US Mint Coin Production in June; Arches Quarter Mintages

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Arches National Park Quarter - Bag and Roll Products
New U.S. Mint data shows high mintages of Arches National Park Quarters

Striking more than a billion coins every month is looking again like common practice for the United States Mint. The bureau hurdled the coin production milestone for a fourth straight month in June and for the fifth time in 2014.

What a different a few years can make. The at least billion per month level was a normality before the recession. It didn’t return with any frequency until last year, hitting 7 different times. It only happened once in 2012 and not at all in years 2011, 2010 and 2009.

Breaking down the numbers, U.S. Mint coining presses struck 1,279,820,000 coins for circulation in June, marking a 19.6% increase over the same month last year but down 3.5% from May. Last month ranks third busiest for the United States Mint through the last 12 months.

2013 – 2014 June Coin Production Figures

Month Mintages Rank
June 2014 1,279.82 M 3
May 2014 1,326.80 M 2
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 5
September 2013 1,099.34 M 6
August 2013 724.91 M 12
July 2013 1,225.96 M 4
June 2013 1,070.12 M 7

 

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.

Lincoln cents are always the most ordered denomination for trade and commerce even as it costs the United States Mint 1.83 cents to produce and distribute each one. The Mint struck a whopping 864.4 million pennies in June, which is 67.5% of all the circulating coins manufactured for the month. Generally, this threshold is closer to 60%.

For all coins used every day by Americans and in month-over-month comparisons, June saw:

  • 8.2% more Lincoln cents,
  • 11.3% more Jefferson nickels,
  • 55.1% fewer Roosevelt dimes, and
  • 10.3% more America the Beautiful Quarters

Kennedy half-dollars, Presidential $1 Coins, and Native American $1 Coins are no longer ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but the U.S. Mint continues to make them in circulating-quality for 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.

Here is a breakdown for all the circulating-quality coins made by the U.S. Mint in June:

US Mint Circulating Coin Production in June 2014

Denomination Denver Philadelphia Total
Lincoln Cents 515,200,000 349,200,000 864,400,000
Jefferson Nickels 58,320,000 69,600,000 127,920,000
Roosevelt Dimes 84,000,000 30,500,000 114,500,000
2013 ATB Quarters 106,000,000 67,000,000 173,000,000
Kennedy Half Dollars 0 0 0
Native American $1s 0 0 0
Presidential Dollars 0 0 0
Total 763,520,000 516,300,000 1,279,820,000

 

U.S. Mint facilities in Philadelphia and Denver manufacture all the circulating coins for commerce. In June, the Philadelphia Mint produced 516.3 million coins and the Denver Mint struck 763.52 million coins.

Coin Production in First Half of 2014

Through the first half of 2014, the Philadelphia Mint struck 3,363,520,000 coins and the Denver Mint produced 3,664,880,000 coins. That brings the total for both plants to 7,028,400,000 coins for a 10.5% increase over the 6,359,250,000 coins minted through the first half 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 2205.6M 306.72M 581M 548.6M 2.1M 5.6M 15.26M 3664.88M
Philadelphia 2051.6M 332.16M 538.5M 415.8M 2.5M 3.08M 19.88M 3363.52M
Total 4257.2M 638.88M 1119.5M 964.4M 4.6M 8.68M 35.14M 7028.4M

 

This year’s monthly average of just over 1.17 billion coins places 2014 on an annual coin production pace of almost 14.06 billion coins. That would be the highest total since 2007. A tad over 11.9 billion coins were made in 2013.

Arches National Park Quarter Mintages

Arches National Park Quarters for Utah, the third of the five quarter designs for this year and the 23rd issued America the Beautiful Quarter, entered circulation beginning on June 9, 2014. The latest Mint data show Arches quarter mintages total 465.6 million with splits 251.4 million from Denver and 214.2 million from Philadelphia.

These are the second highest mintages of the America the Beautiful Quarter series. They fall behind the 2013 Mount Rushmore Quarter for South Dakota with its mintage tally of 504.2 million with splits 272.4 million from Denver and 231.8 million from Philadelphia.

The following table offers a breakdown of mintages across coin design:

2014 Circulating Coin Production / Mintages by Coin Design

  Denver Philadelphia 2014 Total
Lincoln Cents 2,205,600,000 2,051,600,000 4,257,200,000
Jefferson Nickels 306,720,000 332,160,000 638,880,000
Roosevelt Dimes 581,000,000 538,500,000 1,119,500,000
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 3,664,880,000 3,347,920,000 7,012,800,000

 

There is one difference when comparing totals by coin design from those by coin denomination. Mintages of America the Beautiful Quarters are higher by 15.6 million, which indicates that the Philadelphia and Denver facilities have started striking Great Sands Dunes National Park Quarters for Colorado. These quarters are scheduled to enter circulation 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.

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Boz

Why the big ramp up in Harding P dollars I wonder?

Stewart

Wow, $42 millions dollars worth of Lincoln cents, please stop the madness. It’s only July, more to come.

Vachon

The Arches ATB quarter is now only the 2nd ATB quarter to have a mintage higher than the lowest Statehood quarters. Seeing a bunch of 2013s and 2014s (though the Mt. Rushmore one has been surprisingly absent despite its mintage) so I’m guessing the public will finally become aware that there’s been another quarter program going on since 2010 🙂