mint

mint, place where legal coinage is manufactured. The name is derived from the temple of Juno Moneta, Rome, where silver coins were made as early as 269 B.C. Mints existed earlier elsewhere, as in Lydia and in Greece; from there coinage was introduced into Italy. The first U.S. mint was established in Philadelphia in 1792. In 1991, U.S. mints operated in West Point, N.Y., Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco. See also numismatics; coin; medal.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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