As a result, the latest Mint lacks the intimacy of the first Mint and the majesty of the second and third edifices. It is white, boxy, and nearly windowless. A sign warns that no videotaping or cameras are allowed. An escalator leads to a long hallway with interior plate-glass windows on one side and a display built into the wall along the other. On your self-guided tour, you look down at the various operations taking place.
Flames shoot out from the tops of the annealing furnaces where the coins are heated.
Countless shiny dimes pour from coining presses into overflowing containers. Forklifts heavy with copper profiles of Abraham lincoln plod toward vaults. There are frequent signs telling you not to touch the glass. Nonetheless, kids and adults alike press their noses excitedly onto the window to gasp at the scene below. By pressing buttons along the way, recorded information details what is going on.