The pace of striking American coins in November was the slowest for a month since August, coin production figures released Monday by the United States Mint show.
While more nickels were minted compared to the previous month, far fewer pennies, dimes and quarters crossed U.S. Mint presses. The outcome was a November production total of 765.76 million coins versus the more than 1 billion coins in October. But then October was a monster month — the strongest since early into the Great Recession.
Last month did rank higher than the same period one year ago, as highlighted in the following table.
2011-2012 November Coin Production Figures / Mintages
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| November 2012 | 765.76 M | 9 |
| October 2012 | 1,040.12 M | 1 |
| September 2012 | 905.34 M | 4 |
| August 2012 | 655.55 M | 11 |
| July 2012 | 906.62 M | 3 |
| June 2012 | 975.59 M | 2 |
| May 2012 | 819.86 M | 6 |
| April 2012 | 858.04 M | 5 |
| 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 | 10 |
U.S. Mint facilities in Denver and Philadelphia strike all circulating coins used in commerce. Jefferson nickel production picked up at both mints by an overall 10.2%, but the pace for other coins slowed by:
- 28.5% for Lincoln cents,
- 44.0% for Roosevelt dimes and
- 11.4% for America the Beautiful Quarters
Circulating quality 50-cent pieces and dollars are minted only for coin collectors. They are no longer released into circulation. These coins posted no gains last month.
The following table lists November circulating coin production figures by U.S. Mint facility and coin type.
Circulating Coinage Production in November 2012
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 201,600,000 | 254,800,000 | 456,400,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 47,760,000 | 45,600,000 | 93,360,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 45,500,000 | 66,500,000 | 112,000,000 |
| 2012 ATB Quarters | 46,000,000 | 58,000,000 | 104,000,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 340,860,000 | 424,900,000 | 765,760,000 |
A total of 9,090,890,000 coins were produced through the first eleven months of 2012. The amount is already the highest for a year since 2008 when more than 10.1 billion coins were manufactured. Splits by U.S. Mint facility are standing at 4,480,790,000 for Denver and 4,610,100,000 for Philadelphia.
The following table offers a breakdown of mintages by coin design.
2012 Circulating Coin Production / Mintages by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2012 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 2,781,600,000 | 3,086,000,000 | 5,867,600,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 533,760,000 | 454,800,000 | 988,560,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 831,000,000 | 785,500,000 | 1,616,500,000 |
| 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 | not yet reported | not yet reported | not yet reported |
| 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 | 10,680,000 | 14,600,000 |
| Total | 4,314,586,000 | 4,477,500,001 | 8,792,086,001 |
Figures by design have been unchanged since September for Native American $1 coins, since August for America the Beautiful Quarters and since July for Presidential $1 coins.
More Denali National Park quarters continued to be produced, however. The U.S. Mint’s year-to-date total of 564,810,000 quarters is well above the 266,006,000 total that results from summing up coin production figures by quarter design. The difference is 298,804,000 million coins. The only 2012 America the Beautiful Quarter that does not have mintage numbers assigned to it is the Denali National Park Quarter. This quarter started entering circulation on November 5, 2012.
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 really hope all those quarters being produced are for the Denali design. I would hate to see the previous ones added to.
As the year ends I’ve found piles of 2012 cents and nickels in my change, a handful of 2012 dimes, but no ATB quarters at all.
And of course thanks to Treasury’s spinelessness and Crane Paper, no 2012 dollars. Ever.