Striking more than a billion coins every month is looking again like common practice for the United States Mint. The bureau hurdled the coin production milestone for a fourth straight month in June and for the fifth time in 2014.
What a different a few years can make. The at least billion per month level was a normality before the recession. It didn’t return with any frequency until last year, hitting 7 different times. It only happened once in 2012 and not at all in years 2011, 2010 and 2009.
Breaking down the numbers, U.S. Mint coining presses struck 1,279,820,000 coins for circulation in June, marking a 19.6% increase over the same month last year but down 3.5% from May. Last month ranks third busiest for the United States Mint through the last 12 months.
2013 – 2014 June Coin Production Figures
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| June 2014 | 1,279.82 M | 3 |
| May 2014 | 1,326.80 M | 2 |
| April 2014 | 1,007.96 M | 9 |
| March 2014 | 1,025.40 M | 8 |
| February 2014 | 939.04 M | 11 |
| January 2014 | 1,449.38 M | 1 |
| December 2013 | 285.96 M | 13 |
| November 2013 | 991.14 M | 10 |
| October 2013 | 1,220.38 M | 5 |
| September 2013 | 1,099.34 M | 6 |
| August 2013 | 724.91 M | 12 |
| July 2013 | 1,225.96 M | 4 |
| June 2013 | 1,070.12 M | 7 |
In case you’ve missed our monthly coin production articles, we always like to include this reminder:
The U.S. Mint does not decide how many coins to make for circulation. It’s the Federal Reserve that orders them from the Mint based on usage trends and coinage requests from financial institutions around the country.
Lincoln cents are always the most ordered denomination for trade and commerce even as it costs the United States Mint 1.83 cents to produce and distribute each one. The Mint struck a whopping 864.4 million pennies in June, which is 67.5% of all the circulating coins manufactured for the month. Generally, this threshold is closer to 60%.
For all coins used every day by Americans and in month-over-month comparisons, June saw:
- 8.2% more Lincoln cents,
- 11.3% more Jefferson nickels,
- 55.1% fewer Roosevelt dimes, and
- 10.3% more America the Beautiful Quarters
Kennedy half-dollars, Presidential $1 Coins, and Native American $1 Coins are no longer ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but the U.S. Mint continues to make them in circulating-quality for collectors. In January, the Mint produced 2014 Native American $1 Coins and 2014 Kennedy half-dollars to the expected amounts needed for the entire year. Presidential $1 Coins were last struck in May, and it seems enough are now in inventory to support demand across the four 2014 designs.
Here is a breakdown for all the circulating-quality coins made by the U.S. Mint in June:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in June 2014
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 515,200,000 | 349,200,000 | 864,400,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 58,320,000 | 69,600,000 | 127,920,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 84,000,000 | 30,500,000 | 114,500,000 |
| 2013 ATB Quarters | 106,000,000 | 67,000,000 | 173,000,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 763,520,000 | 516,300,000 | 1,279,820,000 |
U.S. Mint facilities in Philadelphia and Denver manufacture all the circulating coins for commerce. In June, the Philadelphia Mint produced 516.3 million coins and the Denver Mint struck 763.52 million coins.
Coin Production in First Half of 2014
Through the first half of 2014, the Philadelphia Mint struck 3,363,520,000 coins and the Denver Mint produced 3,664,880,000 coins. That brings the total for both plants to 7,028,400,000 coins for a 10.5% increase over the 6,359,250,000 coins minted through the first half of 2013.
This next table offers 2014 coin production totals by denomination and by U.S. Mint facility:
YTD 2014 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination
| 1 ¢ | 5 ¢ | 10 ¢ | 25 ¢ | 50 ¢ | N.A. $1 | Pres $1 | Total: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | 2205.6M | 306.72M | 581M | 548.6M | 2.1M | 5.6M | 15.26M | 3664.88M |
| Philadelphia | 2051.6M | 332.16M | 538.5M | 415.8M | 2.5M | 3.08M | 19.88M | 3363.52M |
| Total | 4257.2M | 638.88M | 1119.5M | 964.4M | 4.6M | 8.68M | 35.14M | 7028.4M |
This year’s monthly average of just over 1.17 billion coins places 2014 on an annual coin production pace of almost 14.06 billion coins. That would be the highest total since 2007. A tad over 11.9 billion coins were made in 2013.
Arches National Park Quarter Mintages
Arches National Park Quarters for Utah, the third of the five quarter designs for this year and the 23rd issued America the Beautiful Quarter, entered circulation beginning on June 9, 2014. The latest Mint data show Arches quarter mintages total 465.6 million with splits 251.4 million from Denver and 214.2 million from Philadelphia.
These are the second highest mintages of the America the Beautiful Quarter series. They fall behind the 2013 Mount Rushmore Quarter for South Dakota with its mintage tally of 504.2 million with splits 272.4 million from Denver and 231.8 million from Philadelphia.
The following table offers a breakdown of mintages across coin design:
2014 Circulating Coin Production / Mintages by Coin Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2014 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 2,205,600,000 | 2,051,600,000 | 4,257,200,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 306,720,000 | 332,160,000 | 638,880,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 581,000,000 | 538,500,000 | 1,119,500,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains Quarter | 99,400,000 | 73,200,000 | 172,600,000 |
| Shenandoah National Park Quarter | 197,800,000 | 112,800,000 | 310,600,000 |
| Arches National Park Quarter | 251,400,000 | 214,200,000 | 465,600,000 |
| Great Sand Dunes Quarter | – | – | – |
| Everglades National Park Quarter | – | – | – |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 2,100,000 | 2,500,000 | 4,600,000 |
| Native American $1 | 5,600,000 | 3,080,000 | 8,680,000 |
| Warren G. Harding $1 | 3,780,000 | 6,160,000 | 9,940,000 |
| Calvin Coolidge $1 | 3,780,000 | 4,480,000 | 8,260,000 |
| Herbert Hoover $1 | 3,780,000 | 4,480,000 | 8,260,000 |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt $1 | 3,920,000 | 4,760,000 | 8,680,000 |
| Total | 3,664,880,000 | 3,347,920,000 | 7,012,800,000 |
There is one difference when comparing totals by coin design from those by coin denomination. Mintages of America the Beautiful Quarters are higher by 15.6 million, which indicates that the Philadelphia and Denver facilities have started striking Great Sands Dunes National Park Quarters for Colorado. These quarters are scheduled to enter circulation beginning on Aug. 25, 2014.
Coin production figures in this coin news article are based on data aggregated from the U.S. Mint website at: http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin_production.
Why the big ramp up in Harding P dollars I wonder?
Wow, $42 millions dollars worth of Lincoln cents, please stop the madness. It’s only July, more to come.
The Arches ATB quarter is now only the 2nd ATB quarter to have a mintage higher than the lowest Statehood quarters. Seeing a bunch of 2013s and 2014s (though the Mt. Rushmore one has been surprisingly absent despite its mintage) so I’m guessing the public will finally become aware that there’s been another quarter program going on since 2010 🙂