Last month was a busy one for the United States Mint, a second straight. The agency’s coin production facilities stamped over 1.2 billion coins in February after striking more than 1.5 billion in January.
New production figures, published Monday by the agency, also show mintages for the Homestead National Monument Quarter and the two Presidential $1 Coins commemorating Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
U.S. coining presses kicked out 1,277,960,000 in pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars. January is typically a top coin production month with February sharply weaker, but this year the pace between the two slowed 17% compared to the 35.2% retreat through the same month-over-month period last year.
February ranks fourth busiest for the U.S. Mint through the last 12 months. The following table shows recent monthly coin production totals and how they compare to each other:
2014 – 2015 February Coin Production Figures
| Month | Mintages | Rank |
| February 2015 | 1,277.96M | 4 |
| January 2015 | 1,539.15 M | 1 |
| December 2014 | 878.84M | 12 |
| November 2014 | 958.78 M | 9 |
| October 2014 | 1,168.78 M | 5 |
| September 2014 | 1,004.24 M | 8 |
| August 2014 | 913.38 M | 11 |
| July 2014 | 1,331.34 M | 2 |
| June 2014 | 1,279.82 M | 3 |
| May 2014 | 1,326.80 M | 2 |
| April 2014 | 1,007.96 M | 7 |
| March 2014 | 1,025.40 M | 6 |
| February 2014 | 939.04 M | 10 |
Coin usage in the United States is monitored by the Federal Reserve. The U.S. Mint accepts coining orders from the Fed, makes the coins and then delivers them to Federal Reserve Banks for distribution throughout the nation.
Demand for pennies is always the highest among denominations. We love our pennies even though it costs the Mint 1.7 cents to produce and distribute each one. The agency struck 728 million Lincoln cents in February. That’s 57% of all the circulating-quality coins produced for the month, yet also down somewhat from a more typical level of right above 60%.
In month-over-month production comparisons for coins used daily by Americans:
- Lincoln cents advanced 9.2%.
- Jefferson nickels fell 34.4%.
- Roosevelt dimes rose 10.4%.
- America the Beautiful Quarters declined 57.5%.
Presidential $1 Coins, Native American $1 Coins and Kennedy half-dollars are no longer ordered by Federal Reserve Banks but the Mint continues to strike them in circulating-quality for coin collectors. In January, the U.S. Mint struck 2015 Native American $1 Coins and 2015 Kennedy halves to the expected amounts needed for the entire year. It continues to produce Presidential $1 Coins in February to support the four different 2015 designs.
Here’s a break down for all circulating-quality coins made by the U.S. Mint in February:
US Mint Circulating Coin Production in February 2015
| Denomination | Denver | Philadelphia | Total |
| Lincoln Cents | 360,400,000 | 367,600,000 | 728,000,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 59,760,000 | 49,920,000 | 109,680,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 116,500,000 | 117,500,000 | 234,000,000 |
| 2015 ATB Quarters | 101,200,000 | 97,800,000 | 199,000,000 |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Native American $1s | 0 | 560,000 | 560,000 |
| Presidential Dollars | 0 | 6,720,000 | 6,720,000 |
| Total | 637,860,000 | 640,100,000 | 1,277,960,000 |
U.S. Mint facilities in Denver and Philadelphia manufacture all of America’s circulating coins for commerce. Last month, the Denver Mint struck 637.86 million coins and the Philadelphia Mint produced 640.1 million coins.
For the January through February period, the Denver Mint made 1,426,580,000 coins and the Philadelphia Mint produced 1,390,560,000 coins. That lifts the year-to-date total for both plants to 2,817,140,000 coins for a 18% increase over the 2,388,420,000 coins minted during the first two months of last year. This next table lists 2015 coin production totals by denomination and by U.S. Mint facility:
YTD 2015 Circulating Coin Production by Denomination
| 1 ¢ | 5 ¢ | 10 ¢ | 25 ¢ | 50 ¢ | N.A. $1 | Pres $1 | Total: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | 674.4M | 167.76M | 223.5M | 349.8M | 2.3M | 2.1M | 6.72M | 1426.58M |
| Philadelphia | 720M | 109.2M | 222.5M | 317.8M | 2.3M | 2.8M | 15.96M | 1390.56M |
| Total | 1394.4M | 276.96M | 446M | 667.6M | 4.6M | 4.9M | 22.68M | 2817.14M |
The latest 2015 monthly average of more than 1.4 billion coins is poised to place this year’s annual coin production tally above 16.9 billion coins. Such a level has not been recorded since more than 19.4 billion coins were minted for circulation in 2001. Last year, the U.S. Mint produced 13.28 billion circulating coins, the most since 14.4 billion were made in 2007.
2015 Homestead National Monument Mintages
Mintages for this year’s first America the Beautiful Quarter, which honors Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, are 248.6 million from Denver and 214.4 million from Philadelphia for a combined total of 463 million.
That’s the 3rd highest of the twenty-six America the Beautiful Quarters released since the series start in 2010. The only 25-cent pieces with higher mintages are the 2013 Mount Rushmore quarter at 504.2 million and the 2014 Arches National Park quarter at 465.6 million.
Homestead quarters entered circulation starting on Feb. 9. The U.S. Mint began selling rolls and bags of them on Feb. 24.
Truman and Eisenhower $1 Coin Mintages
Harry S. Truman Presidential $1 Coin mintages exactly match Dwight D. Eisenhower dollars. Truman $1’s have been in the news recently with the U.S. Mint selling rolls, bags and boxes of them since February. Similar product options with Eisenhower $1s become available on April 13. Mintage splits for each 2015 dollar coin are 3.36 million from Denver and 4.9 million from Philadelphia for a total of 8.26 million — the same as the middle two Presidential $1 Coins from 2014 that honor Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.
The following table offers a breakdown of coin mintages by design:
2015 Circulating Coin Production by Design
| Denver | Philadelphia | 2014 Total | |
| Lincoln Cents | 674,400,000 | 720,000,000 | 1,394,400,000 |
| Jefferson Nickels | 167,760,000 | 109,200,000 | 276,960,000 |
| Roosevelt Dimes | 223,500,000 | 222,500,000 | 446,000,000 |
| Homestead National Monument of America Quarter | 248,600,000 | 214,400,000 | 463,000,000 |
| Kisatchie National Forest Quarter | – | – | – |
| Blue Ridge Parkway Quarter | – | – | – |
| Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge Quarter | – | – | – |
| Saratoga National Historical Park Quarter | – | – | – |
| Kennedy Half Dollars | 2,300,000 | 2,300,000 | 4,600,000 |
| Native American $1 | 2,100,000 | 2,800,000 | 4,900,000 |
| Harry S. Truman $1 | 3,360,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,260,000 |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower $1 | 3,360,000 | 4,900,000 | 8,260,000 |
| John F. Kennedy $1 | – | – | – |
| Lyndon B. Johnson $1 | – | – | – |
| Total | 1,325,380,000 | 1,281,000,000 | 2,606,380,000 |
In subtracting the totals by coin design from the overall production figures by denomination, two differences are found:
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America the Beautiful Quarter mintages are higher by 204.6 million. These are a portion of the Kisatchie National Forest Quarters for Louisiana. The quarter enters circulation on April 13, 2015.
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Presidential $1 Coin mintages are higher by 6.16 million. This amount represents a portion of the 2015 John F. Kennedy $1’s. The U.S. Mint will release JFK dollars in June.
Coin production figures in this coin news article are based on data aggregated from the U.S. Mint webpage at: http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=ProductionFigures.
I still have trouble wrapping my mind around Truman having a coin although both his predecessor FDR and his successor IKE have or will have multiple coins of various types.
quarter is quarter, dollar is dollar, what is Main points to collect these coins ?
any good comment let new generation kid know?!
Hi Boz, my 2¢: The series from its outset has intended a coin for every president who’s no longer living, regardless of their politics or historical importance. Unfortunately it’s now into the modern era where many people remember those presidents and everybody has an opinion. If they were individual commemoratives authorized one at a time I’d absolutely argue for running them through a historical filter. Buchanan was a fool who set the stage for the Civil War, Harding was a corrupt womanizer, and Tricky Dicky, well … But the criterion was solely “former president, no longer living” which perversely lets… Read more »
Thanks Mike for writing these great articles!! I have been following the presidential dollar mintages to see if they start to surge with the last bunch of presidents coming out. I think Kennedy and Reagan could be very popular. Although the mintages are kind of high at 8 million, buying them at the mint price of $1.10 each seems like a bet with a low downside and possibly an upside.