Coins continue to pour from United States Mint production plants in 2013. For the seventh time this year after happening only once last year, circulating coin production for a month hurdled above 1 billion coins, newly released U.S. Mint data for October shows.
U.S. Mint production facilities in Denver and Philadelphia struck 1,220,380,000 coins for circulation in October, marking increases of 11% from September and 17.3% from a year ago.
Until October of last year, the one billion milestone had not been hit in a month since early into the Great Recession. Last month’s tally is the third highest in 2013. Here’s how it stacks up to others over the past year:
2012 – 2013 October Coin Production Figures / Mintages
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| October 2013 | 1,220.38 M | 3 |
| September 2013 | 1,099.34 M | 5 |
| August 2013 | 724.91 M | 12 |
| July 2013 | 1,225.96 M | 1 |
| June 2013 | 1,070.12 M | 7 |
| May 2013 | 1,084.36 M | 6 |
| April 2013 | 1,117.23 M | 4 |
| March 2013 | 932.56 M | 10 |
| February 2013 | 939.98 M | 9 |
| January 2013 | 1,223.68 M | 2 |
| December 2012 | 245.34 M | 13 |
| November 2012 | 765.76 M | 11 |
| October 2012 | 1,040.12 M | 8 |
The Federal Reserve decides how many coins for circulation are needed, based on demand trends and coinage orders from financial facilities around the United States. The Mint strikes amounts based on Fed order requests.
As is always case, pennies seem to disappear as Federal Reserve Banks order far more of them than any other denomination. In October alone, the U.S. Mint pressed 674 million Lincoln cents. That’s 55.2% of all the circulating-quality coins struck for the month.
As for coins used daily by Americans, each notched month-over-month production gains of:
- 3.8% for Lincoln cents,
- 25.5% for Jefferson nickels,
- 13.2% for Roosevelt dimes, and
- 29.6% for America the Beautiful Quarters
Kennedy half-dollars, Presidential $1 Coins and Native American $1 Coins are no longer ordered by banks but the Mint still produces enough to fulfill collector demand. Native American $1 Coins have not been produced since January and coining presses have been silent for Kennedy half-dollars since April. Presidential $1 Coins were last minted in August with a small run of 10,000.
The following table offers October’s coin production figures by denomination:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in October 2013
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 351,600,000 | 322,400,000 | 674,000,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 64,800,000 | 66,480,000 | 131,280,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 106,500,000 | 116,000,000 | 222,500,000 |
| 2013 ATB Quarters | 104,000,000 | 88,600,000 | 192,600,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presidential Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 626,900,000 | 593,480,000 | 1,220,380,000 |
As alluded to earlier, U.S. Mint plants in Philadelphia and Denver strike all of America’s circulating coins for commerce. For the January through October period, the Philadelphia Mint produced 5,387,930,000 coins and the Denver Mint struck 5,241,910,000 coins.
Read: How the Philadelphia Mint makes coins.
That brings the year-to-date total for both facilities to 10,629,840,000 coins, marking a sharp 27.7% surge over the 8,325,130,000 coins struck through the first ten months in 2012. This year’s monthly average of more than 1.06 billion coins sets 2013 on track for an annual coin production total of more than 12.7 billion coins, which would be the highest total since 14.4 billion coins were minted in 2007.
The following table offers the latest production breakdown by denomination and U.S. Mint facility:
Circulating Coin Production from Jan 2013 – Oct 2013
| 1 ¢ | 5 ¢ | 10 ¢ | 25 ¢ | 50 ¢ | N.A. $1 | Pres $1 | Total: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | 3012.0M | 562.08M | 924.0M | 726.2M | 1.8M | 1.82M | 14.01M | 5241.91M |
| Philadelphia | 3291.6M | 534.96M | 965.5M | 572.8M | 1.8M | 1.82M | 19.45M | 5387.93M |
| Total | 6303.6M | 1097.04M | 1889.5M | 1299.0M | 3.6M | 3.64M | 33.46M | 10629.84M |
Setting aside cents, nickels and dimes, October figures did not fill the last gap or offer any updated mintages by coin design. The unknown is the mintage breakout by facility and overall total for the Mount Rushmore quarter, the last of the five 2013 America the Beautiful Quarters and the twentieth issued since the series kicked off in 2010. Mount Rushmore quarters entered circulation this past Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. The Mint is still making them, as briefly discussed further below.
The following grid lists 2013 mintages by coin design:
2013 Circulating Coin Production / Mintages by Coin Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2013 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 3,012,000,000 | 3,291,600,000 | 6,303,600,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 562,080,000 | 534,960,000 | 1,097,040,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 924,000,000 | 965,500,000 | 1,889,500,000 |
| White Mountain Quarter | 107,600,000 | 68,800,000 | 176,400,000 |
| Perry’s Victory Quarter | 131,600,000 | 107,800,000 | 239,400,000 |
| Great Basin Quarter | 141,400,000 | 122,400,000 | 263,800,000 |
| Fort McHenry Quarter | 151,400,000 | 120,000,000 | 271,400,000 |
| Mount Rushmore Quarter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 1,800,000 | 1,800,000 | 3,600,000 |
| Native American $1 | 1,820,000 | 1,820,000 | 3,640,000 |
| William McKinley $1 | 3,365,100 | 4,760,000 | 8,125,100 |
| Theodore Roosevelt $1 | 3,920,000 | 5,310,700 | 9,230,700 |
| William Howard Taft $1 | 3,360,000 | 4,760,000 | 8,120,000 |
| Woodrow Wilson $1 | 3,360,000 | 4,620,000 | 7,980,000 |
| Total | 5,047,705,100 | 5,234,130,700 | 10,281,835,800 |
Finally, two differences are discovered when subtracting coin design totals from overall denomination totals:
-
America the Beautiful Quarters are higher by 348,000,000. Last month’s coin production report showed them up by 155,400,000. The continuing increase is a reminder that the Mint is still striking 2013 Mount Rushmore quarters. When completed, they will have highest mintage of any America the Beautiful Quarter.
- For a third straight report, Presidential $1 Coins are higher by 4,200.
As always, circulating coin production figures in this coin news article are based on data aggregated from the U.S. Mint webpage found at: http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin_production.
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