Mint production began the New Year very slowly. No nickels, dimes or quarters were produced in the month of January.
Cent production occurred at one-third the rate of January 2009. Only 65,230,000 2010 cents were struck in Philadelphia while the output at Denver was just 50 million cents.
The overall January 2010 cent total of 115.23 million coins compares to 294 million struck in January 2009.
Perhaps oddly, collectors have already reported receiving the new 2010 cents in change even though they are relatively few in number.
Half dollar production of 3.5 million coins was just enough to allow the Mint to begin selling bags and rolls of the coins on Jan. 29.
A fairly substantial 25.2 million Native American dollars featuring the new Hiawatha Belt reverse were struck. Philadelphia coined 11.2 million pieces while Denver struck 14 million pieces.
Rolls of Native American dollars went on sale to collectors Jan. 22.
Considering current demand levels, output of Presidential dollars for the month was in the stratosphere, with 74.48 million coins being struck, or 20 percent of the 2009 total.
Philadelphia cranked out 37.52 million Presidential dollars and Denver chipped in 36.96 million.
At this pace, the Mint would strike almost 900 million Presidential dollars this year. Last year approximately 352 million Presidential dollars were struck.
Overall, the Mint struck just 218.41 million coins in the first month of the year, as compared to 513.42 million one year ago.
If maintained at the current monthly pace, the Mint would strike just over 2.6 billion coins in 2010. Demand from the Federal Reserve is forecast to be just 3 billion coins.
Coin production in 2009 totaled 3.548 billion pieces.
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