Coin related/historical things to do in San Francisco?
MilkmanDan
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A fellow collector and friend of mine is visiting next month and we'd like to spend a day visiting coin related and/or historical sites related to the gold rush. We only have one day and we'll be around San Francisco. I'll have a car so we can drive if needed.
We'll visit the old mint and the Wells Fargo museum looks interesting. Are there any other great historical things we should visit? Any great coin shops in SF? Would appreciate any ideas you all have.
We'll visit the old mint and the Wells Fargo museum looks interesting. Are there any other great historical things we should visit? Any great coin shops in SF? Would appreciate any ideas you all have.
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The First Mint museum at Commerce and Montgomery streets, it is pretty small:
Mark Twain started his writing career here.
http://forums.collectors.com/m...tid=26&threadid=909398
The Bank of California (Union Bank at California and Sansome streets) has a nice gold rush museum:
http://forums.collectors.com/m...tid=26&threadid=685407
The Bank of Lucas, Turner and Company at Montgomery and Jackson streets (now a lawyer's office):
The bank ran from 1854 to 1857, the sole manager was one of San Francisco's colorful gold rush characters,
a former army officer named William T. Sherman.
In 1857 Sherman decided that San Francisco was too colorful and left.
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Here is the link to the Gold Rush tour
They also have other free walking tours that my wife and I have gone on and they are all very informative. The link below will give you a description of each tour and the date, time and meeting place for the tour. This way if you have some dead time in your day, you can look at the schedule and see if a tour exists in the area have an interest in.
SF Free Walking Tours
Let us know if you want on the tour and what you thought of the tour.
Here is my Washington Quarter Variety Registry Set
This is my Washington Quarter Proof Variety Registry Set
have fun!
if you like old school coin stores, see witter coins on market street. i have bought some great coins in there.
have fun!
Another +1 for Witter Coins. It's a super sweet shop.
If you read further on the first page past the photos, check out the posts by firstmint -
a couple of the specimens are fakes from the John J. Ford collection, which makes it
even more interesting for a numismatist!
Note: It is only open midweek, not on weekends!
Maritime museum down at Fisherman's wharf- I have not been there in 25 years- not sure its there anymore.
I would check out the Hotel lobbies of the older SF Hotels like the St. Francis, Mark Hopkins and a few others around Union Square
Coin related- go to Witter coins- that is fun- it is located in the Hobart Building on the 14th floor on Market Street-
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Every street corner has a bum with a sign asking for money.
They need a place to sleep at night after a hard day of "signing" and the old US Mint is a great place for that.
I knew the old mint wasn't open, but I still figured it would be neat to at least see where the magic happened. Maybe not though, based on the last post.
I think we'll plan on the Bank of California and Wells Fargo museums, and the Witter coin shop if we have time. Also planning to drive up Hawks Hill to see some of the WWII batteries and of course the view is nice. Too bad the Point Bonita lighthouse is only open Saturday through Monday.
Was also thinking the Palace Hotel would be worth stopping in if it's close to other sites. I believe William Ralston owned at least part of this hotel at one time.
Thanks all, some great suggestions here.
I knew the old mint wasn't open, but I still figured it would be neat to at least see where the magic happened. Maybe not though, based on the last post.
I think we'll plan on the Bank of California and Wells Fargo museums, and the Witter coin shop if we have time. Also planning to drive up Hawks Hill to see some of the WWII batteries and of course the view is nice. Too bad the Point Bonita lighthouse is only open Saturday through Monday.
Was also thinking the Palace Hotel would be worth stopping in if it's close to other sites. I believe William Ralston owned at least part of this hotel at one time.
The Old Mint has been cleaned up a bit, there are no more encampments, just the occasional homeless/drug user. It is worth walking by and going up the steps.
Also the Union Bank Museum is a must.
Partner @Gold Hill Coin
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
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siliconvalleycoins.com
We headed up Market and poked our head into the Palace Hotel to see the Garden Court. Quite a sight if you haven't been there. Historical note, president Warren G. Harding died in this hotel in 1923. The original hotel was financed by William Ralston of Bank of California fame, although the current hotel is a replacement after fires and earthquakes took out the original.
We next stopped by the gold rush museum at the Union Bank (old Bank of California) that many recommended. What a hidden treasure with some amazing gold pieces. One coin that particularly stuck out to me was the Unc-looking Oregon gold piece with amazing detail on the high points of the beaver. I've never seen one so detailed.
After this we headed over to the Wells Fargo museum for a little bit, which was neat but felt half-done to me. The 1854 type set that was titled "from San Francisco" obviously had a few O mint coins. There was also a side exhibit with old video games so we played a few matches on an original Pong set up and that was fun.
After that we headed back towards the old mint, stopping into Witter coins. This proved to be the real winner of the day, as the two guys working the front (both members here) were very helpful and the new owner Seth (also a member here) was in the back. We soon struck up a conversation and he took us into the back of the store and we looked at and talked about coins for at least another hour. This store is really something else. It's a small, old time shop on the 14th floor of the Hobart building. You have to ride an ancient elevator up to the 14th floor, then buzz into the shop. These kind of shops are just not around anymore. We ended up going out for a great dinner at Tadich Grill with Seth, talked a lot more coins and finished up at the Ghirardelli shop for some hot chocolate and milk shakes. Seth is a class act, loves to talk about coins and was patient enough to answer all of our questions about buying and running a coin shop. He has ambitious plans for the store and I wish him all the best. Thanks Seth, and best of luck!
After this it was pretty late and we stopped by the old mint. About all you can do there is walk up the steps, close your eyes and imagine that old double eagle (or Trade Dollar variety of course) was made inside. Otherwise, it's a locked up old building with nothing inside and you'll be disappointed. I do hope that someday the building is renovated and open for tours, it is such an important part of SF history and played a big role for the community during the 06 earthquake.
Thanks again all for the recommendations, we had a great, although short visit to the city.