Bicentennial strikes busied Mint in 1975
I can’t find a listing for a 1975 dated quarter. Didn’t they make any quarters that year?
I can’t find a listing for a 1975 dated quarter. Didn’t they make any quarters that year?
No quarters, halves or dollars with 1975 dates were minted because the Mint was already striking the three denominations with 1976 dates to mark the bicentennial of U.S. independence. The 1975 proof and mint sets were issued with the cent, nickel and dime with 1975 dates and the other coins with the 1976 date. For 1976, all of the coins in the sets had the 1976 date. For a time the Mint was considering issuing 1975-dated quarters, halves and dollars, but the pressure of producing so many of the Bicentennial coins in time for the 1976 celebration kept all of the coin presses too busy to schedule any 1975 dates.
Why did the nickel and half dime circulate at the same time?
The half dime of 1794-1873 was silver. Before the Civil War many silver coins were shipped out of the country to be melted or were hoarded during the Civil War. For all practical purposes the half dime did not circulate then. The nickel was intended to relieve the coin shortage and was used to phase out fractional paper. These two coins, the gold and silver dollars and the two 3-cents are the only such instances in our coinage.
Do you have the dates when the mints stopped striking silver coins and started striking the different clad coins?
Silver dimes: Philadelphia, November 1965; Denver, Feb. 14, 1966
Clad dimes: Philadelphia, December 1965; Denver, March 1966
Silver quarters: Philadelphia, July 1965; Denver, November 1965; San Francisco, (no mintmark) January 1966
Clad quarters: Philadelphia, August 1965; Denver, December 1965
90 percent silver halves: Philadelphia, April 1966; Denver, December 1965
Clad (40 percent silver) halves: Philadelphia, May 1966; Denver, Dec. 30, 1965
Could you give me the figures as to when the U.S. Mint passed some milestones in the production of cents? I would like to know when production first exceeded $100,000 and $1 million for a single year.
Going up the scale, the Mint exceeded the $10,000 mark in 1800 with $28,200. In 1857 it passed the six-figure mark with $177,834.56. In 1907 it had its first million dollar cent year with $1,081,386.18. It passed the $10 million mark for cents struck in a single year in 1941 with 1.108 billion cents.
Address questions to Coin Clinic, Numismatic News, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. Because of space limitations, we are unable to publish all questions. Include a loose 42-cent stamp for reply. Write first for specific mailing instructions before submitting numismatic material. We cannot accept unsolicited items. E-mail inquiries should be sent to Answerman2@aol.com.