While United States Mint coin production figures for August reveal mintages for the newly released Vicksburg quarter and Hayes $1 coin, they also mark a second straight monthly decline in circulating coin totals.
Published on Thursday by the Mint, the August 2011 production figures combined to a total of 604.54 million coins. The pace is 26.5 percent slower than July and down 18.7 percent from August 2010. The month ranks ninth best since a year ago, which is a stark contrast to the first, second and third rankings reached in the previous three months.
Monthly US Mint Coin Production Figures / Mintages
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| August 2011 | 604.54 M | 9 |
| July 2011 | 821.98 M | 2 |
| June 2011 | 903.06 M | 1 |
| May 2011 | 807.41 M | 3 |
| April 2011 | 640.17 M | 8 |
| March 2011 | 485.5 M | 12 |
| February 2011 | 523.14 M | 11 |
| January 2011 | 764.73 M | 4 |
| December 2010 | 80.200 M | 13 |
| November 2010 | 531.46 M | 10 |
| October 2010 | 730.22 M | 6 |
| September 2010 | 690.02 M | 7 |
| August 2010 | 743.78 M | 5 |
United States Mint presses were silent when it came to striking Kennedy half dollars. They have been that way since January when the United States Mint made a run of 3.45 million.
Until last month, Native American $1 coins had not been minted since a small batch of 140,000 were delivered from Philadelphia back in March. And for the first time since February, no Presidential $1 coins were produced. Lincoln cents, as always, led coinage. 384.4 million were added in August, representing 63.6 percent of all the coins manufactured during the month.
Coins that are produced for circulation are all struck at the United States Mint facilities in Denver and Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Mint was far busier with an output of 356.24 million coins versus 248.3 million coins from Denver.
August 2011 US Mint Coin Production
| Denver | Philadelphia | Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 144,800,000 | 239,600,000 | 384,400,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 35,760,000 | 56,880,000 | 92,640,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 54,500,000 | 52,000,000 | 106,500,000 |
| 2011 Quarters | 8,200,000 | 5,800,000 | 14,000,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 5,040,000 | 1,960,000 | 7,000,000 |
| Presidential Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 248,300,000 | 356,240,000 | 604,540,000 |
The monthly production spread between both plants is handily the widest since February, but it actually brought them closer to parity for the year. The United States Mint through the first eight months has produced 5.55053 billion coins for circulation — 2.76258 billion from Denver and 2.78795 billion from Philadelphia. The level is quickly approaching the Mint’s output in 2010 of 6.37311 billion coins and is on track to more than double the 3.548 billion coins minted in 2009.
Hayes $1 Mintages
As hypothesized in the previous report, the United States Mint had produced all of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential $1 coins by the end of July. However, the totals and splits were not made official until now.
The Mint struck 74.48 million of them — 36.82 from Denver and 37.66 million from Philadelphia. As shown in the below table, the combined mintage resides between the first two 2011-dated Presidential dollars honoring Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant. The 2011-D Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential $1 is actually the third most scarce of all Presidential coins from Denver. It falls behind the 2010-D James Buchanan Presidential $1 total of 36.54 million and the 2009-D Zachary Taylor Presidential $1 total of 36.68 million.
The Hayes $1 entered circulation on August 18, 2011.
Vicksburg Quarter Mintages
Vicksburg National Military Park Quarter mintages were made available as well in the August coin production figures. Breaking a string of recent declines, the fourth 2011-dated quarter to be released this year boasts the highest mintages since the five quarters released in 2010.
The combined mintage total for the Vicksburg quarter is 64.2 million, split out with 33.4 million from Denver and 30.8 million from Philadelphia. It should be noted, however, that the mintages may change as the United States Mint has a bulk purchase program in place that permits businesses to buy past quarter designs during a year even when it has stopped delivering them to Federal Reserve Banks.
The Vicksburg quarter entered circulation on August 29, 2011.
For reference, the following table summarizes the latest United States mintage figures by coin design and denomination.
YTD 2011 Coin Production by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2011 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 1,607,740,000 | 1,656,000,000 | 3,263,740,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 364,080,000 | 326,880,000 | 690,960,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 528,500,000 | 558,000,000 | 1,086,500,000 |
| Gettysburg Park Quarters | 30,800,000 | 30,400,000 | 61,200,000 |
| Glacier Park Quarters | 31,200,000 | 30,400,000 | 61,600,000 |
| Olympic Park Quarters | 30,600,000 | 30,400,000 | 61,000,000 |
| Vicksburg Quarters | 33,400,000 | 30,800,000 | 64,200,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 1,700,000 | 1,750,000 | 3,450,000 |
| Native American $1 | 23,100,000 | 11,620,000 | 34,720,000 |
| Johnson Presidential $1 | 37,100,000 | 35,560,000 | 72,660,000 |
| Grant Presidential $1 | 37,940,000 | 38,080,000 | 76,020,000 |
| Rutherford B. Hayes $1 | 36,820,000 | 37,660,000 | 74,480,000 |
Coin production figures above are based on data from the United States Mint page: http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin_production.
