The heavy demand for silver and minor coins that began early in the calendar year 1916 made it necessary to employ extra men and this larger force started upon overtime in March, 1916, from two to four hours per diem.

A gas combustion furnace of the open flame and tilting type has been tried for melting our minor coinage metal ingots, but absolutely without success on cupro nickel. The showing on bronze was promising, and further tests are to be made under lower pressures in an effort to melt successfully both cupro nickel and bronze. In the meantime an electric tilting furnace of the arc type is being tested on cupro nickel melting; the tests, while not complete, give every evidence of entire success in this method of melting.

COINING DEPARTMENT.

The coinage for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917, was the largest in the history of the institution; 285,646,172 pieces of domestic coin, consisting of McKinley memorial gold dollars, half and quarter dollars, dimes, 5 and I cent pieces, of the value of $14,680,118.68 were coined. In addition to the United States coinage, there were manufactured for Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Peru 11,075,110 pieces of coin and blanks, making a grand total of 296,721,282 pieces, an excess of nearly 100,000,000 pieces over any previous year.

The metal operated upon totaled 2,007 tons.

The net wastage on this vast coinage amounted to only $918.84. In order to meet the unprecedented demand for subsidiary silver and minor coin, and to execute the foreign coinage, the working force was largely increased and two shifts of 12 hours each were worked during a portion of the time.

During this year the silver coinage was all of the new designs except $447,000 in quarter dollars and $1,849,000 in dimes.

Further coinage details will be found in tabulations elsewhere in this document.

PROOF COINS AND MEDALS.

The following table shows the number of proof coins and medals, and their nominal value, sold during the fiscal year 1917:

All the dies used in coining operations in all the mints are made in the engraving department at the Philadelphia Mint. The embossed-envelope dies used by contractors supplying stamped envelopes for the Post Office Department and postal-savings bank are also made here; also dies for the Army and Navy and other authorized medals. The mint is reimbursed for the actual expenditures for labor and materials on these medal accounts.

The number of dies prepared for United States coinage during the year was 7,037. In addition 145 were made for Philippine coinage, 18 for the Government of Colombia, 4 for the Government of Costa Rica, 109 for the Government of Cuba, 175 for the Government of Ecuador, 26 for the Government of Nicaragua, 30 for the Government of Panama, 89 for the Government of Salvador, 341 for the Post Office Department, 9 for medals, and 117 master dies and hubs; in all 8,100, as follows:

MACHINE SHOP.

In addition to the regular repairs and upkeep of the machinery and appliances, the following new work was done for this mint: 3-foot fine bullion balance, 6 complete sets of bronze and nickel molds, 2 turntables, 60 gold certificate bar molds, 6 automatic hopper coin feeders, 421 coin collars of various denominations, 3 sets doubleeagle sectional gold collars, 3 sets eagle sectional gold collars, and 4 punches and beds for nickel coinage; 2 ten-beam automatic weighing machines are about 70 per cent completed. The blower system has been rearranged in one central plant in the basement. A 750pound Rennerfelt electric furnace for melting bronze and nickel has been installed; 3 cutting presses and 2 rolling mills are also under construction for the minor coinage plant.

There were manufactured for the mint of the United States at San Francisco, 12 half-dollar collars, 18 quarter-dollar collars, 20 dime collars, 20 nickel collars, 6 one-cent collars, and 20 Philippine coin collars, ten-beam automatic weighing machine, 3 sets of weights for all dominations of coins, 2 sets of dressing tools and 2 sets of steel gauges for all denominations of coins for upsetting machine, 3 dime, 2 nickel, and 3 one-cent feeders, disks and tubes for automatic hopper coin feed, and repair parts automatic weighing machine. For the mint of the United States at Denver there were manufactured 18 dime collars, 24 nickel collars, and 18 one-cent collars. For foreign Governments the following work was done:

Cuba: Four-beam automatic weighing machine, 3 sets of weights for all denominations of coin, 3 brass weights for $1,000 in gold and silver, set of maximum and minimum weights for gold and silver, hand balance.

Ecuador: Collars, punches, and beds for coinage.
Nicaragua: Collars, punches, and beds for coinage.
Peru: Punches, collars, weights, and 6 nurls.

Salvador: Collars, punches, and beds for coinage.

EMPLOYEES.

The total number of employees in this institution at the close of the fiscal year was 342, distributed in the several departments as follows:

There were 47,143 visitors shown through the mint prior to February 3, 1917, when visiting was prohibited by order of the department.

THE PROGRESS OF THE NUMISMATIC COLLECTION.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917, the accessions to the numismatic collection amounted to 359 specimens, consisting of 85 coins, 175 tokens, and 99 medals. The distribution of these specimens according to metals and period of origin is as follows:

The San Francisco Mint was operated throughout the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917, with augmented force and on overtime for several months on account of the heavy demand for small coin. The refinery operated but five months of the year.

During the fiscal year the mint received 13,701 gold and silver deposits, also 33 redeposits from the Carson Mint, containing 4,924,992.552 fine ounces of gold of the value of $101,808,631.47, and and 5,047,931.69 fine ounces of silver at a subsidiary coinage value of $6,978,305.39. The details covering classification of bullion and sources of origin are set out ir table appearing in another part of this report.

BARS MANUFACTURED AND ISSUED DURING THE FISCAL YEAR.

During the fiscal year gold and silver bars were manufactured as follows:

The gold certificate bars on hand June 30, 1917, amounted to

$272,988,414.15.