No, from the starting of the mintage (1858), it was already in the millions. From 1858-1901 (Victorian) the highest mintage was 3 000 000 (1880 H) and the lowest 200 000 (1884), if you don't count the varieties.
It increased quite a bit during the Edwardian reign (all close to 2 000 000, a couple over 5 000 000) and in George V's reign, they all went from around 3 000 000 up to 10 000 000.
So even at the starting, it was pretty high in the million - 3 million range (which I wouldn't call a couple thousand)
Oh and good luck and great success with your new collection ! (:
PS: You'll have to wait 'till Spring or Summer before I post some pics of my collection, so I can advance it a bit...