The United States Mint has released its Circulating Coin Production Report for December 2023. The report shows that the United States Mint produced a mere 151,670,000 coins in December. It was a sharp decline from the production in November, and was by far the lowest production month of the year. All denominations saw significant declines in production month-over-month.
According to the Mint’s report, 80.8 million Lincoln Cents were minted in December 2023. Of that, 60 million were minted in Philadelphia, and the remaining 20.8 million were minted in Denver. That is a 73% drop month-over-month in Cent production. For 2023, a total of 4.5228 billion Lincoln Cents were minted. That total reflects a 28.8% drop in production when compared to 2022.
The Jefferson Nickel saw a correction in its total production and showed a negative figure. The Mint corrected the overall production of the Nickel by 80,000 coins in Denver and 50,000 coins in Philadelphia. With these corrections considered, the Mint coined 1.4274 billion Nickels for circulation last year. Like the Lincoln Cent, it is a drop in production when compared to 2022, but only by 7.7%.
In December 2023, the United States Mint minted just 9 million Roosevelt Dimes. All of those Dimes were minted in Philadelphia. This is a precipitous drop of 90.5% month-over-month. For 2023, the Mint coined 2.7055 billion Dimes for circulation. That reflects a 13.7% decrease year-over-year.
Continuing the theme of lower production totals for December, the Washington Quarter saw a production of just 62 million coins. That breakdown was almost even between the Denver Mint (30 million) and the Philadelphia Mint (32 million). The Mint’s report does not break down the type of Quarters it produced. As readers know, five different Reverse designs are circulating this year, thanks to the American Women Quarter series. For 2023, the Mint coined 2.6656 billion Quarters. This, again, was a drop year-over-year in total production.
There were no Kennedy Half Dollar, Native American Dollars, or Presidential Dollars minted in December, leaving production totals at 58 million, 2.24 million, and zero, respectively.
For 2023, the United States Mint minted 11,381,540,000 coins for circulation. This is a drop of 16.43% year-over-year, and is also the lowest overall production year since 2012.
The United States Mint production report is updated monthly and is available to the public at this link on the Mint’s site.