UK coin mintages

Want to track the UK Royal Mint's output? You can see mintage figures here:
http://www.royalmint.com/Corporate/MintageFigures/circulating_coin_2.aspx

Mint: November 2008

US Mint coin production figures have been updated for November 2008:
(http://usmint.gov/about_the_mint/coin_production/index.cfm?action=production_figures&allCoinsYear=2008#starthere)

Jan.-Nov. 2008 totals:
Cents: 5.4084 B
Nickels: 625.44 M
Dimes: 1.0155 B
Quarters: 2.4124 B
Half Dollars: 3.4 M
Dollars: 464.48 M (including 3.64 Sacagaweas)
Total Coins: 9.93326 B

Subtracting out the Jan-Oct totals gives the following November monthlies:
Cents: 488.8 M
Nickels: 66.0 M
Dimes: 87.0 M
Quarters: 281.6 M
Half Dollars: none
Dollars: none
Total Coins: 923.4 M
Average Coin Value: 9.45 cents

The mintages of the Martin Van Buren presidential dollar are the lowest for the series so far.

Year-over-Year (YoY) trends compared to Nov. 2007:
Cents: up 86.6%
Nickels: down 20.1%
Dimes: up 6.1%
Quarters: up 14.0%
Total Coins: up 36.4%

The last two months toward the end of the year are typically a slowdown period for the Mint, a chance for it to perform maintainence and retool for the coming year. As such, mintages tend to decrease dramatically at this time. This causes weird things to happen with the YoYs, so take those with a grain of salt. This November's YoYs looks unusually strong, especially when you compare it to last November's slowdown.

The fact that a recession was retroactively declared since last December is evident in the mintage figures. The Mint has yet to outproduce its numbers from August 2007.

BEP: November 2008

BEP data for October 2008 is here:
http://www.bep.treas.gov/section.cfm/2/431/638

$1 bills: 243.2 M
$5 bills: 115.2 M
$10 bills: 89.6 M
$20 bills: 44.8 M
$100 bills: 115.2 M
Average value per bill: $23.24

Lowest $1 count since December 2007. Highest $5 count since February 2008. Lowest $20 count in six months. The average bill value is higher than usual due to increased production of $100 bills and lowered production of $1 bills.

Mint: October 2008

US Mint coin production figures have been updated for October 2008:
(http://usmint.gov/about_the_mint/coin_production/index.cfm?action=production_figures&allCoinsYear=2008#starthere)

Jan.-Oct. 2008 totals:
Cents: 4.9196 B
Nickels: 559.44 M
Dimes: 928.5 M
Quarters: 2.1308 B
Half Dollars: 3.4 M
Dollars: 464.48 M (including 3.64 Sacagaweas)
Total Coins: 9.00986 B

Subtracting out the Jan-Sept totals gives the following October monthlies:
Cents: 577.2 M
Nickels: 78.24 M
Dimes: 176.5 M
Quarters: 229.6 M
Half Dollars: none
Dollars: 64.54 M
Total Coins: 1.12608 B
Average Coin Value: 13.26 cents

Year-over-Year (YoY) trends compared to Oct. 2007:
Cents: up 3.6%
Nickels: up 17.3% (first positive YoY for nickels since Nov. 2007)
Dimes: up 22.6% (first positive YoY for dimes since my records began in June 2007)
Quarters: down 9.5%
Total Coins: up 4.91%

It was a strong month for nickels and dimes, average for pennies, and weak for quarters. It was also the busiest month for dollar coins since January. Average coin value is up from last month consequently.

BEP: September 2008

BEP data for September 2008 has been released.

$1: 316.8 M notes
$5: 140.8 M
$10: 70.4 M
$20: 115.2 M
TOTAL: 643.2 M
Average value per note: $6.26

This month was the highest month for $1 bills since May, and the highest month for $20 bill since October 2007. The average value per note is significantly down this month due to the absence of $100 bills made. The last time the BEP did not produce any $100 bills in a month was in September 2006.

Mint: Sept. 2008

US Mint coin production figures have been updated for September 2008:

Jan.-Sept. 2008 totals:
Cents: 4.3424 B
Nickels: 481.2 M
Dimes: 752.0 M
Quarters: 1.9012 B
Half Dollars: 3.4 M
Dollars: 403.58 M (including 3.64 Sacagaweas)
Total Coins: 7.88378 B

Subtracting out the Jan-Aug totals gives the following September monthlies:
Cents: 762.4 M
Nickels: 73.44 M
Dimes: 108.0 M
Quarters: 163.4 M
Half Dollars: none
Dollars: 41.58 M
Total Coins: 1.15222 B
Average Coin Value: 9.07 cents

Year-over-Year (YoY) trends compared to Sept. 2007:
Cents: up 55.7% (first positive YoY since August '07)
Nickels: down 10.3% (tenth consecutive negative YoY for nickels)
Dimes: down 29.9%
Quarters: down 26.3%
Total Coins: up 16.1% (first positive YoY since July '07)

MintWatch launched

Since June 2007, I have been privately tracking monthly production figures from the U.S. Mint (via www.usmint.gov).

Until I created this blog, I've been posting my data on the RealCent forums (this thread: http://realcent.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~934.asp) But from now on, I will be posting it here instead. (I may retropost my older data, if I can find a way how.)

I will also post my findings of the B.E.P banknote production (reference URL to be posted later). Also, I will post any other numismatic, economic, or currency articles or links that I come up with.

Mint: August 2008 (retro-blogged)

U.S. Mint coin production figures for August:

January to August totals:
Cents: 3.58 B (B is for Billions)
Nickels: 407.76 M (M is for Millions)
Dimes: 644.0 M
Quarters: 1.7378 B
Half Dollars: 3.4 M
Dollars: 362.0 M
Total Coins: 6.73156 B

By subtracting out the Jan-July data, I can isolate the August-only data as follows:
Cents: 481.2 M
Nickels: 76.8 M
Dimes: 114.0 M
Quarters: 183.0 M
Half Dollars: none
Dollars: 6.44 M
Total Coins: 861.44 M
Average Coin Value: 8.38 cents

Comparing to August 2007 data, I get the following Year-Over-Year (YoY) totals:
Cents: down 33.8%
Nickels: down 11.9%
Dimes: down 47.3%
Quarters: down 28.9%
Total Coins: down 36.4%

BEP: August 2008 (retro-blogged)

BEP data for August 2008 has been released.

$1: 275.2 M notes
$5: 172.8 M
$10: 76.8 M
$20: 70.4 M
$100: 72.32 M
TOTAL: 667.52 M
Average value per note: $15.80

This month was the highest month for $1 bills since May, and the highest month for $20 bill since November 2007.

NEWS FLASH: Dollars, halves mintage changed (retro-blogged)

NEWS FLASH: At some point in the last ten days, the Mint edited the Jan-July totals.

Remember those 3,400,000 half dollars made in December 2007? Those have now been removed from the '07 mintages and added to the 2008 mintages, so my hunch that those coins were dated 2008 proved correct. I've retroactively attributed the halves mintage to January '08.

This means half dollar mintages are:
2007 P = 2,400,000
2007 D = 2,400,000
2008 P = 1,700,000
2008 D = 1,700,000

Also, 3,640,000 Sacagawea dollars were added to the 2008 data, while 1,820,000 were removed from the 2007-D data. I assume the Sacagawea mintage totals were not complete at the time the July numbers were initially released, and were added afterwards.

Sacagawea dollar mintages are as follows:
2007 P = 3,640,000
2007 D = 3,920,000
2008 P = 1,820,000 to date
2008 D = 1,820,000 to date

Mint: July 2008 (retro-blogged)

July '08 data is here.

Year-over-year info... pennies are DOWN 38.2%, and nickels are DOWN 43.2% compared to July 2007. This was the busiest month for nickels since February.

Denver is still wildly outproducing Philly in nickels and dimes. Don't know why.

BEP: July 2008 (retro-blogged)

BEP data for July 2008 has been released.

$1: 262.4 M notes
$5: 108.8 M
$10: 76.8 M
$20: 57.6 M
$100: 70.4 M
TOTAL: 576.0 M
Average value per note: $16.96

Highest month for $20 bills since November 2007.

Mint: June 2008 (retro-blogged)

And the June '08 data is here.

Year-over-year info... pennies are DOWN 37.5%, and nickels are DOWN 66.0% since June 2007.

Mintmark disparity is stable at 28% in favor of Denver, but Denver is still wildly outproducing Philly in the nickels and dimes.

I'm starting to wonder if the spike in half dollars reported in December 2007 were actually for coins dated 2008. Reports on TreasureNet.com forums indicate that 2008 halves do exist and have been found by coin hunters, but the Mint has not reported any halves made in the 2008 calendar year. If true, it means that the Mint's production figures for a given year might include coins dated for the previous or following years. For example, the 2007 mintage data may include 2006 and 2008 coins. This spells trouble for numismatists who rely on Mint statistics to determine a coin type's rarity.

Mint: May 2008 (retro-blogged)

May 2008 data is posted, earlier than I expected from the Mint.

Compared to May '07, pennies are DOWN 29.4% and nickels are DOWN 71.7%. This is the 9th straight year-over-year (YoY) decline for cents, and the 6th straight YoY decline for nickels. For total mintage output, this is the 10th straight YoY decline.) Consider that May 2007 was the peak of monthly penny production for that calendar year.

The disparity between Denver and Philly mintages is declining, down to about 27% now. But for '08 nickels, the D's still outnumber the P's by 11 to 5.

Mint: April 2008 (retro-blogged)

April 2008 data is posted.

Compared to April '07, pennies are DOWN 41.3% and nickels are DOWN 75.3%. This is the 8th straight year-over-year (YoY) decline for cents, and the 5th straight YoY decline for nickels. (Relatedly, dime YoY's have been declining for the last 11 months when I started tracking the data, and this is the first YoY gain for quarters in five months. For total mintage output, this is the 9th straight YoY decline.)

The disparity between Denver and Philly mintages continues, with the D mintages are about 40% larger than the P mintages.

Mint: March 2008 (retro-blogged)

March 2008 data went up today. The Mint has restored the 2007 data, and removed the 2005 data, as they should have done in February.

Compared to March '07, pennies are down 71.2% and nickels are down 74.5%. (No wonder I haven't found any 2008s.) Is this a sign of inflation or deflation? I'll let you decide.

Also, check out the wide disparity between Denver and Philly mintages:
http://tinyurl.com/2fufzb
Usually D and P mintages are about equal. This year the D mintages are about 40% larger than the P mintages. The imbalance is most notable in coins smaller than 25 cents. Anyone know what to make of this?

[....]

In Jan-March 2007, the Mint made 2.16B pennies, 395M nickels, 639M dimes, and 813M quarters. In Jan-March 2008, the Mint made 1.05B pennies, 167M nickels, 239M dimes, and 628M quarters. That means 51%, 57%, 62%, and 22% reductions, accordingly. If this trend continues, there's no sign the Mint will increase the production of anything this year. 2008 might be a low point for mintages in this decade. Plans change and estimates/predictions will be proven right or wrong. We'll wait and see.

Mint: February 2008 (retro-blogged)

February 2008 data is posted.

Compared to Feb '07, pennies are down 39.2%, and nickels are down 51.0%. If this trend continues, 2008 may have a five-year low on mintages. (UPDATE 6 Nov 2008: Not quite... it's looking like a THIRTY-FIVE year low for most denominations!)

Mint: January 2008 (retro-blogged)

Okay, the Mint is acting suspicious. After last month's near-total work stoppage, things are back to a muted start in January. The numbers were up early this month, but I wanted to wait and see if they changed.

Comparing Jan '08 to Jan '07: pennies down 32.9%, nickels down 37.1%.

But here's the real kicker. When the Mint starts a new year, they remove the oldest year's data from their website (http://tinyurl.com/2fufzb). Heaven knows why, since server space is so cheap these days. For example, when the 2007 data was released, the Mint got rid of the 2004 data. But this year, when the 2008 data went up, they took down the 2007 data, and left 2005 up instead! Why would they do that, and what are they hiding? There's something about the 2007 numberes that they don't want somebody to know. Maybe it's to conceal from Congress the fact that they didn't make the statutory requirement of Sacagaweas, as specified in the 2005 Presidential Dollar Coin Act. Maybe they're hiding the sudden bump in half dollar production. Maybe they're hiding (or were told to hide) any numerical evidence of inflation or deflation. Any other guesses?

Mint: December 2007 (retro-blogged)

The Mint has posted numbers for all of 2007. Although I expect these numbers to change, and I will monitor to see if they do, here's what happened in December: The Mint effectively shut down! I was expecting a slowdown like the Mint usually does at the end of each year, but not this dramatic. Only 1,200,00 pennies minted, no nickels, and only 500,000 dimes! Quarters were low but still comparable to recent months. Surprisingly the Mint made a last-minute run of 3,400,000 half dollars, almost doubling the '07 totals.