From a San Francisco Chronicle online article:
As trivia game experts know, San Francisco has had three U.S. mints. The first mint, on Commercial Street, was replaced in 1874 by a grand structure at Fifth and Mission streets. That building, now called the Old Mint, was itself replaced in 1937 by a new mint on Duboce Avenue, which is still coining money,

The newest museum in San Francisco will open in the city’s oldest mint this week.
The Commercial Street building is built on the site of the first U.S. mint in the West, which opened in 1854 during the California Gold Rush to turn nuggets and gold dust into coins and bullion. Later it was used as a subtreasury, where the government stored millions of dollars in gold and silver bars.
To read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/nativeson/article/SF-s-newest-museum-is-opening-in-the-city-s-14494442.php
























































Our first stop was the Ashmolean Museum, which was remarkably uncrowded at 9:30 am this Wednesday morning. We paid to see the special exhibit “Last Supper In Pompeii” and it was outstanding.























After a great British breakfast, hopped on the Tube at Tower Hill and headed for the South Kensington station. Arrived at the Victoria & Albert Museum as it opened at 10.













































Set out at 9 am across Tower Bridge and experienced South Bank.
Borough Market is a must visit and it delivered delicious stall after stall of every cheese, meat, vegetable and savory or sweet foods.
We then continued along the Thames for a quick view of Shakespeare’s Globe, followed by a tour of the Tate Modern.






Headed north to Buckingham Palace before walking through St. James Park to the National Gallery.







Édouard Manet was a provocateur and a dandy, the Impressionist generation’s great painter of modern Paris. This first-ever exhibition to explore the last years of Manet’s short life and career reveals a fresh and surprisingly intimate aspect of this celebrated artist’s work. Stylish portraits,
luscious still lifes, delicate pastels and watercolors, and vivid café and garden scenes convey Manet’s elegant social world and reveal his growing fascination with fashion, flowers, and his view of the parisienne—a feminine embodiment of modern life in all its particular, fleeting beauty.
Revere’s place in history was cemented by
The exhibition was organized by the
Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as “Pre-Romantic”. A committed Christian who was hostile to the Church of England (indeed, to almost all forms of organised religion), Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Established in 1831, the Gorham Manufacturing Company adeptly coupled art and industry, rising to become an industry leader of stylistic and technological achievement in America and around the world. It produced public presentation pieces and one-of-a-kind showstoppers for important occasions, as well as tableware for everyday use. Its works trace a narrative arc not only of great design but also of American ambitions. In this volume, insightful essays are accompanied by gorgeous new photography of splendid silver pieces along with a wealth of archival images, design drawings, casting patterns, and company records that reveal a rich heritage of a giant in decorative arts and silver manufacturing.