Last month was another busy one for the United States Mint. The agency’s coin production facilities in Denver and Philadelphia pressed nearly 1.7 billion coins for circulation, the most in a month than any since 2007.
New production figures also show mintages for the upcoming John F. Kennedy Presidential $1 Coin.
April’s production tally surged 20.9% from the prior month and 68.3% from the same time a year ago. Here’s how the month stacks up against others in the past year:
2014 – 2015 April Coin Production Figures
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| April 2015 | 1,696.56M | 1 |
| March 2015 | 1,403.44M | 3 |
| February 2015 | 1,277.96M | 6 |
| January 2015 | 1,539.15 M | 2 |
| December 2014 | 878.84M | 12 |
| November 2014 | 958.78 M | 10 |
| October 2014 | 1,168.78 M | 7 |
| September 2014 | 1,004.24 M | 9 |
| August 2014 | 913.38 M | 11 |
| July 2014 | 1,331.34 M | 4 |
| June 2014 | 1,279.82 M | 5 |
| May 2014 | 1,326.80 M | 2 |
| April 2014 | 1,007.96 M | 8 |
Demand for pennies is always high We love pennies even as it costs about 1.7 cents to produce and distribute each one. The U.S. Mint made over 1 billion Lincoln cents in April for 59.4% of all the circulating-quality coins produced for the month.
In month-over-month production comparisons for coins used every day by Americans:
- Lincoln cents shot up 27.1%.
- Jefferson nickels fell 3.2%.
- Roosevelt dimes advanced 16.5%.
- America the Beautiful Quarters surged 22.4%.
Presidential $1 Coins, Native American $1 Coins and Kennedy half-dollars are no longer ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but the Mint continues to strike them in circulating-quality for coin collectors.
In January, the U.S. Mint produced 2015 Kennedy halves to the expected amounts needed for the entire year. That is typically how it works for Native American $1 Coins as well, but in March the Mint found the need to make another 140,000. Also, the agency in April continued to strike Presidential $1 Coins to support the four different designs this year. Here’s a summary of all the circulating-quality coins produced last month:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in April 2015
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 507,600,000 | 500,000,000 | 1,007,600,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 65,040,000 | 63,840,000 | 128,880,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 144,000,000 | 146,000,000 | 290,000,000 |
| 2015 ATB Quarters | 132,200,000 | 136,200,000 | 268,400,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | 1,680,000 | 0 | 1,680,000 |
| Total | 850,520,000 | 846,040,000 | 1,696,560,000 |
U.S. Mint production facilities in Denver and Philadelphia make all of America’s coins for commerce. Last month, the Denver Mint struck 850.52 million coins and the Philadelphia Mint struck 846.04 million coins.
For the January to April period, the Denver Mint made just over 3 billion coins and the Philadelphia Mint made a tad over 2.9 billion coins. That brings the year-to-date tally for both plants to 5,917,140,000 coins for a 33.8% increase over the 4,421,780,000 coins minted during the first four months of last year. This next table lists year-to-date coin totals by denomination:
YTD 2015 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination
| 1 ¢ | 5 ¢ | 10 ¢ | 25 ¢ | 50 ¢ | N.A. $1 | Pres $1 | Total: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | 1602M | 303.6M | 494.5M | 597.8M | 2.3M | 2.24M | 12.6M | 3015.04M |
| Philadelphia | 1592.8M | 235.44M | 490.5M | 557.4M | 2.3M | 2.8M | 20.86M | 2902.1M |
| Total | 3194.8M | 539.04M | 985M | 1155.2M | 4.6M | 5.04M | 33.46M | 5917.14M |
The latest 2015 monthly average of nearly 1.48 billion coins is poised to place this year’s annual coin production total above 17.75 billion coins. Such a level has not been reached since 2001 when the Mint pressed over 19.4 billion coins. Last year, the U.S. Mint produced a touch more than 13.28 billion circulating coins, the most since 2007 when 14.4 billion were made.
Mintages of John F. Kennedy $1 Coins
There are more John F. Kennedy Presidential $1 Coins than any in the series since the second term Grover Cleveland Presidential dollars launched in late 2012. JFK $1 coins are scheduled for release in U.S. Mint-sold rolls, bags and boxes on June 18. There are 10.36 million of them, with 4.2 million from Denver and 6.16 million from Philadelphia.
The following table offers a breakdown of this year’s mintages by design:
2015 Circulating Coin Production by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2014 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 1,602,000,000 | 1,592,800,000 | 3,194,800,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 303,600,000 | 235,440,000 | 539,040,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 494,500,000 | 490,500,000 | 985,000,000 |
| Homestead National Monument of America Quarter | 248,600,000 | 214,400,000 | 463,000,000 |
| Kisatchie National Forest Quarter | – | – | – |
| Blue Ridge Parkway Quarter | – | – | – |
| Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge Quarter | – | – | – |
| Saratoga National Historical Park Quarter | – | – | – |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 2,300,000 | 2,300,000 | 4,600,000 |
| Native American $1 | 2,240,000 | 2,800,000 | 5,040,000 |
| Harry S. Truman $1 | 3,360,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,260,000 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower $1 | 3,640,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,540,000 |
| John F. Kennedy $1 | 4,200,000 | 6,160,000 | 10,360,000 |
| Lyndon B. Johnson $1 | – | – | – |
| Total | 2,664,440,000 | 2,554,200,000 | 5,218,640,000 |
There are again two differences when subtracting the totals by coin design from the overall production figures by denomination:
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America the Beautiful Quarter mintages are higher by 692.2 million. These are most of the Kisatchie National Forest Quarters for Louisiana. The quarter entered circulation on April 13 and the U.S. Mint started selling rolls and bags of them on April 20.
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Presidential $1 Coin mintages are higher by 6.3 million. This amount represents a portion of the Lyndon B. Johnson dollars that are scheduled to launch in August.
Coin production figures in this coin news article are based on data aggregated from the U.S. Mint webpage at: http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=ProductionFigures.
Pt hanks for the report.
Sounds like the Louisiana will eclipse South Dakota as eventually being the most common quarter to find in pocket change. Guess here will be no more ‘scarce’ ATB’s.