Where can a guy or gal obtain a copy of the "officially-from-the-mint" U.S. Mint figures shown at wikipedia, below? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Mint_coin_production It seems that the Mint shows mintage figures for U.S. Coins from 2011 to 2018 (well, 2018 so far) at their website. Not historical ones, though. What about the older figures? Do they keep a copy of their 1890 to present figures somewhere I can get it directly from the Mint, and not from a coin catalogue? I am asking this because I am being given the run-around from the Bank of Korea concerning their own "official mintage figures," with them telling me over the phone that they do not reveal the actual number of circulating coins being produced because that would "reveal their income statement." I suppose I can appreciate their sensitivity , but then how in the heck do the coin catalogs get their mintage numbers?? And why would any country consider mintage numbers for coins minted in the 1960s to be some sort of "secret?"
I'd try googling "Annual report of the director of the US mint". I believe these are all on line now.
Thanks, Cladking. The new and old Reports show mintages! A question: Does this portion of the 2017 Report show the One-Cent and Five-Cent mintages? Why is it called "Shipments?"
Lets say they strike 1000 coins. Odds are, a few of them are going to have errors, not turn out well, or have some sort of problem. So, they'll only ship 900 to the bank (these are just made up numbers.) They don't usually report how many were actually struck - they report how many were issued. That is, how many were shipped to the Federal Reserve banks. The rest get destroyed.
Got it. I like that number better! Actual number "issued." Now, why would the central bank/mint authority of any country not want to publish these very same figures for its coins, year-to-year? What would that protect?
Two ideas: 1. Knowing how much money is in circulation could give some idea of inflation. In highly regulated countries, the actual inflation numbers could be very different from what the government wants you to believe. 2. Knowing how much money is made, you may be able to get an idea of how much seigniorage, or profit, they are making. If some concerned citizens think they are making too much money, it could cause problems and calls to restrict their budget. Given that they said it would "reveal their income statement," there are probably some politics around the budget that they want to avoid. Either that, or that's the line they've been told to give you. You're dealing with politics and money, and government bureaucrats. Expect red tape.
I think you may be correct in your analysis of this problem. While I appreciate your thoughtful response, I still wonder what benefit comes from keeping per-coin annual mintage numbers from, say 1966 to 1990, secret? And hey, I'm just asking about friggin' COINS! Not banknotes, which are a much larger portion of their M1 money supply! Sheesh. Sure, perhaps RECENT mintage numbers might be "politically sensitive," but these old mintages can't possibly be valuable to anyone anymore from that standpoint, can they? Maybe it's just the red-tape.
Yep. However, I wanted the numbers direct-from-the-US Mint or Treasury Dept. I've dealt with coin catalogs and books long enough to know that errors are often made, and the closer you get to original sources, the better.
FOIA requests do exist in the Republic of Korea, however, as the editor of the English-language online journal, [**journal title edited**], once told me: "Filing a freedom of information request would not do much good, as the law does not dictate a set period of time before a government institution must respond to it. They can sit on your request forever, and you will have no recourse. If you are fortunate, they might respond in a timely fashion, but without existing connections I am not sure about the pace with which they will respond." ("Connections," as in "who you know")
What I'm hearing is.... "It's worth a try." Granted, I have no idea how much paperwork or bother is involved with filing a request, but it can't hurt to ask, right? You know anyone important? In America, I'd say write your Senator or Congressman. I'm not sure what the Korean equivalent of that is.
