Did the US Mint or Federal Reserve release some half dollars that they had been holding for years? I like to search rolls and I do about 2 boxes of half dollars each month. I have noticed there are a LOT of 2001's in my rolls for the last 4 months. These are shiny, mirror shiny, BU, some have a few bag/rolling machine marks, but most don't even have a finger print. There have been, on average 7.8 per roll or 20 coins which is way more than normal distribution. I suppose it's possible with the increase of roll searchers going through half dollars for silver, that the banks were asking for more? Is there any way of finding out if there were more 2001 coins released into circulation?
Having been searching half dollar rolls for about ten years now (or more?) I can say that there are ALWAYS tons of shiny 2001's in there.
Yes, there have always been lots of 2001 but there are almost 8 out of 20 of these mirror BU PLUS the usual amount of "nice" 2001's. If you total all 2001's it would be closer to 9 per roll of 20. These are higher finish than the usual 2001's, which are, of course, nicer because they are the newest coins in the roll. There are way more than, say, 1971 which was a very high mintage number year. Way more than I've seen in the past. Way more than normal distribution, given the amounts minted. Is there any way to find out if the Mint or FR released coin into circulation?
The biggest release of 2001's began back in 2004 when the Mint decided to sell rolls and $100 Mixed P&D bags. To my knowledge, there has not been a re-release since then. Chris
ah haaaa. Thank's Chris, That's what I was thinking. And that's what I'm thinking worked it's way into these boxes. Wondering if there was another one more recently. With the FR printing $ like it was paper (oh wait, their not even using paper now, just electrons). I'm wondering if they pushed out some more coin they had been sitting on, to put a (really tiny itsi bitsi) drop in the bucket. is there some place you can get that information?
2001 was the last year that the mint produced more than just a token few million half dollars. And it was back in 2004 as Chris says that the mint tried to get rid of all the 2001 halves they had sitting in the vaults. If memory serves there was 35 or so million of them. They managed to sell but a tiny fraction of those, they still have the rest. And if you look in the Red Book, there have been no half dollars, none, issued for circulation since then.
Certainly, the halves issued since that time being issued for sale to collectors only, right? I wonder what the US Mint's decisions are based on: Cost/benefit? Consumer (meaning: collectors) demand? Inertia? And, really, what does "issued for circulation" mean when I have never see a half-dollar in change ANYWHERE, except when I get change back from some fellow coin-nerd, like at my local coin shop? Or in extremely rare cases... This issue has come up in my other passion: contemporary Korean coins. There, they just kept minting 1 Won and 5 Won coins in the late 1980s and early 1990s (about a half a million to a few million a year) even though they no longer appeared in circulation. From all that anyone knows, the Bank of Korea just vaulted them. Probably still sitting there. I've asked them about this, many times, and no answer. Why does this happen?
Yes, I know that every .50 from 2002 was in a mint set or proof set. (I do find them in circulation though, maybe 10 in every box of $500.00) You say the mint had 35M, got rid of some in 2004, but not all. Is there any way to find out if the mint sold/released any more of their "old stock" 2001's? MLov I'm old enough to remember when .50 were still in circulation. After 1964, people started grabbing them out of circulation for the silver value. When they started making all clad (no silver content) .50 in 1971, it was too late, people had already stopped using the .50 for pocket money. and so the end of its era as a circulation coin. The mint kept making them and trying to get them into circulation all the way up through 2001 but it never did come back. and yes, I'm one of those coin nerds that gives them out at change. : ) I use them at my farmers market where I sell the dates I grow and people love getting them but I get the feeling they hold them, and don't keep circulating them. There are also commemorative .50's and I find one of those once in a rare while, even though they are not "circulation" issue either. Is there any way to find out if the mint sold/released any more of their "old stock" 2001's?
Correct. It's pretty simple. The mint only produces coins that were ordered by the Fed (Federal Reserve) the previous year. Or when required by a specific law to produce them. And they only issue coins they have produced when and if the Fed ask for them. If the Fed doesn't ask for any, then the coins sit in the mints vaults until they are asked for. Again it's simple. It means that the Fed has asked for the coins, and the Fed has distributed those coins to member banks, who then distribute those coins to regional banks who have asked for them. The key is, if the regional banks don't ask for the coins, then the Fed doesn't ask for any from the mint. And the regional banks will only ask for the coins when enough of their customers have asked for the coins. Don't know, but I suspect for the same reasons I described above.
Sure, just look in the Red Book like I said earlier. To my knowledge they have not issued a single one since 2004.
If I recall correctly, the Mint sold out all of the 2001 bags & rolls that year. It was easy for me to remember that it was 2004 because I found my 2001-D Missing the Clad Layer in one of those bags. I had also submitted a few to NGC for grading that came back MS68. Chris
Chris I distinctly remember an article about the 2001 halves written in '05 or '06 about how many the mint still had left, it was the majority of the total mintage still sitting in the vaults. It was in CW or NN.
Doug, I should have been more specific. I meant that they sold out all that were offered in those special releases. I didn't mean to imply that they sold out ALL of the 2001's. Chris
GD, you misunderstood me. I'm not asking about new, current year release. I'm asking if there is a way to find out about release of that 2001 back stock. I have never seen that sort of info in RedBook, just how many were made.
Hmmm. The last $100 bag I purchased from the mint was at the end of 2008 during the last chance sale. Also, folks need to remember that 40 million half's were produced in 2001. The onlt problem was that the Federal Reserve wasn't ordering any. Now, since the US Mint does not release coins to the general public other than collector offerings, the ONLY source for 2001 Half Dollars is from whatever the Federal Reserve ordered in 2001. They made it cklear that they would not orde in 2002 so the mintages were cut down to nothing BUT, there's no telling how many were delivered in 2001. It may seem like a bunch have been coming up in rolls but it is possible that, since the Federal Reserve is not authorized to "melt" coins, that folks are simply seeing whatever reserves exist at the Federal Reserve Vaults. If Solid Rolls were turning up, I might think otherwise but since folks are only find lots of scattered lots, I'm thinking these are just the remnants of the 2001 orders. As for "roll searchers" having an impact on what the Federal Reserve orders from the mint, I just cannot believe that it would make much difference. Specifically because what the roll searchers do not want, goes back to the bank and the Federal Reserve Vaults.
Let me take a shot at your question. The Federal Reserve does not keep track of specific year releases and as such does not release specific years of coinage. The only exception to this was in 2007 when the Presidential Dollars were released by the $1,000 box. Since the end of the Territorial Quarters program, current releases have been nearly impossible to find by the full roll as stocks are all mixed together. In short, no accounting for particular years of coins in Federal Reserve Vaults. Just denominations.
The total mintage numbers of all coins is released by the mint the year following their mintage. This is usually towards the latter part of the year because the mint operates on a June to June fiscal year. The total number of coins issued for circulation, (sold to the Fed in other words), and the total number sold to the public is published in the mint's Annual Report every year. So that is one source for the information you seek. Another source are the coin magazines, Coin World and Numismatic News. Each of these magazines publishes the numbers of coins sold each month, by the mint; and to who, meaning the public or the Fed. And usually, again in the latter part of the year, both of the magazines publish the total numbers for the previous year. And every once in a while one of the staff writers will do a story on a particular coin like the 2001 halves which provides all of the particulars after the fact. The problem with the monthly magazine articles is that the numbers of coins sold can change due to returns that occur sometimes months after the coins are sold to the public. This also affects the reported mintage numbers, and that is why the total mintage numbers are not finalized and released by the mint until a year after the fact. Bottom line the info you want is out there but you have to go dig it up, from one of the two sources I mentioned.
