Coins of the US Dollar
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The United States coinage have come a long way and has earned a permanent place in the nation’s currency system. These coins have been produced every year since 1792, when it was first minted by the new republic. Today these coins are churned out by the United States Mint and distributed to the Federal Reserve Banks for regulation as required by the financial systems. Denominations of the US coinage which is still in circulation today are 1 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, 50 cent, and one dollar.
The four US Mints that operates today in the United States, producing billions of coins annually, are the Philadelphia Mint which produces circulating coinage, mint sets and some commemorative coins, the San Francisco Mint which produces regular and silver proof coinage, the West Point Mint which produces bullion coinage as well as proofs, and the Denver Mint which like the Philadelphia Mint also produces circulating coinage, mint sets and commemorative coins. The Philadelphia and Denver Mints produces the dies used at all of these mints respectively.
To identify the mint on a coin, all one has to do is look at the mint mark imprinted on the front side of it. This is usually in the form of a letter, for example, the P is assigned to Philadelphia coins, the letter D to Denver coins, S for San Francisco coins, and W for West Point. The Philadelphia Mint also produces unmarked coins. It is also acknowledged that coins bearing the letter S and W are ever hardly found in circulation anymore, with the exception of some S series that was minted before mid-1970’s. Coins bearing the letters CC was also produced for a period of time, although short lived. These coins were said to have originated from a temporary mint in Carson City, Nevada, but can only be found in museums and private collections these days.
The current copper plated zinc core cents of today are the result of a change in its mass and composition in 1982. In 1943, cents minted were struck on planchets punched from zinc coated steel. These steel pennies, as it was more commonly known as, would rust quite easily due to the oxidation of the steel coats, and was later discontinued and destroyed. Nickels minted from the years 1942 through 1945, during World War II, were made out of 56 percent copper, 35 percent silver, and 9 percent manganese. This new composition would mean that the metal that was once used to coat these coins can now be put to better use, like manufacturing military supplies to help aid the war.
Prior to 1965, some of the other makes of US coinage included large amount of silver and copper in its composition. These coins are no longer produced or circulated today, thanks to the Coinage Act of 1965. It is estimated that most American prefer using coins in the form of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, as opposed to dollar coins such as the Kennedy half-dollar coin, Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, and the Sacagawea dollar coin.
Bullion coins have been produced since the year 1986 and remains uncirculated to date. Since 1997, these bullion coins, such as the American Eagle and the American Buffalo, can be found in silver, gold, and platinum versions. Other types of coins that have been minted to date are the modern commemorative coins, such as the half dollar and the half eagle, which have been minted since 1982.
Not surprisingly, numerous coins that have been struck throughout history have also gone obsolete today. These are the half cent, large cent, two-cent piece, three-cent piece, half dime, twenty-cent piece, silver dollar, gold dollar, quarter-eagle, three-dollar piece, Stella, half-eagle, eagle, double eagle, and the half-union. These coins, however, remains of high face value to collectors all around the globe.
Tags: Bullion Coins, Commemorative Coins, dime, Mint, nickel, penny, quarter, US Coinage, US Dollar Coins