United States Mint facilities in Philadelphia and Denver manufactured more coins in July than in any month since January, which was busier than any since 2007.
U.S. Mint coining presses last month hammered out over 1.3 billion in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters — up 4% from June and 8.6% higher than the same period last year. Over one billion coins in a month haven’t been common until recently, seen in 6 of the 7 months this year; 7 times last year; 1 time in 2012; and not at all in years 2011, 2010 and 2009.
2013 – 2014 July Coin Production Figures
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| July 2014 | 1,331.34 M | 2 |
| June 2014 | 1,279.82 M | 4 |
| May 2014 | 1,326.80 M | 3 |
| 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 | 6 |
| September 2013 | 1,099.34 M | 7 |
| August 2013 | 724.91 M | 12 |
| July 2013 | 1,225.96 M | 5 |
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.
Also very familiar to readers, Lincoln cents are always the most ordered denomination for trade and commerce even though it costs the United States Mint about 1.8 cents to strike and distribute each one. The Mint made 770 million pennies in July, representing 57.8% of all the circulating coins produced for the month. That’s a tad lower than most months when the mark is closer to 60%.
For coins used every day by Americans and in month-over-month comparisons, July saw:
- 10.9% fewer Lincoln cents,
- 5.3% more Jefferson nickels,
- 105.7% more Roosevelt dimes, and
- 10.5% more America the Beautiful Quarters
Presidential $1 Coins, Native American $1 Coins, and Kennedy half-dollars are no longer ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but the U.S. Mint continues to make them in circulating-quality for coin 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.
In July, the Denver Mint struck 647.94 million coins and the Philadelphia Mint produced 683.4 million coins. Here is a breakdown for all the circulating-quality coins made by the U.S. Mint last month:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in July 2014
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 376,400,000 | 393,600,000 | 770,000,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 68,640,000 | 66,000,000 | 134,640,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 112,500,000 | 123,000,000 | 235,500,000 |
| 2013 ATB Quarters | 90,400,000 | 100,800,000 | 191,200,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 647,940,000 | 683,400,000 | 1,331,340,000 |
For the January through July period, the Philadelphia Mint manufactured 4,046,920,000 coins and the Denver Mint produced 4,312,820,000 coins. Combined, the two facilities churned out 8,359,740,000 coins for a 10.2% increase over the 7,585,210,000 coins minted through the first seven months 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 | 2582M | 375.36M | 693.5M | 639M | 2.1M | 5.6M | 15.26M | 4312.82M |
| Philadelphia | 2445.2M | 398.16M | 661.5M | 516.6M | 2.5M | 3.08M | 19.88M | 4046.92M |
| Total | 5027.2M | 773.52M | 1355M | 1155.6M | 4.6M | 8.68M | 35.14M | 8359.74M |
This year’s monthly average of nearly 1.2 billion coins places 2014 on an annual coin production pace of over 14.3 billion coins. That would be the highest total since 2007. Just over 11.9 billion coins were made in 2013.
Last month was without new revelations when it comes to final mintages by coin design. The following table offers a breakdown of mintages across designs:
2014 Circulating Coin Production / Mintages by Coin Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2014 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 2,582,000,000 | 2,445,200,000 | 5,027,200,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 375,360,000 | 398,160,000 | 773,520,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 693,500,000 | 661,500,000 | 1,355,000,000 |
| 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 | 4,222,420,000 | 3,930,520,000 | 8,152,940,000 |
Great Sands Dunes National Park Quarters have been under production for at least two months. The Mint hasn’t stated its mintage but there are 206.8 million of them so far, based on comparing totals by coin design from those by coin denomination. Great Sands Dunes Quarters will enter circulating 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.
Better get busy on the dunes and everglades or they will end up being the poor orphan stepchildren like the first spouses and the 5 oz.