Posted 12/22/2015 10:53 pm
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Mint has or had a face value "budget" so to speak; e.g. $222 milion across all denominations. That can sometimes account for disproportionate mintages from year to year; 1922 coins are rare in almost all denominations except Peace Dollars--because it was all hands on deck to make so many silver dollars to ensure that they would circulate and not be hoarded.
I am not fully aware of the specifics (that seems like something Conder101 would know) but a few things to consider:
In 1933 all circulating gold was withdrawn. That would leave a pretty big hole in our nation's coin supply--which would have to be made up over the next few years.
Between 1942-45, the composition of both cents and nickels changed due to the metallurgical needs of the US war machine. The steel centry was a flop, but the Mint agreed to use recovered brass casings from 1944-45. If things were this desperate, perhaps the Mint was also running an alloy recovery program behind the scenes, and needed to ramp up production so the public would not notice?
The nation was in the middle of an almost crippling coin shortage in the early 60s because people figured out that silver coins could be melted down to make an extremely small profit per coin. The clad coinage was introduced in 1965, but 1964-dated nickels, dimes and quarters were made through 1964, 1965, and a good bit of 1966 as well. Clad coinage caught on, but there was still slack to pick up, because Gresham's law kicked in full force when people realized that silver was circling the drain.
I am not fully aware of the specifics (that seems like something Conder101 would know) but a few things to consider:
In 1933 all circulating gold was withdrawn. That would leave a pretty big hole in our nation's coin supply--which would have to be made up over the next few years.
Between 1942-45, the composition of both cents and nickels changed due to the metallurgical needs of the US war machine. The steel centry was a flop, but the Mint agreed to use recovered brass casings from 1944-45. If things were this desperate, perhaps the Mint was also running an alloy recovery program behind the scenes, and needed to ramp up production so the public would not notice?
The nation was in the middle of an almost crippling coin shortage in the early 60s because people figured out that silver coins could be melted down to make an extremely small profit per coin. The clad coinage was introduced in 1965, but 1964-dated nickels, dimes and quarters were made through 1964, 1965, and a good bit of 1966 as well. Clad coinage caught on, but there was still slack to pick up, because Gresham's law kicked in full force when people realized that silver was circling the drain.
