U.S. COIN COMPOSITION CHANGES

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 19, May 9, 2021, Article 29

As a data guy I'm partial to a good infographic. A couple weeks ago we discussed a U.S. Mint website article which reviewed 100 years of silver dollar coinage. Here's another article with a decent infographic summarizing changes to U.S. circulating coin composition over the years. The article also has two nice image galleries showing coin production methods in the pre- and post-steam eras, plus a video of modern coin production. See the complete article online for more. -Editor

The U.S. Mint has produced coins for this nation for over 225 years. Coin production evolved from slow horse- and man-powered machinery to fast computer-controlled machines. Explore the history of coin production and how the process changed through the years.

Coinage at the First Mint
When the U.S. Mint first opened in 1793, coin production was a very physical, slow, and imprecise process. The first Mint in Philadelphia consisted of a three-story brick building along with a series of smaller buildings housing crude horse- and man-powered machinery. The Mint lacked experience designing and engraving coins, and coin production got off to a slow start.

The Coinage Act of 1792 authorized the Mint to produce copper, silver, and gold coins for circulation. The Act specified that the government must buy the copper needed to coin half cents and cents (as raw material or as blank coins already the appropriate size for coining). But depositors such as banks and individuals provided the silver and gold. The silver and gold were either in the form of foreign coins or bullion that the Mint melted down and refined to the appropriate fineness for coining...

The Switch to Steam Power
The 19th century ushered in the use of steam power, and big changes in coin production. In 1816, rollers and cutting presses were the first machines powered by a steam engine. Then in 1833, the Mint hired Franklin Peale to travel to mints in Europe to observe their processes. He brought back many ideas for advancements to the Mint and its equipment.

Two years after Peale returned, the Mint built steam-powered coining presses modeled after those used in Europe. A single person operated a press, dropping blank coins down a tube to feed between the dies. Coin production became a lot less labor-intensive, opening up many jobs to women.

Electricity and the Modern Age
In 1901, the third Philadelphia Mint facility opened with new, upgraded equipment. Electricity replaced steam to power all aspects of coin production. Throughout the 20th century, advances in machinery led to further increases in coin production numbers.

Today, the Mint follows the same basic process as it did 200 years ago, but with computer-controlled machines working at unbelievable speeds. One coin press produces 720 coins per minute, which means that the Philadelphia Mint produces 46,800 coins per minute if all of its 65 presses are operational.

I'm not as big a fan of this graphic since it leaves out the equally important changes in size and weight over the years, such as the introduction of the small cent. This graphic also leaves out obsolete denominations such as the half cent and 2, 3 and 20 cent pieces. But it does a decent job for the subjects it does tackle. Look closely and you'll see each coin image is surrounded with a pie chart noting the breakdown of composition for each coin (most are alloys vs. pure metal). You can click on the image to see a larger version on our Flickr archive, or see the original at the link below (click that image to expand as well). -Editor

To read the complete article, see:
Historic Coin Production (https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historic-coin-production)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
A CENTURY OF SILVER DOLLARS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n17a25.html)