The Denver Mint Coinage Of 1934 - Part 1

NGC - Colorado Mint Coins All Current Denominations for the First Time in Many Years

The Great Depression that began in 1929 brought the United States Mint's production of coins to a near standstill by 1931. This downturn in economic activity hit the Midwest especially hard, as American agriculture already had been in a slump since the mid 1920s. The Denver Mint was the main supplier of coins to that region, so it was the first to feel a fall off in demand for new coins. Many of its products from the latter part of the 1920s remained in vaults for several years before banks and businesses finally began to request fresh coin.

Advertisements in The Numismatist from the late 1930s reveal the great availability of Mint State rolls of such coins for sale. Especially common in quantity were 1929-D and 1931-D dimes and 1926-D quarter dollars. These rolls were just surfacing around 1934, a time when the need for additional coins finally revived minting activity at Denver. This new demand worked off all existing stocks of earlier dated coins very quickly, and new pieces dated 1934-D were produced in significant quantities for all six current denominations. Collectors took note of this development, and the following editorial observation appeared in the October, 1934 issue of The Numismatist: "In the [first] eight months of 1934, the records show, more minor coins were struck than in the last three years together."

This recovery began slowly, and the first coinage of 1934 consisted of 5,746,000 cents struck in April. Treasury Reports of the time did not break this down by mints, so it's not known whether any of these coins were made at Denver. By year's end, however, there were over 28 million new cents dated 1934-D, more than four times the number coined there in 1933. This issue is not rare, and NGC has certified several hundred graded MS 65 RD (red).

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