Alaska Tour Guide

Posts Tagged ‘souvenirs’

Gold Quartz- Gold and Quartz were formed together millions of years ago by hydro-thermal pressure within the earth. Miners and geologists have to look long and hard for gold in quartz often tunneling deep within the earth to find pockets of this mineral. When the quartz contains a rare gold dispersion, an exquisite piece of jewelry can be created. Gold quartz is very durable, it rates 7 on the hardness scale. We guarantee the authenticity of all of our gold quartz and provide a 3 year guarantee against breakage. We invite you to view our complete collection.Map

My wife Michele and I are the owners and operators of the Alaska Mint. I was 4 years old when my parents moved our family to Alaska from Colorado. They were young and ambitious. After working as a “roughneck” on oil platforms for a while, they had saved up enough money to start a business, a small jewelry shop. My brothers, sisters and I have grown up in the jewelry business, and today each of us specializes in a different aspect of it.

Originally, we produced the art work and had medallions manufactured outside of Alaska. In 1990, I started acquiring and assembling the equipment to mint silver and gold medallions right here in Anchorage. We started out with 1 coin design, but soon new designs were being requested as well as related products. Today, we draw the designs, cut, polish and heat treat the dyes. We strike all of the medallions in our location on 4th Avenue in downtown Anchorage. Our medallions are detailed reproductions of original sculptures, many highly collectible with mintage of only 40 to 50 coins per year. Map