The United States Mint today published coin production figures for May that are a bit more interesting than many past months.
2010 dime mintages soared, making them far from scarce — at least when stacked up to the slimmer looking 2009 dime numbers. In fact, May’s output alone matched all of 2009’s.
Jefferson nickels also leaped forward following their debuting token April output.
Also revealed in the US Mint’s May data are the finalized production figures for Franklin Pierce Presidential $1 coins, the second of four Presidential dollars for 2010. As the following table illustrates, the only coins not produced were Kennedy Half-Dollars.
Circulating Coins Minted in May
| Denver | Philadelphia | Total | |
| 2010 Lincoln Cents | 186,400,000 | 222,800,000 | 409,200,000 |
| 2010 Jefferson Nickels | 0 | 27,600,000 | 27,600,000 |
| 2010 Roosevelt Dimes | 64,500,000 | 81,500,000 | 146,000,000 |
| 2010 Quarters | 28,400,000 | 17,600,000 | 46,000,000 |
| 2010 Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 Native American $1 | 27,580,000 | 0 | 27,580,000 |
| 2010 Presidential $1s | 0 | 840,000 | 840,000 |
| Total | 306,880,000 | 350,340,000 | 657,220,000 |
May was by far the busiest month for the Mint in over a year with 657.22 million coins manufactured for circulation. Production increased for a third straight month.
2010 Monthly Production Totals
| January | February | March | April | May |
| 218.41 M | 194.40 M | 384.42 M | 451.96 M | 657.22 M |
As typical, Lincoln pennies took the monthly mintage title. 124.4 million additional were struck in May as compared to April.
Dimes came in second with a monthly run of 146 million, which equals the amount from all of last year. 51.5 million more were added in May than in April. Their mintage through to the first five months of 2010 now stands at 259.50 million.
2010-D nickels still have not been struck according to the Mint. While their pace in Denver has been zero since July 2009, Philadelphia nickels were produced in earnest to the tune of 27.6 million in May as compared to the very first batch of 1.68 million in April.
America the Beautiful Quarters™ climbed 46 million. No further breakouts by design have been revealed since the Mint released the Hot Springs National Park Quarter Mintages on May 25 — those showed that they were the scarcest quarter design since the 1950’s.
There has been 123.40 million 2010-dated quarters struck this year, with 63.80 million from Denver and 59.60 million from Philadelphia. Subtracting the 59.6 million Hot Springs quarters leaves 63.8 million remaining. At least a sizable portion of those will be assigned to the Yellowstone National Park Quarter which was released into circulation on Monday, June 1.
2010 Year-to-Date Coin Production by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2010 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 615,600,000 | 650,430,000 | 1,266,030,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 0 | 29,280,000 | 29,280,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 104,500,000 | 155,000,000 | 259,500,000 |
| Hot Springs National Park Quarters | 29,000,000 | 30,600,000 | 59,600,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 1,700,000 | 1,800,000 | 3,500,000 |
| 2010 Native American $1 | 41,580,000 | 32,060,000 | 73,640,000 |
| Fillmore Presidential $1 | 36,960,000 | 37,520,000 | 74,480,000 |
| Pierce Presidential $1 | 38,360,000 | 38,220,000 | 76,580,000 |
As the above table shows, the Mint has finalized totals for the Franklin Pierce Presidential dollars. Mintages are slightly higher than those of the first 2010 Fillmore dollar.
The dream is dead. I was really hoping that 2010’s total mintage would be smaller than 2009’s. Nickels and quarters are the only circulating coins which could come in lower than 2009. I don’t foresee 2010 cents from either mint coming in at under a billion pieces. Sigh…