I thought I would do annual posts for the America the Beautiful (ATB) Quarter program to compare its mintages to the prior State Quarter program. This will be the first entry covering the years 2010-2013 and presumably each year afterward will get entries but we're working on the assumption that I will be keeping at this blogspot for years to come and that Google will not force me to use my real name on here at some point in which case I will be so out of here.
Anyhow, the State Quarter program had an enormous total mintage from 1999-2009 of just slightly less than the total quarter production from the years 1965-1998. Almost half of all quarters made are state quarters which is both a reflection of inflation and a(n unsubstantiated) rumored production mandate that required no less than 300 million quarters per design (I guess one for every American). It kind of bears out because the lowest annual production never went below two billion (1½ billion would meet the alleged requirement) and the lowest State Quarter mintage was Oklahoma at 416.6 million pieces. The Territorial Quarters made in 2009, which was an addendum to the State Quarter program, apparently did not carry this mandate so that they, in combination with a weak economy, produced a total mintage of less than 800 million over six designs rather than the State Quarter expected production of 1.8 billion.
The ATB Quarter program, like the Territorial Quarters, is also said to lack this production mandate and reduced mintages have been the norm for some time now. Only in 2013 did mintages start rising overall indicating that the glut of State Quarters produced may have finally passed through the system. Mintages for the first two years rivaled production of the quarters following the no mintmark years of 1965-1967. Those mintages were high to replace the silver coins rapidly disappearing from the marketplace. Mintages from 1968-1971 were low by comparison with typical subsequent years.
The lowest single mint production for quarters ever was 101.5 million pieces and that honor goes to 1968-D. Clad quarter production (those quarters made after 1964 containing no silver whatsoever) has never had a mintage below 100 million per mint. But that didn't mean ATB quarters weren't low. While individual designs blew that 101.5 million mark out of the water (the Acadia National Park [ME] from the Denver mint as of now has the lowest mintage at 21.606 million pieces), I don't look at them that way. I'm looking at ANNUAL mintages and unless something happens in the coming years, it appears the record-holder for the ATB quarters is 2010-D with 173.4 million quarters produced. Both 2011 and 2012 had contendership written all over them at the start of the year but would lose out due to a sudden surge in production for the final design of the year.
Anyways, to the point of this entry:
All ATB quarters produced to date have not yet even exceeded the total mintage of the first year of State Quarter production. In 1999, the Philadelphia mint produced 2.23 billion quarters and the Denver mint produced 2.21 billion quarters for a total mintage of 4.44 billion quarters.
Total mintage for Delaware was 774.8 million pieces
Total mintage for Pennsylvania was 707.3 million pieces
Total mintage for New Jersey was 662.2 million pieces
Total mintage for Georgia was 939.9 million pieces
Total mintage for Connecticut was 1,346.6 million pieces
The total production of 2010 ATB quarters was 173.6 million from the Philadelphia mint and 173.4 million from the Denver mint for a total of 347 million quarters which is only about 44.79% of Delaware's mintage. An entire year's worth of ATB quarter production did not even exceed the first State Quarter's mintage. In fact, it didn't even exceed the 373.4 million Philadelphia mintage of Delaware quarters (the lower of the two mints).
To recap, 2010-dated quarters are:
Of 1999 total: 7.82% with DE: 44.79% - PA: 0% - NJ: 0% - GA: 0% - CT: 0%
Of total 1965-1998 quarter production (37,463 million pieces): 0.926%
Of total State Quarter production (1999-2009 : 35,451.2 million pieces): 0.979%
Of total clad quarter production (1965-2013): 0.459% [about 1 in 218 quarters will be dated 2010]
The total production of 2011 ATB quarters was 196.2 million from the Philadelphia mint and 195 million from the Denver mint for a total of 391.2 million quarters. 2011 was looking to be lower than 2010's production but Chickasaw Park [OK] came out with a mintage more than double the average prior design that year ruining its chance for the record.
Again, the total production for the year did not exceed the first State Quarter's mintage nor does the combined production for the two years (738.2 million) although it does come close at about 95.28% of Delaware's mintage.
To recap, ATB quarters produced to date are:
Of 1999 total: 16.63% with DE: 95.28% - PA: 0% - NJ: 0% - GA: 0% - CT: 0%
2011-dated quarters are:
Of total 1965-1998 quarter production: 1.04%
Of total State Quarter production (1999-2009): 1.1%
Of total clad quarter production (1965-2013): 0.517% [about 1 in 193 quarters will be dated 2011]
The total production of 2012 ATB quarters was 254.2 million from the Philadelphia mint and 313.8 million from the Denver mint for a combined total of 568 million quarters. 2012 was set to be the lowest of all. The first three designs were 72.6 million (P) and 68.606 million (D) respectively. Had the trend continued, the final production totals may have been 121 million (P) and 115 million (D) but Hawai'i Volcanoes [HI] went up (46.2 million (P)/78.6 million (D)) and Denali [AK] exploded (135.4 million (P)/166.6 million (D)) ruining 2012's chance at a production level not seen since 1969 and possibly lowest of all if mintages had continued to drop.
Anyways, 2012 would be the year which exceeded the Delaware mintage. The honor went to the first design of the year, Puerto Rico's El Yunque Forest. Its total mintage of 50.8 million quarters put the total production of ATB quarters to date at 789 million pieces making it 101.83% of Delaware's mintage. We're now eating into Pennsylvania's total and it only took eleven designs to get there!
The combined production totals for 2010-2012 were 1,306.2 million pieces.
To recap, ATB quarters produced to date are:
Of 1999 total: 29.4% with DE: 100% - PA: 75.1% - NJ: 0% - GA: 0% - CT: 0%
2012-dated quarters are:
Of total 1965-1998 quarter production: 1.52%
Of total State Quarter production (1999-2009): 1.6%
Of total clad quarter production (1965-2013): 0.751% [about 1 in 133 quarters will be dated 2012]
The total production of 2013 ATB quarters was 650.8 million from the Philadelphia mint and 804.4 million from the Denver mint for a combined 1,455.2 million quarters. Based on production totals from the 1990s, 2013 represents the resumption of normal quarter production.
The first design of the year, White Mountain [NH] (68.8 million (P)/107.6 million (D)), pushes the production of ATB quarters to 100.07% of Pennsylvania's mintage and the fourth design, Ft. McHenry [MD] (120 million (P)/151.4 million (D)), pushed the production of ATB quarters to 117.05% of New Jersey's mintage. The final design for 2013, Mount Rushmore [SD], is eating into Georgia's mintage.
That means it took eleven designs to surpass Delaware's mintage, five more to exceed Pennsylvania's mintage, and only three more to go beyond New Jersey's mintage. Production is clearly accelerating. How many more designs will it take to overcome Georgia's mintage?
The combined production totals for 2010-2013 are 2,761.4 million pieces.
To recap, ATB quarters produced to date are:
Of 1999 total: 62.2% with DE: 100% - PA: 100% - NJ: 100% - GA: 65.67% - CT: 0%
2013-dated quarters are:
Of total 1965-1998 quarter production: 3.88%
Of total State Quarter production (1999-2009): 4.11%
Of total clad quarter production (1965-2013): 1.92% [about 1 in 52 quarters will be dated 2013]
I suspect 2014 will be the year which finally surpasses 1999's production. This is also why you haven't been seeing too many ATB quarters in your change. The first four years of production have not even equaled the first year of State Quarter production. Almost half the ATB program is likely to have passed before this landmark is achieved.
ADDENDUM: Oh, and since you may have been made curious...
Of all quarters made from 1965-2013:
1965-1998 clad quarters make up 49.5% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters]
State Quarters make up 46.85% of the total [about 1 in 2 quarters]
1999-dated quarters make up 5.87% of the total [about 1 in 17 quarters]
ATB Quarters from 2010-2013 make up 3.65% of the total [about 1 in 27 quarters]
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