United States coinage
United States coinage was first minted by the new republic in 1792. New coins have been produced every year since then and they make up a valuable aspect of the United States currency system. Today circulating coins exist in denominations: $0.01, $0.05, $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Also minted are bullion and commemorative coins. All of these are produced by the United States Mint. The coins are then sold to Federal Reserve Banks which in turn are responsible for putting coins into circulation and withdrawing them as demanded by the country's economy.
Current coinage
Today four mints operate in the United States producing billions of coins each year. The main mint is the Philadelphia Mint, which produces circulating coinage, mint sets and some commemorative coins. The Denver Mint also produces circulating coinage, mint sets and commemoratives. The San Francisco Mint produces regular and silver proof coinage. The West Point Mint produces bullion coinage (including proofs). Philadelphia and Denver produce the dies
used at all of the mints. The proof and mint sets are manufactured each
year and contain examples of all of the year's circulating coins. These
and the other non-circulating coins can be purchased directly from the
US Mint.
Remarks
- The mass and composition of the cent changed to the current copper
plated zinc core in 1982. Both types were minted in 1982 with no
distinguishing mark. Cents minted in 1943 were struck on planchets
punched from zinc coated steel which left the resulting edges uncoated.
This caused many of these coins to rust. These are not likely to be
found in circulation today.
- Wheat ear cents were mainstream during its time. Some dates are rare, but some can still be found in circulation.
- Dimes and quarters from before 1965 and half-dollars from before
1971 generally don't remain in circulation due to being removed for
their silver content. The half-dollar retained a lower silver content between 1965 and 1970.
- In 1975 and 1976 bicentennial coinage was minted. Regardless of date of coining, each coin bears the dual date "1776-1976".
- Use of the Kennedy half-dollar, Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea
dollars is not as widespread as that of other coins in general
circulation. Coins are minted for general release through banks and
other financial institutions, and are also available for collectors in
uncirculated rolls, mint sets and proof sets from the United States
Mint.
- The Presidential Dollar series will feature portraits of all deceased U.S. Presidents with four coin designs issued each year in the order of the president's inauguration date. These coins began circulating on February 15, 2007.
- The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin was minted from 1979-1981 and
1999. The 1999 minting was in response to Treasury supplies of the
dollar becoming depleted and the inability to accelerate the minting of
the Sacagawea dollars by a year. 1981 Anthony dollars can sometimes be
found in circulation from proof sets that were broken-open, but these
dollars were not minted with the intent that they circulate.
Denominations in circulation
Obsolete coins and denominations
- Half cent: $0.005, copper
- Large Cent: $0.01, copper
- Two-cent piece: $0.02, copper
- Three-cent piece: $0.03, silver and copper-nickel
- Half dime: $0.05, silver
- Twenty-cent piece: $0.20, silver
- Silver dollar: $1.00, silver (some modern commemoratives are minted in this denomination)
- Gold dollar: $1.00, gold
- Quarter-eagle: $2.50, gold
- Three-dollar piece: $3.00, gold
- Stella: $4.00, gold (not circulated)
- Half-eagle: $5.00, gold (some modern commemoratives are minted in this denomination)
- Eagle: $10.00, gold (some modern commemoratives are minted in this denomination)
- Double eagle: $20.00, gold
- Half-union: $50.00 (Commemorative only, California territorial gold, pattern piece)
Note: It is a common misconception that "eagle"-based
nomenclature for gold U.S. coinage was merely slang. This is not the
case. The "eagle," "half-eagle" and "quarter-eagle" were specifically
given these names in the Coinage Act of 1792.
Likewise, the double eagle was specifically created as such by name
("An Act to authorize the Coinage of Gold Dollars and Double Eagles",
title and section 1, March 3, 1849).
Some modern commemorative coins have been minted in the silver dollar, half-eagle and eagle denominations.
See also US coin sizes, showing all major US coin series and scaled images in a single chart.
The law governing obsolete, mutilated, and worn coins and currency,
including denominations which are no longer in production (i.e. Indian
cents) can be found in 31 USC 5120.
Criticisms
The values of current US coins are not inscribed in numerals on the coin. Instead the value is written in English
words, presenting potential difficulties for visitors to the country
who do not speak the language well or English speakers unfamiliar with
the currency.
Furthermore, the coins' inscriptions do not follow a pattern in
describing the value: "One Cent" (penny), "Five Cents" (nickel), "One
Dime" (10 cents), "Quarter Dollar" (25 cents), and "Half Dollar" (50
cents).
For historical reasons the size of the coins does not increase with
their face value. Both the one cent and the five cent are larger than
the ten cent and the less common 50 cent coin is larger than the recent
Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. The sizes of the dime, quarter, and half dollar are holdovers from before 1965 when they were made from 90% silver and 10% copper;
their sizes thus depended upon the amount of silver needed to equal the
face value. The diameter of the current dollar coins was introduced in 1979
with the Susan B. Anthony dollar not only as a concession to the
vending machine industry which wanted a smaller dollar coin usable in
their machines but also as an increase in the amount of seigniorage
for the US Government (the difference between what a piece of money
costs to produce and its face value or the "profit margin").
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