US Mint Coin Production in October Tops 1 Billion for 7th Time in 2013

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.