Hi all, new member, been lurking for over a year. I noticed in the "American dream coin" thread that there was a set of aluminum patterns from 1868. Assuming that there were actually business strikes for all of the denominations in that set, would that year represent the most different denominations struck in one year? I know there were half cents minted earlier in history, but not 3 cent pieces (or 2?). Sorry if this is a remedial question, but I couldn't find anything on this on the interwebs.... Related question: if you include mint marks, what year(s) produced the most different coins (not proofs)? I'm thinking either criteria would make an interesting goal for collecting.
im not sure which year had the most, but if this helps, these are the years each denomination was made: half cents were made from 179(3?) - 1857 cents have been made since 1793 2c coins were made from 1864 - 1873 3c coins were made from 1851- 1889 half-dimes were made from 1794 - 1873 nickels have been made since 1866 dimes have been made since 1794 20c coins were made from 1875 - 1878 quarters have been made since 1796 half dollars have been made since 1794 dollars were made from 1794- 1804, 1836 - 1873, 1878 - 1904, 1921-1935, *1964*, 1971- 1981, 1999-date gold $1 coins were made from 1849 - 1889 $2.5 coins were made from 1796 - 1929 $3 coins were made from 1854- 1889 **$4 coins were made from 1879 - 1880** $5 coins were made from 1795 - 1929 $10 coins were made from 1795- 1804, 1838 - 1933 $20 coins were made from 1849 - 1933 *1964 peace dollars were made in 1965 and melted before their release, so it is likely that none exist ** $4 coins were patterns that were not released into general circulation
1873 has just about everything but a half cent. also has the half dime and nickel, the 3 cent silver and 3 cent nickel. Gold dollar and silver dollar. and then if you consider the w/ arrows and w/o arrows varieties there are even more.
If you include different mintmarks, I know that the 1909 set w/ gold takes 30 coins total... because I've done that set I also know that the 1857 set w/ gold takes 36 different coins because I've considered doing that set in the past. Not sure if there are any years that take more than that... of course, when you get to some of the modern dates with the various state quarters and commemorative issues and bullion issues you could have a lot of coins all in a single year.
1866-73 has a ton of coins Cent 2 cent 3 cent silver and nickel Nickel Half dime Dime Quarter Half Silver dollar $1 2.5 3 5 10 and 20 gold add in the mintmarks and you got a ton of coins
1873 I think has the most tho cause there's both seated and trade dollars. Add in the arrows and no arrows and the open and closed 3 in some of the gold and you'd have a lot of coins especially with the unique no arrows cc dime
But even with all of that cool stuff in 1873, some of the earlier dates where you have more mints in operation (C,D,O,S & P) can have even more coins total. And then when you look at even the current year, 2014, there are many more different coins being struck by the Mint. Just with the America the Beautiful quarters there are 35 different to collect! 5 each of the P, D, S (business strike), S (proof), S (silver proof), 5 oz. silver bullion & 5 oz. silver P-mint satin finish. Then you have all of the eagle (silver, gold & platinum) and buffalo bullion, presidential dollars, first spouse gold, commemoratives... probably over 100 different coins total.
I'm pretty sure he is not considering the modern coinage but, more of a collection that includes denominations no longer in production. It would be quite a unique set when completed.
In my opinion regular coinage lost its collecability in 1965 when they took the silver out. For me it lost it earlier when they adopted the presidential designs. Personally I hate them!! Generally I don't collect any coins without a 17 or 18 as the first 2 digits in the date. Except I love st gaudens $20s and I think walkers and standing liberty quarters especially type 1 are great designs too but that's just me everyone collects different things
I believe it is 1873 Cent two cent closed 3 two cent open 3 three cent silver closed 3 three cent nickel closed 3 three cent nickel open 3 1873 half dime closed 3 1873 S half dime closed 3 shield nickel closed 3 shield nickel open 3 1873 dime no arrows closed 3 1873 dime no arrows open 3 1873 CC dime no arrows closed 3 1873 dime w/arrows 1873 CC dime w/arrows 1873 S dime w/arrows 1873 quarter no arrows closed 3 1873 quarter no arrows open 3 1873 CC quarter no arrows 1873 quarter w/arrows 1873 CC quarter w/arrows 1873 S quarter w/arrows 1873 half no arrows closed 3 1873 half no arrows open 3 1873 CC half no arrows 1873 S half no arrows (made but none known to exist) 1873 half w/arrows 1873 CC half with arrows 1873 S half w/arrows 1873 seated dollar 1873 CC seated dollar 1873 S seated dollar (made but none known to exist) 1873 trade dollar 1873 CC trade dollar 1873 S trade dollar 1873 gold dollar closed 3 1873 gold dollar open 3 1873 quarter eagle closed 3 1873 quarter eagle open 3 1873 S quarter eagle 1873 three dollar closed 3 1873 three dollar open 3 1873 half eagle closed 3 1873 half eagle open 3 1873 CC half eagle 1873 S half eagle 1873 eagle 1873 CC eagle 1873 S eagle 1873 double eagle closed 3 1873 double eagle open 3 1873 CC double eagle 1873 S double eagle closed 3 1873 S double eagle open 3 That's 54 coins, 52 excluding the two not known to exist.
I just started adding the number of coins issued or scheduled to be issued in 2014 and this is the largest number of coins issued in one year by the US Mint, including all mintmarked and non-mintmarked coins, all finishes counted once: 3 Lincoln cents (business strike P, D and proof S) 3 Jefferson nickels (business strike P, D and proof S) 4 Roosevelt dimes (business strike P, D and proof S, proof silver S) 20 America the Beautiful quarters (5 designs for each business strike P, D and proof S, and proof S for each design) 4 Kennedy half dollars (business strike P, D and proof S, proof silver S) 12 Presidential dollars (4 designs for each business strike P, D and proof S) 3 Sacagawea/Indian-themed dollars (business strike P, D and proof S) 3 American silver 1-ounce Eagles (proof, uncirculated and bullion strike) 10 America the Beautiful 5-ounce bullion coins (5 designs for each uncirculated without mintmark and P-mintmarked specimen finish) 2 Civil Rights Act commemorative silver dollars (proof and uncirculated finish, each) 2 Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative half dollars (proof and uncirculated finish, each) 2 Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative silver dollars (proof and uncirculated finish, each) 2 Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative gold half eagles (proof and uncirculated finish, each) 4 Kennedy high-relief silver half dollars 2 Kennedy half-relief clad half dollars 1 Kennedy gold half dollars These are the 77 coins I planned to purchase this year. I cannot afford the gold eagles/buffalos and liberty platinum coins and these coins are not always issued each year in all denominations or finishes. I am not as familiar with these issues. We also have presidential spouses on gold coins. I just buy the bronze medals each year (and they are quite nice, too.) Other members may expand, correct or improve upon my list.
Conder, thaks for that amazing list, just collecting that one year would be quite a challange! Onecenter, I'm mostly interested in non-modern coinage, and I prefer business strikes to proofs/commems/bullion (though i own some of all those categories )
But the question in the OP was for the most denominations not most varieties. An Indian head cent and Lincoln cent comprise a single denomination.
Robec, I think conder was replying to my "related question". Regardless, I love to hear all different types of collecting strategies. Some of my other favorites that I've seen discussed include : -Single coin (different grades of the same coin, including toners) -Birth year coins -Other personalized strategies (I think it would be cool to work on a full set of Franklins to hand-down to my son, who happens to be named Ben). Do you have any interesting "non-tradional" collecting strategies?
