Here are several miscellaneous questions concerning the mintages of U.S. coins: Are there any reliable numbers or estimates of the following coins: 1934 Quarter - light, medium, and heavy motto. What is the mintages of the 1934D quarter - light, medium, or heavy? Did the heavy motto prevail beginning in 1935? Bicentennial coins: I have seen figures of 11 million and 7 million uncirculated silver clads and 4 million silver clad proofs were minted, but several million were melted in 1982. Is it 11 million or 7 million? The Red Book says 7 million for the proof quarters and 11 million for the proof halves and dollars. Since they were all sold in sets, either 7 million or 11 million, but not both, is the correct number. Does anyone know the correct number? Are there any final mintages available after the melting of the coins that weren't sold? The 1938 D over D and 1938 D over S buffalo nickels appear to be the most common by far of all the over mint mark coins. Is there an estimate of how many of each variety may have been issued? Were there two types of 1939 Jefferson nickels, one with the reverse of 1938 and the other with the reverse of 1940? If there were, is there any estimate of the numbers minted, and were both varieties also minted at Denver and San Francisco? For the Jefferson nickels, the 1954S over D and the 1955 D over S varieties appear to be uncommon but not rare. Are there any estimates as to the numbers minted? Does anyone know the approximate number of 1945S Winged Liberty Head dimes with a micro S? I heard or read somewhere that the number of micro S dimes was about 10% of the total. Did the Mint keep any records on the 1960 LD and SD uncirculated and proof cents and the 1960D LD and SD uncirculated cents. If not, are there any reasonable estimates that can be relied on? I had heard or read somewhere that the number of 1960 P SD cents was around 2 million, but that there many more 1960D SD cents minted. Same question for the 1970S LD and SD proof and uncirculated cents. I asked about the mintages of the 7 varieties of 1982 cents in a separate thread. For the SBA dollars, is there any information on the number of 1979P wide rim coins that were minted? Any information on the mintage of 1999P proof SBA dollars? The number is not shown in the Red Book. Lastly, for the 1979S proof sets, is there any reasonable estimate of the number of filled S coins vs. clear S coins? Would the numbers apply equal to all the coins in the proof sets, or were some coins with the clear S mint mark issued in smaller numbers than other coins in the set? Thank you for any oand all information that anyone can provide. - Jerry
Regarding the Bicentennial coins - you're mixing things up. There were the same numbers of Proofs and business strikes made for the halves and dollars - 11 million business, 4 million Proofs. The quarters were a bit different. For them there were 7 million business, and 4 million Proofs. The reason for the difference is that the halves and dollars were also sold in 2 coin sets (1 half and 1 dollar), as well as the 3 coin sets (1 quarter, 1 half, 1 dollar). That's why there are more dollars and halves than quarters. As for all of the varieties you ask about, there are no known actual mintage numbers. This is the same for any and all varieties. But several authors have offered mintage estimates. But that's all you're ever gonna get - estimates.
This is the first I've ever heard of a two coin bicentennial set. My sources say that 15 million 40% silver coins of each denomination were struck but don't break down the mintage by proof and unc. Then you had the problem that the mint sold these for six years at varying prices by individual order and by bulk lots and they then scrapped a lot of them. Apparently they didn't keep good records because 34 years later they still don't know how many net they eventually sold.
