Gold and Silver Mints**Private Mints**Great American Mint
Precious metals, such as gold and silver, were once the standard currency of human society, from the ancient Egyptians and the Roman Empire, to the British Empire and even early colonial history of the United States. Today, the rising value of gold, silver, and platinum has led to an increase in the number of private mints operating in the United States. As investors turn to the stability of precious metal products to protect wealth, private mints, such as the Great American Mint, have opened their doors and quickly grown in prominence.
The United States is home to one of the highest concentrations of private mint facilities in the world. Some of these mints go relatively unnoticed, serving largely local or regional populations with small volumes of products. The Great American Mint & Refining Company, as the mint is officially known, is the largest private mint and refinery on the West Coast and one of the largest in the US.
Private mints occupy an important sector within the precious metals industry, both in the United States and around the globe. First and foremost, private mints, such as the Great American Mint, produce bullion rounds and bars, as well as proof rounds, in gold and silver. Very few private mints produce noticeable quantities of platinum or palladium products, despite the rising price of these precious metals. In some cases, copper rounds are struck; in fact, this sets the Great American Mint apart as one of the preeminent producers of copper rounds in the US.
The production of bullion bars, rounds, and proof rounds by private mints fills a gap in the US precious metal industry by providing more affordable gold and silver bullion products. Sovereign mints striking investment-grade and collectible bullion and proof products often have high premiums over spot prices. Private mints are able to sell their products at much lower premiums over spot prices, without sacrificing the value of the products.
Most private mints in the United States produce bars and rounds with gold and silver contents between .999 and .9999, and guarantee the weight and content of those products. This makes private mint bars and rounds just as valuable from a precious metal pricing standpoint as sovereign coins, but less expensive to acquire.
Additionally, private mints often act as a third-party provider sovereign bullion coins and commemorative proofs. The American Silver Eagle and American Gold Eagle, for example, are sold by a handful of private mints in the United States, allowing investors and collectors to acquire products without going through the United States Mint in the process. These two primary functions enable more people to access precious metals than would be possible through the United States Mint alone.
Finally, private mints like the Great American Mint provide high-quality blanks to sovereign mints for the production of bullion and commemorative coin programs. These blank discs are produced at private mints and sold to mints, such as the United States Mint, for the use in production of some of the world’s most popular bullion coin programs.
The Great American Mint is a full-service precious metals company located in Anaheim, California. Formed in 2011 and opened for the first time in 2013, the Great American Mint has one of the largest operations in the United States. The mint bills itself as the nation’s only direct source buyer of scrap precious metals in the country, meaning it purchases gold, silver, and other precious metals from suppliers that are melted down in onsite facilities and refined to purities of .999 or higher.
The facilities at the Great American Mint allow the company to handle every step of the production process in house. There is a state-of-the-art refinery onsite that uses efficient, environmentally friendly “zero discharge” processes to refine gold and silver without pouring destructive emissions into the local environment.
There is also an onsite analytical laboratory that uses fire assay, wet chemical analysis, atomic absorption, and X-ray fluorescence to accurately determine the precious metal content of all its gold and silver. Using additional Inductively Coupled Plasma equipment, Great American Mint chemists and technicians can detect precious metals in scrap content in parts per millions.
As one of the nation’s largest private mints, it’s no surprise that the Great American Mint produces and sells a wide variety of products. The company offers minting and stock bullion, commercial refining, and even custom minting and bullion production for precious metal wholesalers.
Among the most popular products from the Great American Mint are its one ounce and fractional-ounce silver rounds. The most popular products in this category from the Great American Mint feature iconic American coin designs from the 20th century. These include:
In addition to these popular silver rounds, the Great American Mint also produces silver rounds and bars with its own designs or corporate logo on them. Great American Mint branded bars are a popular bullion product from the mint, as are some of its many rounds, such as the United We Stand Silver round.
The Great American Mint even produces the unique Silver Round Bars. These products feature the Morgan Silver Dollar and Walking Liberty round designs on the face of 1 oz and 10 oz silver bars. For each bar, the obverse face features an inset image of the obverse side of these respective rounds, combining popular American coin designs with affordable silver bars.
If that wasn’t enough to pique your interest, the Great American Mint also produces custom rounds and medallions for private companies looking to sell specific products or provide specific medallions to a customer base.
Finally, the Great American Mint produces a large volume of investment-grade bullion blanks for use in striking sovereign coins and commemorative pieces. The United States Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, and British Royal Mint are all customers of the Great American Mint, purchasing blanks for use in the production of American Silver Eagles, Canadian Silver Maple Leafs, and Britannia Silver coins (respectively).
JM Bullion proudly accepts various forms of payment for your purchase of Great American Mint products. You have the choice of paying by credit/debit card, paper check, bank wire transfer, and PayPal. JM Bullion accepts all major credit/debit cards, with the exception of American Express. These transactions clear in one business day on average. Paper checks take four to six business days to process, while bank wire and PayPal transfer clear immediately.
You’ll enjoy free standard shipping and insurance on your purchase from JM Bullion. All products ship via the US Postal Service or UPS, and if you’d like expedited shipping, it is available at an extra cost. In the event your package is lost or destroyed during shipping, we’ll work to provide you with replacement products, or provide a full refund of your purchase price.
If you have any questions about the Great American Mint or its products, please feel free to contact JM Bullion. Our associates are available at 800-276-6508, online using our live chat service, or via email.