US Mint Coin Production January 2010

The first US Mint coin production figures of the year are available. Continuing the situation from last year, production was limited compared to the levels seen just a few years ago.

The US Mint produced a total of 218.41 million coins across the Philadelphia and Denver facilities. Production took place for just three denominations- cents, half dollars, and dollar coins.

The table below displays the breakdown of coins produced by the Mint during the month of January 2010.

	January 2010
Lincoln Cent - Denver	50.00 M
Lincoln Cent - Phil.	65.23 M
Jefferson Nickel - Denver	0
Jefferson Nickel - Phil.	0
Roosevelt Dime - Denver	0
Roosevelt Dime - Phil.	0
Quarters - Denver	0
Quarters - Phil.	0
Kennedy Half - Denver	1.70 M
Kennedy Half - Phil.	1.80 M
Native Am Dollar - Denver	14.00 M
Native Am Dollar - Phil.	11.20 M
Pres Dollar - Denver	36.96 M
Pres Dollar - Phil.	37.52 M
Total	218.41 M

During the month, there were 50 million cents produced at Denver and 65.23 million produced at Philadelphia for a total of 115.23 million. Last year, the US Mint had produced a total of 2.35 billion cents. It's still a bit early to draw comparisons, but if the current pace of production remains constant, the total number of pennies produced might be about 1 billion less than the prior year. However, this won't give the 2010 Lincoln Cent a lower mintage than last year's issues, since 2009 Lincoln Cent production was split across four different designs.

There were no nickels or dimes produced in January 2010. The last time the US Mint produced dimes was April 2009, and the last time they produced nickels was July 2009. Again, it is still very early, but is it possible that there will be no 2010 nickels or dimes struck for circulation? Even if production does take place, it will likely be a repeat of last year when low mintages and limited distribution create instant high premiums any coins that surface.

No quarters have been produced so far this year. The US Mint has not yet announced the final design selections for the 2010 America the Beautiful Quarters. This is expected to take place this month, with the release date for the first quarter expected in April.

The US Mint produced 1.7 million half dollars at the Philadelphia Mint and 1.8 million at the Denver Mint. For all of 2009, the total production was 1.9 million at each facility.

The US Mint produced a total of 25.2 million of the 2010 Native American Dollar across both facilities. Presidential Dollar production totaled 74.48 million across both facilities. The level of dollar coin production was surprising, as it suggests that the US Mint has not yet significantly curtailed production as they have done with other denominations.

For all of 2009, the Mint had produced a total of 423.64 million dollar coins, representing about 12% of total coin production. For January 2010, dollar coins represented a whopping 45.6% of total coin production. This heavy proportion of dollar coins will almost certainly shift within the next 11 months, but it represents another trend to watch in coming coin production figure reports.

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