While the Treasury Department does not oppose issuing commemorative coins, it would be physically impossible to adopt each suggestion that we receive. We receive many suggestions for coins to commemorate historic places, noteworthy events and prominent persons. I think that the United States Mint should produce a commemorative coin to honor a particular person or event. (For more information see the Distribution page) A circulating coin generally lasts 30 years or longer. Mint-and once those coins are minted, a new circulation cycle begins. The Federal Reserve replaces those coins by ordering new ones from the U.S. Coins circulate from the Federal Reserve Bank to the private banks to you and back again until they are worn out, unfit for circulation. They deposit the excess cash into their checking account at a local branch of the Federal Reserve Bank until their customers need it. To buy cash for you, your bank uses special checkbook money called a “reserve balance.” The coins make their way back to the Federal Reserve Bank at some point because banks often accumulate more cash than they need for day-to-day transactions. Banks have checking accounts at the Federal Reserve Banks, just as you do at your bank. When a private bank needs coins to provide to you and its other customers, it purchases them from a Federal Reserve Bank. "The United States Mint ships its coins to Federal Reserve Banks, which are responsible for putting coins and paper money into circulation and also for withdrawing them from circulation when they are worn out. From there, the coins go to your local bank. New coins are shipped by truck to Federal Reserve Banks. The bags are sealed, loaded on pallets, and taken by forklifts to be stored. Step 6: Counting and Bagging: An automatic counting machine counts the coins and drops them into bags. Step 5: Inspection: A press operator uses a magnifying glass to spot-check each batch of new coins. Here, they are stamped with the designs and inscriptions that make them genuine United States legal tender coins. Step 4: Striking: Finally, the planchets go to the coining press. This raises a rim around their edges, turning the blanks into planchets. Step 3: Upsetting: The blanks go through an upsetting mill. Then they are run through a washer and dryer. Step 2: Annealing, Washing and Drying: The blanks are heated in an annealing furnace to soften them. To manufacture pennies, the Mint buys ready-made planchets after supplying fabricators with copper and zinc. The leftover strip, called webbing, is shredded and recycled. Each coil is fed through a blanking press, which punches out round discs called blanks. Mint buys strips of metal approximately 13 inches wide and 1,500 feet long to manufacture the nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar. Every coin is blanked, annealed, upset, struck, inspected, and finally, counted and bagged.
There are six stages to the manufacture of a U.S. What is the production process for making our coins? Bullion coins are produced at the Mint facilities in San Francisco, CA and West Point, NY. The Mint facilities in Philadelphia, PA Denver, CO San Francisco, CA and West Point, NY produce numismatic items. While most of the coins the Mint produces are for general circulation, the Mint also produces bullion coins and limited editions of coins sold to collectors as numismatic items. These are made in the Mint facilities in Philadelphia, PA and Denver, CO.
Mint produced approximately 28 billion coins for general circulation. How many coins does the United States Mint produce and where are they made?