US Mint Coin Production November 2009

The US Mint has updated coin production figures to reflect circulating coins produced through November 2009. The updated figures include final mintages for the Zachary Taylor Presidential Dollar and the Northern Mariana Islands Quarter.

Only 76.06 million coins were produced during the month of November 2009. This is far below last month's total 353.8 million coins and the lowest monthly production since I started watching the numbers. Production at the Philadelphia Mint facility took place for cents and Presidential Dollars. Production at the Denver Mint facility took place for the cents and quarters.

The table below presents the coins produced by the US Mint for the month of November and the entire year to date.

2009 US Mint Coin Production Figures
	November 2009	Jan 2009 - Nov 2009
Lincoln Cent - Denver	53.60 M	1,248.00 M
Lincoln Cent - Phil.	8.00 M	1,106.00 M
Jefferson Nickel - Denver	0	46.80 M
Jefferson Nickel - Phil.	0	39.84 M
Roosevelt Dime - Denver	0	49.50 M
Roosevelt Dime - Phil.	0	96.50 M
Quarters - Denver	11.80 M	269.60 M
Quarters - Phil.	0	264.32 M
Kennedy Half - Denver	0	1.90 M
Kennedy Half - Phil.	0	1.90 M
Native Am Dollar - Denver	0	33.88 M
Native Am Dollar - Phil.	0	37.38 M
Pres Dollar - Denver	0	177.10 M
Pres Dollar - Phil.	2.66 M	175.28 M
Total	76.06 M	3,548.00 M

The following additional table shows the US Mint coin production by design. Several denominations feature rotating obverse or reverse designs. When the US Mint posts production figures for individual designs, these have been the final mintages. Newly posted figures include the Zachary Taylor Dollar and Northern Mariana Islands Quarter.

2009 US Mint Coin Production by Design
	Denver	Phil.	Total
Birthplace Cent	350.40 M	284.40 M	634.80 M
Formative Years Cent	363.60 M	376.00 M	739.60 M
Professional Life Cent	336.00 M	316.00 M	652.00 M
Harrison Pres Dollar	55.16 M	43.26 M	98.42 M
Tyler Pres Dollar	43.54 M	43.54 M	87.08 M
Polk Pres Dollar	41.72 M	46.62 M	88.34 M
Taylor Pres Dollar	36.68 M	41.58 M	78.26 M
Total			352.10 M
DC Quarter	88.80 M	83.60 M	172.40 M
Puerto Rico Quarter	86.00 M	53.20 M	139.20 M
Guam Quarter	42.60 M	45.00 M	87.60 M
Am Samoa Quarter	39.60 M	42.60 M	82.20 M
US Virgin Islands Quarter	41.00 M	41.00 M	82.00 M
N Mariana Islands Quarter	37.60 M	35.20 M	72.80 M
Total			636.20 M

Prior to this months figures, it had seemed that US Mint coin production was leveling off after posting declines for almost all subsequent design releases. The US Virgin Islands Quarter had shown only a 0.2 million decline from the overall production of the prior design. The James K. Polk Dollar actually marked a small uptick in overall production from the previous release in the series.

The latest update shows the Northern Mariana Islands with an overall mintage of 72.80 million, nearly 10 million below the prior release. This is divided as 37.6 million Denver Mint coins and 35.2 million Philadelphia Mint coins. For the series, these figures represent the lowest overall mintage and lowest mintage for each respective mint facility. The 2009-P Northern Mariana Islands Quarter also has the lowest mintage for a circulation strike quarter since 1960.

The Zachary Taylor Dollar came in with an overall mintage of 78.26 million, more than 10 million below the previous release. Production was divided as 36.68 million Denver Mint coins and 41.58 Philadelphia Mint coins. For the series, these figures represent the lowest overall mintage, lowest mintage for each respective mint facility, and lowest mintage for a single issue.

It has not yet been confirmed whether production of the 2009 Lincoln Cent Presidency design has officially ended. If it has already ended or will end without significant additional production, the mintage would set a new low for 2009 Lincoln Cents.

The lowest mintage is currently held by the 2009-P Birthplace Cent at 284.40 million. By backing the final mintages of the first three designs from the year to date production totals, possible mintages for the Presidency Cent come in at 198.00 million Denver Mint coins and 129.60 million Philadelphia Mint coins. These figures would be far enough below the existing low to cause some excitement. I will have more information posted once I can confirm the status.