 'Clark, Gruber & Co.', and beneath the date, '1860'."
A $20 gold coin had been added, "the weight will be greater, but the value the same as the United States coin of like denomination".
A $5 and a $2.5 gold coin had been added, with production reaching $18,000 per week.
On the front was the "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."
In the almost three years of operation, they have minted $594,305 worth of Pike's Peak Gold in the form of gold coins.
Additionally, they have purchased 77,000 troy ounces of raw gold, and shipped "large amounts of dust" to the Philadelphia Mint.
The building, assaying and minting equipment had been formally bought by the US Treasury in April 1863.
Clark, Gruber & Co. will remain a bank until bought by the First National Bank of Denver in 1865.
Established by an Act of Congress on April 21, 1862, the United States Mint at Denver opens for business in late 1863 as a United States Assay Office.
Operations begin in the facilities of Clark, Gruber and Company, located at 16th and Market Streets and acquired by the government for $25,000, which it is simply able to print off at the location.
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