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Why were so few coin denominations minted in 1932?
TennesseeDave
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My father was born in 1932 and I have often thought about putting together a birth year set of coins for him. I was surprised to find out that only a couple different denominations ( 1 cent and Quarter ) were minted that year other than gold. What was the reason?
Trade $'s
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The Great Depression may have caused a lack of demand.
Very interesting. I never realized that.
The Depression... 1932 was rock bottom
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Looks like there were $10 Indians.
As a presentation, a cent on the left, quarter on the right, and the gold in the middle would be striking.
1932 was the worst year of the great depression and economic activity dropped to the point that the Treasury determined there was sufficient coins already available to meet the demands of commerce.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Are there any other years that had less coin denominations minted?
1933
1931 was also a low coin mintage year. No quarters or half dollars, and nickels only struck at San Francisco. Mintage of the dimes were also not very high.
The Spring of 1933 was the bottom of the Depression.
I love my 1932 $10:
My YouTube Channel
Silver was priced around 28c per ounce at the bottom of the Great Depression. That meant a silver dollar contained about 22c of actual metal. Metal Fiat Money. With that kind of "upside" you would have thought the US Mint/US Govt would have been pumping out silver coins for the arbitrage. But with the lack of commerce there was little demand. Same thing happened in 1921/22 during that short depression.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
...apparently, not even the US Mint could
Are there any other years that had less coin denominations minted?
1816.
I still recall the depression stories told by adults when I was a kid....No surprise that money was not moving much. Cheers, RickO
Thanks for the historical information, much of which I suspected. Where is Roger when you need him?
No one was making a living and the economy stunk the high heaven. There was no need for excess cash
The only dimes "minted" in 1933:
"Gold Diggers of 1933", the top "Coins in Movies" film
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
Look at 1933 also. Not even any collectible gold.
Great Depression, as others have noted.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Interesting.
This is why I don't think that gold/silver are currently automatic buys. Everyone wants to hedge inflation, but in a deflationary spiral there's not a lot of point in holding metal.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Nice to know!
There were Walkers in 1933, but only the large cent was produced in 1816. If you have one of those, you have the mint set for that year!
Louis Armstrong
Actually gold did quite well in a deflationary spiral from 1930-1934. It was revalued upwards by 69% in Jan 1934 to show the value of the metal vs. printed fiat money. It would have done that by itself had it been allowed to float in the 1920's to 1930's.
Silver is much more an industrial metal and closely linked to economic health....especially back in those days. Had gold been allowed to fully float during 1923-1933 I suspect it would have gone a lot higher than $69/oz....and on a much steadier pace. Back then gold mining stocks were the game, not owning the physical metal. Gold stocks were in a boom from around 1924-1936. They started up during the inflationary 1920s and continued up in the depressionary 1930s. In fact from 1933 to 1936 Homestake Mining, one of the largest gold producers went up 6X. During that 12 yr rally it went up over 10x....and barely even dipped during the 1929-1930 crash. Homestake was eventually bought out by Barrick Gold Co. several decades ago.
In my research, the gold producers of the 20's and 30's were in essence the "defacto gold standard." And they reacted well in both types of economies. Physical gold also did quite well in the recessionary periods of 1970-1974, 1976-1980, 2000-2003, and 2009-2011. You can't paint it with a broad stroke and say it doesn't do well in depressions/recessions....because clearly it has done well in both environments. There are too many factors in play to just say only one circumstance applies. The last effective gold standard was gutted (during and) following WW1 by the removal of the "real bills clause." So what was in play from 1920-1971 wasn't even a gold standard by the definition of 1900-1907, the ONLY period where a rigorous and workable physical gold standard was in place.
https://caseyresearch.com/daily-dispatch/gold-stocks-depression/
A historical artifact sent to me by a researcher who is a true Renaissance man:
and another:
That deserves a video: We're in the Money
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
Only the cent, nickel and dime were minted with the date of 1975.
At the risk of being pedantic, Quarters, Halves and Dollars were officially minted and reported for calendar year 1975. Some were dated 1974, and some were dated 1776-1976.