U.S. Mints and Mintage Rates

First, the mints – all of the United States Mints past and present:


 * Philadelphia Mint – Began operations in 1793 and continues to strike circulation-issue coins to this day. The Mint at Philadelphia is the first United States Mint, and was the only one in operation until 1838.  Coins struck at the Philadelphia mint bear either a “P” mintmark or no mintmark at all, depending on the denomination and year it was struck.


 * New Orleans Mint – Began operations in 1838 and continued through 1861. Coinage output ceased from 1862-78, then resumed in 1879.  The last year of operation was 1909.  Coins from this mint bear an “O” mintmark.


 * Dahnolega Mint – This Georgia branch mint operated from 1838 to 1861 and struck gold coins only. These gold coins, all scarce to rare, bear a “D” mintmark.  This may be confusing if you happen to be familiar with the Denver Mint coins which ALSO bear a “D” mintmark.  But not to worry – the Denver Mint did not begin operations until many years after the Dahnolega Mint closed.  In other words, if you have an 1854-dated coin with a “D” mintmark, then you know  1) it’s gold, and  2) it was struck at the Dahnolega (not Denver) Mint.


 * Charlotte Mint - Like the Dahnolega Mint, the Charlotte, North Carolina Mint was established as a branch mint to capatilize on the gold deposits found in the southeastern United States in the 1830's. The Charlotte Mint operated from 1838 until 1861 when it was seized by Confederate forces. The mint only coined gold coins, marked with a "C" mintmark.
 * San Francisco Mint – Began minting coins in 1854, and continues striking coins to this day, though its role has changed. From 1854 up until the early 1980’s, the San Francisco Mint struck coins for everyday circulation.  For over the past twenty years, however, only special-edition “Proof” coins are issued from the San Francisco Mint.  As you might guess, the mintmark would be an “S.”


 * Carson City Mint – Silver and gold coins only were struck at the mint in Carson City, NV from 1870 to 1893. This mint was opened primarily to take advantage of the huge amounts of silver pouring out of the Nevada mountains in the late 1800’s.  These coins bear a “C.C” mintmark.


 * Denver Mint – The U.S branch mint at Denver began striking circulation-issue coins of all denominations beginning in 1906 and continuing into the present day. Denver Mint coins have a “D” mintmark.


 * West Point Mint – The newest U.S. branch mint. The Mint at West Point, NY strikes special-issue commemorative coins only.  The first coins from West Point (Olympic Games commemoratives) were struck in 1984.  Some West Point coins have no mintmark, while others do indeed employ a “W” mintmark.  In other words, if you get a West Point Mint coin in change…. somebody goofed.

Today, in 2006, your pocket change will only contain coins of the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints. Of the defunct U.S. branch mints that struck regular-issue coins for circulation, the Dahlonega Mint coins (as an overall mint) would be the rarest, followed by the Charlotte Mint, Carson City issues, and finally the he New Orleans issues.

Mintage Rates
Regarding mintage numbers, it would be too simple to state that United States coins were struck in small numbers at the beginning (1790’s) and those numbers got larger as the years went by. In a very very very general sense, that’s true. For instance, in 1793, the first year of U.S. Mint operations, about 145,000 coins were struck, total. That would be about 35,000 half cents and 110,000 cents. And even those 110,000 cents were spread out over three distinctly different design types (36,000 Chain cents, 63,000 Wreath cents, and 11,000 Liberty Cap cents)! Compare those numbers with the hundreds of millions and even BILLIONS of cents that pour forth from the U.S. Mints today—and that’s not even counting the hundreds of millions of nickels, dimes and quarters!

But then, look at THESE mintage figures: in 1853, the Philadelphia Mint struck 15 million quarters! In 1881, the same mint struck a grand total of 12 THOUSAND quarters! That’s a huge drop! Or how about the disparity between the 1.1 million half cents struck by the U.S. Mint in 1809 compared to the 35,000 half cents struck in 1857! Now there are a lot of reasons for mintage figures to go down from year to year, such as the demand for a certain coin denomination being high one year, but low many years later. The point is, throughout the history of U.S. coinage, mintage figures have been all over the board, even though it’s generally true that mintage numbers were far lower in the late 1700’s and 1800’s, than they are in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Now when someone talks about a U.S. coin being “low mintage,” that’s a very relative term. Case #1: The 2004 Iowa State Quarter struck at the Philadelphia Mint is a “low mintage” coin. It’s low-mintage in that just a little over 213 million Iowas quarters exist with a “P” mintmark. That’s a far smaller number than the 350-700 million state quarters struck by the Philadelphia Mint in other years! But is 213 million coins truly a low mintage?

Not when you compare 213 million to 852 THOUSAND! The latter figure is the approximate number of one-cent coins struck in 1877. In fact, the 1877 Indian Head cent has the second-lowest mintage figure of all Indian Head cents struck from 1859 to 1909. Consequently, HOARDS of cent collectors are competing with each other to add an 1877 Indian Head cent to their collections. But is 852,000 truly a low mintage for a U.S. coin?

Not when you compare 852,000 to 90,000—that’s how many half dimes were cranked out by the San Francisco Mint in 1864. Why so small a number? Well, it had something to do with the Civil War, even though that war didn’t affect the western coast of the United States like it did the Atlantic seaboard. Long story there, but suffice it to say, there are actually MANY dates of U.S. coins, depending on mintmark, with mintages around 90,000 or less. Such as….

1,758. That’s how many silver dollars were struck by the U.S. Mint in 1794. Mind you, that’s how many were STRUCK – who knows how many of that paltry number survive today. Even at the maximum 1,758 that’s still far too few 1794 dollars to be had by all the collectors who would want one. Consequently you have a coin of minuscule supply, combined with astronomical demand. The result: a retail value of $$$$$$$$$$!

In truth, many U.S. coin collectors consider any regular-issue coin (a coin that was struck to circulate, unlike a commemorative coin) to be a low-mintage coin if 1 million or less of that coin was struck. There is, of course, even less controversy about a U.S. coin being “low-mintage” if it was struck in numbers of 500,000 or lower. But believe it or not, there are MANY affordable low-mintage U.S. coins out there on the market. Swipe them up – demand may be low for them right now, but any upswing in demand could push values high quite quickly. Some examples, their mintage figures, and their current values in selected grades.


 * 1854 Half Cent, 55,358: $45 in Very Good
 * 1870 Two-Cent, 861,250: $45 in Fine
 * 1876 3-Cent Nickel, 162,000: $22 in Fine
 * 1862 Three Cent Silver, 343,000: $45 in Very Good
 * 1842-O Half Dime, 342,000: $30 in Good
 * 1863-S Half Dime, 100,000: $30 in Good
 * 1847 Dime, 245,000: $30 in Very Good
 * 1837 Quarter, 252,400: $65 in Good
 * 1851-O Half Dollar, 402,000: $25 in Good