American coin production rose sharply in September 2012 as the United States Mint struck a great deal more pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters — the quarters are of the new design depicting Denali National Park in Alaska and have not been issued yet.
Newly released figures from the U.S. Mint place the monthly production total at 905.34 million coins, the third highest this year and well above the 811.42 million from September of last year. The following table offers rankings with recent monthly comparisons:
2011-2012 September Coin Production Figures / Mintages
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| September 2012 | 905.34 M | 3 |
| August 2012 | 655.55 M | 11 |
| July 2012 | 906.62 M | 2 |
| June 2012 | 975.59 M | 1 |
| May 2012 | 819.86 M | 5 |
| April 2012 | 858.04 M | 4 |
| March 2012 | 781.70 M | 8 |
| February 2012 | 579.86 M | 12 |
| January 2012 | 802.50 M | 7 |
| December 2011 | 431.78 M | 13 |
| November 2011 | 715.96 M | 9 |
| October 2011 | 690.66 M | 10 |
| September 2011 | 811.42 M | 6 |
Coin production advanced across every denomination struck by the U.S. Mint in September with the pace up from the previous month by:
- 33.7% for Lincoln cents,
- 98.5% for Jefferson nickels,
- 11.2% for Roosevelt dimes, and
- 96.7% for America the Beautiful Quarters
Lincoln cents accounted for 66.9% of the entire monthly production total, an amount that is in line with typical months.
U.S. Mint facilities in Philadelphia and in Denver are tasked with striking all American coins for circulation. In six of the last seven months, the Denver Mint has been the busier plant. The following table offers coin production figures for each type of coin minted in September and by facility.
US Mint Coin Production in September 2012
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 273,200,000 | 332,800,000 | 606,000,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 47,040,000 | 40,320,000 | 87,360,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 75,000,000 | 54,500,000 | 129,500,000 |
| 2012 ATB Quarters | 62,600,000 | 19,600,000 | 82,200,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 280,000 | 0 | 280,000 |
| Presidential Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 458,120,000 | 447,220,000 | 905,340,000 |
U.S. Mint presses have been silent for Kennedy halves since January. Until last month, Native American $1 coins had not been struck since February. No Presidential $1 coins have been minted for two straight months. The halves and dollars are produced in circulation quality, but are not released into circulation like the penny through quarter denominations. Instead, these larger coins are produced solely for coin collectors who determine how many are made based on how many they order.
Through the first nine months of 2012, circulating coin production totaled 7,285,000,000, with splits of 3,574,250,000 for Denver and 3,710,760,000 for Philadelphia. The amount marks a 14.5% increase over the 6,361,950,000 coins manufactured through the first nine months in 2011.
This year’s monthly average of more than 809 million coins would place the 2012 annual coin production total at more than 9.7 billion coins — the highest level since the 10.1+ billion coins in 2008.
The following grid offers 2012 mintage figures by coin design.
US Mint 2012 Coin Production / Mintages by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2012 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 2,241,200,000 | 2,532,000,000 | 4,773,200,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 443,520,000 | 366,960,000 | 810,480,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 663,500,000 | 641,000,000 | 1,304,500,000 |
| El Yunque Quarter | 25,000,000 | 25,800,000 | 50,800,000 |
| Chaco Culture Quarter | 22,000,000 | 22,000,000 | 44,000,000 |
| Acadia Quarter | 21,606,000 | 24,800,000 | 46,406,000 |
| Hawai’i Quarter | 78,600,000 | 46,200,000 | 124,800,000 |
| Denali Quarter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 1,700,000 | 1,800,000 | 3,500,000 |
| Native American $1 | 3,080,000 | 2,800,000 | 5,880,000 |
| Arthur Presidential $1 | 4,060,000 | 6,020,000 | 10,080,000 |
| Cleveland (1st Term) Presidential $1 | 4,060,000 | 5,460,000 | 9,520,000 |
| Harrison Presidential $1 | 4,200,000 | 5,640,001 | 9,840,001 |
| Cleveland (2nd Term) Presidential $1 | 3,920,000 | 10,680,001 | 14,600,001 |
| Total | 3,516,446,000 | 3,691,160,002 | 7,207,606,002 |
In specific changes above for coins with unique annual designs, there is only one call out — the 280,000 additional Native American $1 coins produced in Denver.
Denali National Park Quarters in Production
The U.S. Mint’s published quarter production total (343,410,000) does not match up with the combined individual totals by quarter design (266,006,000). Based on past differences and U.S. Mint reporting, the 77,404,000 variance indicates the amount of Denali National Park Quarters that have been produced through October. These final 2012-dated quarters are scheduled for release on November 5, 2012. With more yet to be struck, their mintage already surpasses each of the first three quarter designs.
As a side note, while the U.S. Mint reserves the right to produce more quarters of a current year’s design, it has tended not to once mintages have been published like they have been for the El Yunque, Chaco Culture, Acadia and Hawaii Volcanoes quarters. The same cannot be said for this year’s 2012 Presidential $1 coins as collector demand determines mintages and the Mint has had to strike more of some of the earlier issues.
Coin production figures are based on data aggregated from the U.S. Mint webpage located at: http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin_production.
I guess this means the glut of State Quarters is passing and that ATB Quarter production will rise in the coming years? I’ll admit I’m disappointed it is happening so soon. 2012’s quarter production was on track to be the lowest in decades. It’s still low, but not as low as it could’ve been. Oh well. I suppose 2013 will have the first ATB mintages over 100 million.
Let’s see, according to the table the mint has lost money making every single one of the 4.7 billion pennies. No wonder collector coins cost so much more than their melt value. When is Congress going to wake up and cancel the penny and save us all some money? Nah, that wouldn’t happen. They’d just take the extra money and spend it somewhere else.
And the BEP is still spending half its time and energy wasting hundreds of millions a year printing $1 bills. So much for “exceptionalism”.
$47 million in pennies, what a total joke waste of money to produce. Nearly $40 in dollar coins that will never be circulated, this year alone. Perhaps a billion dollar coins in bank vaults nationwide, never ever seen in circulation. This nation must stop the production of paper $1 bills and replace with the coin forms, and produce only the collector versions of the penny (very profitable).
Received two P mint mark Acadia National Park quarters at the coffee shop this morning.