What is the lowest business strike coin mintage?

Wondo

I saw at the ANA today a 1794 dollar, a half disme, 1882 $20, the trade dollar collection, and probably most every coin made. Which real coin (no 1804 Dollars or proof only pieces) were minted in the fewest quantity?



edited for clarity

airplanenut

Only 350 1877 20 centers...

Wondo

<< <i>Only 350 1877 20 centers... >>



Jeremy,

Was that coin released into circulation? I admit that I am ignorant on that issue.

What the heck were the mints thinking, "We'll just make enough for you, Sam, and the kin and myself"? What the heck?

ms70

Where did you see the half disme?

kamehameha00

There were 220 1875 Half Eagles made.

airplanenut

Not sure if they were released... the Red Book lists it as (350)... 350. Now, I always though () was the proof mintage, and the other number the business strike mintage... it's possible (and I guess likely ) that the second number is overall mintage, and these were just proofs

Jeremy

kamehameha00

<< <i>Now, I always though () was the proof mintage >>



It is, it explains that on page 14 on the 2004 edition.

airplanenut

200 1854-S quarter eagles

kamehameha00

There were 120 1875 Eagles made.

EDIT: 42 out of the 20,000 1907 Indian Head Eagles with rounded rim, and periods before and after *E*PLURIBUS*UNUM* were released for circulation.

ccr

According to this chart: http://www.coinfacts.com/Administrative/mintage_chart_circulation_strikes.html , From 1793 to 1839, the three lowest mintages are:

1) 1796 $2.5 GOLD with 427 made.

2) 1815 $5 GOLD with 635 made.

3) 1826 $2.5 GOLD with 760 made.

It doesn`t beat anyone that posted so far though.

airplanenut

<< <i>

<< <i>Now, I always though () was the proof mintage >>



It is, it explains that on page 14 on the 2004 edition. >>

Right, but I wasn't sure of the second number--total of all strikes, or just business strikes...

Sunnywood

Actually, the winner among known coins is the 1875 $10 eagle, with 100 business strikes minted (excluding the 20 proofs). I say "known coins" because the 1841-O half eagle is believed to have had a mintage of 50 business strikes, but none is known to exist. Honors for second place goes to the 1875 half eagle, with a business strike mintage of 200. Third place to the 1854-S quarter eagle with a mintage of 246 pieces. Fourth place to 1854-S half eagle with a mintage of 268 pieces. Fifth place to the 1839 Gobrecht dollar, if you consider it to have been a regular issue struck for circulation, with 300 pieces minted. Otherwise fifth place is a tie at 400 pieces, for the 1875 gold dollar and the quarter eagle of the same year (again, excluding the 20 proofs).

If you eliminate gold coins from the discussion, first place honors goes to the 1839 dollar with 300 pieces. Second place to the 1836 Gobrecht struck in Die Alignment IV in 1837, with 600 pieces. Third place to the 1873-S seated dollar (unknown in any collection; believed to have been melted except possibly for a single Assay Commission piece), with 700 pieces minted. Fourth place is a tie at 1000 pieces, between the 1836 Gobrecht (Die Alignment I, struck in 1836), the 1872 trime, and the 1885 three cent nickel. If the Gobrechts and the unknown 1873-S dollar are disqualified, then the first place honors excluding gold goes to these latter two coins. Those are two very under-rated rarities !!!! The 1885 three cent nickel is overlooked due to the availability of proofs, which actually outnumbered the business strikes almost four to one and are sometimes difficult to distinguish. The 1872 trime in mint state is a true treasure.

Several other issues deserve mention: the 1849 double eagle, mintage of one piece (could be considered a pattern, but it was an authorized issue). The 1853-O No Arrows half dollar, mintage unknown. The 1798 small eagle $5, mintage unknown. The 1861 Paquet reverse $20, mintage unknown. The issues of 1870-S, including the dollar, half dime, and $3 gold piece; the 1894-S dime, mintage 24 pieces (but under questionable circumstances).

I am NOT counting the blatantly illicit issues or novodels such as the 1913 Liberty nickel, or any proof only issues (that is another discussion, which includes "legal" rarities, novodels such as the 1804 dollar, restrikes, and illicit coins such as the 1885 trade dollar). The 1877 twenty cent piece, mentioned earlier in this thread, was definitely a proof-only issue.

Best,
Sunnywood

lloydmincy

Sunnywood:

I was going to say, hands down, the "mess up" minting at the San Fran mint in 1870. Definitely I would say the LOWEST circulation strike (1) is the 1870-s half dime, and the (1) 1870-s $3 Gold. The 1894-s dimes are PROOFS, so don't qualify. 1853-O NA Half, mintage was said to be over 5 million, but all were SUPPOSED to be melted. Do the 3 that exist qualify then as lowest mintage. I think not, since there WERE many more. What about the "strawberry leaf" 1793 cent??? How many were minted? (I think 5 exist, correct)?

Hoot

Thank you Sunnywood for the excellent post! Always appreciate your incredible knowledge.

Hoot

Wondo

You guys are amazing!

Thank you for your posts (escpecially sunnywood).

Sunnywood

Thanks Wondo !!

Lloyd, I would consider to 1793 strawberry leaf cent to be a variety of the 1793 wreath type defined by the use of that particular obverse die. Therefore, I do not count it as a separate issue. There are many die varieties that are restricted to a few known specimens, and of course mintages of specific die marriages are generally unknown. I always wanted a strawberry leaf cent though !!!!! I wish one would turn up in better condition than the few known specimens. Noyes lists two different die pairings (same obverse, two different reverses). The first, listed as 1793 NC.2, is represented by only one known specimen in Fair 02 condition. The second, listed as 1793 NC.3, is represented by three known specimens, grading 03, 04 and 07 !!! (You don't usually see those grades !!) Wouldn't it be cool if a nice XF45 showed up !!!!

I consider the 1870-S coins to have been minted "under special circumstances" for presentation, etc., and not regular issues intended for circulation. As for the 1853-O NA half, I believe there was no record of any such mintage; the coin is not described in the Mint Director's 1853 Annual Report to the Dept. of the Treasury. The mintage figure for 1853-O With Arrows halves was 1,328,000 (which may have included an unknown small number of No Arrows halves). Not sure where you got the 5,000,000 figure, but that is not correct for the 1853-O.

The similar 1873-S No Arrows half had a known mintage of 5,000 pieces, but is unknown in any collection. Those are definitely believed to have been melted. Of course, these "No Arrows" half dollar issues are part of the annual 1853-O and 1873-S respective issues, and thus are not really separate issues for purposes of this discussion. Thus, like the 1793 strawberry leaf cent, the 1853-O No Arrows half could be considered a variety defined by the use of that particular obverse die.

My numismatic fantasy has always been finding an 1873-S seated dollar in a junkbox, possibly a unique specimen that escaped melting because it was sent to the Assay Commission but was not destroyed by them.

Hoot !! Nice to see you ....

Best,
Sunnywood

lloydmincy

Sounds good, Sunnywood. The mintage of the 1853-O NA Half with about 5 million could be from a book I read that may have said that many COULD have been minted had the "act of 1853" not put into place to add arrows, lower coin weighting, etc. I will look into where I saw that!

Conder101

The Redbook explains that the quantity in () is the proof mintage and the other number is the total mintage. HOWEVER, they are inconsistant in the application of that "rule" thoughout the book. For some series they follow it and on other series the figure in () is the proofs and the other figure is JUST THE BUSINESS STRIKES. The only way to know for sure whether any given series in the book follows the rule or not is to either know some of the actual mintages, or to compare the figures with another source that does not get their information from the Redbook. For example, unless they have changed it recently the Ike dollar mintages do not follow the redbook's "rule" If you subtract the 1974 40% silver proof mintage from what is according to the "rule" the total mintage you would a figure of under 600,000 for the 40% silver uncs which is NOT correct. In this case the 1.9 million figure is actually just the 40% silver Uncs not the combined mintage.

The rule does hold for the 20 cent pieces though so the 1877 is 350 - the (350) proof mintage = 0 business strikes.