U.S. Coin Production Tops 1.2 Billion in July; Guam Quarter Mintages Published

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Photo of War in the Pacific National Historical Park quarter
This CoinNews photo shows a 2019 War in the Pacific National Historical Park quarter. The U.S. Mint published mintages for the quarter in their July production report.

The pace of producing U.S. coins for circulation climbed in July for a second month in a row and the one billion level was hurdled for the sixth time this year, according to the latest round of manufacturing figures from the United States Mint.

U.S. Mint data also revealed mintages for Guam’s War in the Pacific quarter, the third of this year’s five quarters with unique designs.

In the headline figure for the month, the Mint’s coining presses struck more than 1.2 billion coins, marking a 17.7% increase from June but a 14.3% decline from July 2018.

Here’s how the month compares against others in the past year:

July 2018 to July 2019 Circulating Coin Production

Month Mintages Rank
July 2019 1,202.10 M 6
June 2019 1,021.654 M 9
May 2019 485.24 M 13
April 2019 1,253.76 M 5
March 2019 1,054.90 M 7
February 2019 1,256.10 M 4
January 2019 1,507.30 M 1
December 2018 560.64 M 12
November 2018 1,031.24 M 8
October 2018 1,382.18 M 3
September 2018 976.82 M 10
August 2018 831.56 M 11
July 2018 1,403.16 M 2

 

The Federal Reserve always orders more 1-cent coins than any other denomination even with the latest data showing it costs the U.S. Mint 2.06 cents to make and distribute each one. The bureau produced 714.8 million Lincoln cents in July, representing 59.5% of the circulating-quality coins produced for the month.

Month-Over-Month

In month-over month comparisons for coins used daily by Americans, production totals in July increased by:

  • 19% for Lincoln cents,
  • 11.2% for Jefferson nickels,
  • 21.9% for Roosevelt dimes, and
  • 9.6% for America the Beautiful quarter dollars.

Native American $1 Coins and Kennedy half-dollars are no longer ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but they are still made in circulating finish for coin collectors. In January, the U.S. Mint tends to strike both coins to the expected amounts needed for the entire year.

That said, the bureau’s data for February did show an increase of 140,000 in 2019-D Native American dollars. Reported mintages for the space-themed piece are at 1.54 million for Denver and 1.4 million for Philadelphia for a combined 2.94 million coins — up from last year’s dollar mintages by the added 140,000.

Mintages for the 2019 Kennedy half-dollar remained the same for a sixth straight month, totaling 3.4 million coins with equal splits between the Denver and Philadelphia Mints. Last year’s half-dollar was the most produced since the one from 2001. It saw 6.1 million from Denver and 4.8 million from Philadelphia for a combined 10.9 million coins.

Here’s a summary of all circulating-quality coins produced last month:

US Mint Circulating Coin Production in July 2019

Denomination Denver Philadelphia Total
Lincoln Cents 353,600,000 361,200,000 714,800,000
Jefferson Nickels 55,920,000 60,480,000 116,400,000
Roosevelt Dimes 95,500,000 147,000,000 242,500,000
ATB Quarters 61,200,000 67,200,000 128,400,000
Kennedy Half Dollars 0 0 0
Native American $1s 0 0 0
Total 566,220,000 635,880,000 1,202,100,000

 

U.S. Mint facilities in Denver and Philadelphia manufacture all of America’s coins for commerce. Last month, the Philadelphia Mint produced 635.88 million coins and the Denver Mint produced 566.22 million coins.

YTD Totals

Year-to-date, the Philadelphia Mint struck 4,007,574,000 coins and the Denver Mint struck 3,773,480,000 coins for a combined 7,781,054,400 coins — 6.7% fewer than the 8,342,974,000 coins minted through the first seven months of 2018.

This next table lists 2019 coin production totals by denomination and by U.S. Mint facility:

YTD 2019 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination

1 ¢ 5 ¢ 10 ¢ 25 ¢ 50 ¢ N.A. $1 Total:
Denver 2232.4M 346.84M 673M 518M 1.7M 1.54M 3773.48M
Philadelphia 2326.8M 408.974M 797.5M 471.2M 1.7M 1.4M 4007.574M
Total 4559.2M 755.814M 1470.5M 989.2M 3.4M 2.94M 7781.0544M

 

The 2019 monthly average of about 1.11 billion coins tracks over 12 months to roughly 13.3 billion coins. The U.S. Mint made over 13.1 billion coins for circulation in 2018.

Mintages by Unique Design

Through July, the U.S. Mint released four annually issued coins with one-year-only designs. They include:

As mentioned earlier, the U.S. Mint published War in the Pacific quarter mintages for the first time. They tallied to 114.4 million from Denver and 116.6 million from Philadelphia for a combined 231 million — the smallest total for a 25-cent piece since New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest quarter was released in late 2013.

The following table offers a breakdown of this year’s mintages by coin design:

2019 Circulating Coin Production by Design

  Denver Philadelphia Total
Lincoln Cents 2,232,400,000 2,326,800,000 4,559,200,000
Jefferson Nickels 346,840,000 408,974,000 755,814,000
Roosevelt Dimes 673,000,000 797,500,000 1,470,500,000
Lowell National Historical Park Quarter (MA) 182,200,000 165,800,000 348,000,000
American Memorial Park Quarter (MP) 182,600,000 142,800,000 325,400,000
War in the Pacific National Historical Park Quarter (GU) 114,400,000 116,600,000 231,000,000
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park Quarter (TX) 0 0 0
Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Quarter (ID) 0 0 0
Kennedy Half-Dollars 1,700,000 1,700,000 3,400,000
Native American $1 Coins 1,540,000 1,400,000 2,940,000
Total 3,734,680,000 3,961,574,000 7,696,254,000

 

There are 84.8 million in quarters that the U.S. Mint has yet to officially assign to a design. Most likely, these are a portion of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park quarters scheduled for release on Aug. 26.

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sam tweedy

War in the Pacific best quarter design since the 1976 Drummer Boy!!…..