The United States Mint has provided updated circulating coin productions covering the month of November 2011. Also, the final mintage has been posted for the James Garfield Presidential Dollar, and the preliminary mintage has been posted for the Chickasaw National Recreation Area Quarter.
During the month of November 2011, the US Mint facilities at Philadelphia and Denver struck 715.96 million coins for circulation. This is a slight increase from the previous month when 690.66 million coins were struck. It is a larger increase from the year ago period when 531.46 million coins were struck.
The table below presents a breakdown of circulation coin production for November, along with total production for the year to date.
2011 US Mint Coin Production Figures | ||
Nov 2011 | YTD 2011 | |
Lincoln Cent – Denver | 224.00 M | 2,400.94 M |
Lincoln Cent – Phil. | 225.60 M | 2,232.40 M |
Jefferson Nickel – Denver | 49.44 M | 523.20 M |
Jefferson Nickel – Phil. | 35.52 M | 414.96 M |
Roosevelt Dime – Denver | 53.00 M | 712.00 M |
Roosevelt Dime – Phil. | 51.50 M | 715.50 M |
Quarters – Denver | 27.00 M | 195.00 M |
Quarters – Phil. | 15.60 M | 196.20 M |
Kennedy Half – Denver | 0 | 1.70 M |
Kennedy Half – Phil. | 0 | 1.75 M |
Native Am Dollar – Denver | 25.06 M | 48.16 M |
Native Am Dollar – Phil. | 7.14 M | 29.40 M |
Pres Dollar – Denver | 0 | 148.96 M |
Pres Dollar – Phil. | 2.10 M | 148.40 M |
Total | 715.96 M | 7,768.57 M |
Last month, I had noted the significant increase in production for quarters. Across both facilities there were 100.6 million coins struck, representing the initial production for the Chickasaw National Recreation Area Quarter. This month, the US Mint struck another 42.6 million Chickasaw Quarters. Total production for this design is now more than twice the level of the other designs for the year.
This potentially represents an important shift for the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. Until now, mintages for each design have ranged from 61 million to a high of 70.2 million. Despite being incredibly low compared to the prior State Quarters Program, collectors haven’t seemed to pay much attention. I think this is partially because the mintages for each design were all coming in consistently low.
If the mintage levels for the Chickasaw and subsequent designs are maintained at higher levels, the low mintages for the initial nine designs would gain some prominence. As I mentioned last month, if you can acquire any of the first nine designs at or close to face value, these seem to represent a good opportunity.
This month, production of Native American Dollars increased from typical levels, with 32.2 million struck across both facilities. By law, twenty percent of all dollar coin production must consist of Native American Dollars. In the past, I have suggested that the US Mint was holding off on the required production until later in the year in case legislation was passed removing this requirement. None of the bills have moved forward, and the current month’s production brings Native American Dollar coins to 20.7% of all dollar coins produced for the year to date.
Production levels by individual design are shown below, including the new figures for the James Garfield Presidential Dollar and Chickasaw National Recreation Area Quarter. Note that the Presidential Dollar figures typically can be considered final, but the America the Beautiful Quarters figures should be considered preliminary. The US Mint has reserved the right to strike more of any quarter design within the year of issue if there is demand from bulk orders and resources permit.
2011 US Mint Coin Production by Design | |||
Denver | Phil. | Total | |
Gettysburg Quarter | 30.80 M | 30.40 M | 61.20 M |
Glacier Quarter | 31.20 M | 30.40 M | 61.60 M |
Olympic Quarter | 30.60 M | 30.40 M | 61.00 M |
Vicksburg Quarter | 33.40 M | 30.80 M | 64.20 M |
Chickasaw Quarter | 69.40 M | 73.80 M | 143.20 M |
Andrew Johnson Dollar | 37.10 M | 35.56 M | 72.66 M |
Ulysses S. Grant Dollar | 37.94 M | 38.08 M | 76.02 M |
Rutherd Hayes Dollar | 36.82 M | 37.66 M | 74.48 M |
James Garfield Dollar | 37.10 M | 37.10 M | 74.20 M |
Partial 2012 Product Schedule
In other news, the US Mint has provided part of the product release schedule for the coming year. For 2011, the US Mint had published the majority of the schedule all at once, however for 2012, it seems that we will be getting the schedule piecemeal.
The most interesting thing to note is that the component proof sets for the America the Beautiful Quarters and Presidential Dollars have been listed for release early in the year, while the full annual sets have not been listed. For 2011, the US Mint released the full annual sets first, and the component sets second. As might be expected, collectors had less incentive to buy the component sets and sales had suffered. Possibly for this reason, the US Mint is reverting to the typical release pattern.
01/10/2012 | 2012 United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Proof Set™ |
1/17/2012 | 2012 United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof Set™ |
1/23/2012 | America the Beautiful Quarters Bags and Two-Roll Set – El Yunque (PR) |
2/7/2012 | 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Three-Coin SetTM – El Yunque |
2/16/2012 | Infantry Soldier Silver Dollar |
2/16/2012 | Chester Arthur $1 Coin Rolls |
2/23/2012 | 2012 United States Mint Presidential $1 Coin Proof Set™ |
CaptainOverkill says
This is very good news in regards to the Chickasaw quarter. Perhaps the US Mint has begun listening to some of the criticisms levelled in regards to the AtB program. I am hopeful we will see another round of production in the December numbers.
I also wonder whether they’ll increase the price of the silver quarter sets again this year.
CaptainOverkill says
And I also just realized, there is no listing for either the Vicksburg or Chickasaw numismatic AtBs. They are still listed as TBD on the Mint’s page. Interesting.
Michael says
It’s hard to say if the US Mint is really listening and responding to criticism about the difficulty in finding ATB quarters. In general, they base their production levels on the orders placed by Federal Reserve Banks. These orders are impacted by the existing inventory of coinage at the FRBs and the demand from circulation channels.
When the ATB quarters program started, there was a large stockpile of quarters at the Federal Reserve Banks. This resulted in minimal orders for new quarters, and corresponding minimal production. Last month I suggested that possibly the quarter stockpile has finally been exhausted, which would prompt a return to more typical production levels.
Fosnock says
I hope this was just an end of year production increase, and not a new trend. I was hoping for lower production numbers for the 2012 quarters. The good news is if this keeps up maybe the mint will lower its premiums for the quarter roles or you can actually find them in circulation.
Fosnock says
Michael – Any idea when the mint will get the 2012 ATB bullion out the door.
Michael says
I haven’t seen any information on that yet. In 2011, the first two designs were released on April 25. Next year, I think the Mint would try for any earlier start.
Tom P. says
I actually received 2 Chickasaw quarters in change today. There must finally be a demand for new quarters. I still refuse to pay the premium the mint is charging for the ATB quarters.
I wonder about nickel production though. Is this like the silver coin production in 1964 where they produced large amounts, but it vanished from circulation inside of 3 years?
Kathy says
Do you know if the US Mint will release the 2012 America Beautiful Silver Proof set by it self on 1/27/2012?
John-1 says
Realese Date – 1/23/2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Bags and Two-Roll Set – El Yunque (PR)
I wonder if I will have a chance to get them before the release date. In 2009 it was reported that the low mintage nickel was seen first in Puerto Rico. In 2010, I picked up several rolls of “Shield” Pennies from the bank before the official release (Coin World reported sightings in PR weeks before its release). I see the 2009 P.R. territorial quaters here daily.
Bill says
Yesterday, December 9, 2011 the Mint emailed me to say they had just shipped my order of Silver dollar sets…Boys and girls, don’t give up the ship.
Never thought I’d get them. We will wait and see.
Will let you know when they arrive and their condition.
simon says
For those of you who purchased the Olympic “P” 5 Oz coin the Mint shipped my unit today by UPS overnight; order placed at about 10:30 ET
silver sam says
Michael,
Any idea ahead of time on when the 2012 silver proof set will be issued?
Anon says
Does anyone know when the US Mint will stop selling products from 2011? Specifically, when will they stop selling the 2011 Uncirculated Gold Eagle?
Soapy says
For what it’s worth: The following link announces news on suspension of Presidential Dollar program.
http://www.numismaticnews.net/buzz/presidential-dollar-coin-production-suspended
Leo S. says
Michael
With the price of gold dropping quite a bit, is a drop in the Mint’s gold offerings on the way for tomorrow?
Yiwen says
Mr. Zielinski:
Seen this?
http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/Reducing-the-Surplus-Dollar-Coin-Inventory-Saving-Taxpayer-Dollars.aspx
CaptainOverkill says
I’ll say more when Michael posts on this, but for now it looks one of my fears – that all $1 coin related products would be pulled when this happened – has not been realized. They are still available as of now on the Mint’s website.
What I’m interested in is how far in advance they’ve been minting these coins. Is Garfield “it” for the series, or have they already struck some of the Chester Arthur coins? How about Arthur first spouse coin, for that matter, would those have been struck?
Michael says
I will have something here shortly. Only production for circulation is suspended. The Mint will still strike coins to satisfy demand from collectors, and the series will apparently continue in this limited fashion.
http://news.coinupdate.com/production-of-presidential-dollar-coins-suspended-1108/
simon says
Looks like Chet Arthur is in the pipeline with lower mintage according to :
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/12/13/u-s-mint-suspends-production-of-1-presidential-coins/
Ryan says
I smell conspiracy!!! Why when we are trying to cut gov. spending would we stop minting coins instead of stop printing dollars?? We’ve already minted so many that aren’t in circulation and if you stop that was all for nothing. The reason is because the plan is already in place that we will continue to devalue our currency until it collapses because of hyper inflation. When that happens we will simply create a new currency to get rid of our debt/housing crisis so no need to have durable coins around from the old currancy when we can just prind biodegradable paper dollers since no one will be useing them anyway!
Hidalgo says
I agree with stopping the production of the $1 Presidential coins. When was the last time any of us used $1 coins on a regular basis? I am pleased that the $1 coins will still be minted for collectors. Sounds like what has been done with the Kennedy half dollar – that is minting the halves to fulfill collector demand.
What would US Mint Sets and US Proof Sets be without the Kennedy half dollar, the Presidential dollars, and the Native American dollars? It would be a boring world for a coin collector!
Broooster says
Well, I was able to pick up some Chickasaw quarters today, P mint. I just can’t seem to get my hands on any D’s.