What does the year on a coin mean?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by vrt, Oct 12, 2009.

  1. vrt

    vrt Junior Member

    I always thought that year on a coin means the year when the coin was minted. Evidently, I was wrong. I just saw that Silver Canadian Maple Leafs 2010 was already released - http://www.apmex.com/Product/56011/2010___1_oz_Silver_Maple_Leafs___JUST_IN.aspx.

    So, what does the year on the coin mean? It is not the year when the coin was minted. It is not a series year (like on paper money) because there is no difference between Marple Leaf of 2010 and previous years. Does mint stop producing 2009 coins already to make way for 2010?

    Thank you.
     
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  3. Vess1

    Vess1 CT SP VIP Supporter

    No. I think you're getting a little carried away with that broad of an assumption. The vast majority of the time, for all issues considered, the date is the year it was minted. With a few exceptions here and there.

    I believe bullion issues may get a head start on the next year in the previous year like they do with cars.

    There are some instances with regular circulation coins where a different date was used from past years. If I remember right, there were some early 1800 cents or half cents that were stamped a couple years early. Might have just been one type.

    And I think they were still pumping out 1964 Washington quarters in 1965 to mix in with the non-silver ones to give the public the impression that people were not hoarding them because of the silver content. I don't think that plan worked out though.

    The instances of different dates being used are rare and happened more in the early 1800s than modern day.
     
  4. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Well the US mint anyway, doesn't usually start production of the next year's coins until November, sometimes even December. But yeah, they always start early. They have to, otherwise they can't get them all out.
     
  5. hontonai

    hontonai Registered Contrarian

    One more example of an overly enthusiastic application of US-centric statements that don't necessarily hold true for the rest of the world.

    As a matter of fact world coins with dates that don't match the year of production are quite common, including, for example:
    • Spanish coins with normal-sized dates that represent the first year of minting a particular series, and tiny dates visible to most people only under magnification, representing the actual year of issuance
    • Coins of many Arabic nations with the ruler's ascension date, and a secondary - usually smaller - number indicating the year of the ruler's reign during which the particular coin was issued, and, of course
    • Many coins restruck with the original date, including, but certainly not limited to, Austrian Maria Therese Thalers and Confederate States of America coins.
    Then, of course, just to create extra confusion, there are the Chinese counterfeits claiming to be 19th Century Washington Quarters and Morgan Dollars, 20th Century US Trade Dollars, etc., and unfortunately fooling a lot of people.
     
  6. vrt

    vrt Junior Member

    I do not understand the last statement - why they couldn't get them all out if they would start minting new coins only on January 1st?
     
  7. One of my pet peeves is when coins don't carry the date of issue of them. US Currency is worse. Don't get me wrong, I love US Currency, but I would like that much more if they were dated the year they were made.

    Coins that aren't dated are even worse. I believe I read that the first coin to actually carry a date on it was 1234. (I think some Roman coins at least also carried a date, but I am still learning about Romans and could be wrong.

    I guess maybe I am just OCD when it comes to this kind of stuff; I list and store all my coins (and everything else I collect, for that matter) in chronological order, and when applicable in series order by year. It's not so easy to do that when they (whatever they may be) don't carry a date or carry a date that is not it's actual year.

    I think...based on what I have observed, but I could be wrong...that most coins are dated based on their intended year of circulation...but it is not unknown for dates to carry over with old dies used, or dates to be "frozen" on a coin for it's lifespan...I am sure if I am wrong someone with more knowledge then I will come along and correct my misinformation...(I hope they do, so I can learn)
     
  8. MissSasha

    MissSasha Junior Member

    No, you are absolutely correct on that one.

    For example, Ethiopia "froze" dates on many of their coins AND minted coins with earlier dates. I have two examples that show that:

    "1895" 1 silver Gersh, minted from 1903 to 1928
    "1936" 1 copper Gersh, minted 1944 to 1975

    Interestingly enough, "1936" gersh was minted in the U.S. possibly by the US Mint, but don't quote me on that.
     
  9. chrisild

    chrisild Coin Collector

    A few examples from Germany ...

    * All the 1 Pfennig, 5 Pf, 10 Pf, and 50 Pf coins minted between 1950 and 1965 have the year 1950.

    * The Munich 1972 Olympics commems are all dated 1972, even though they were issued between Jan'70 and Aug'72.

    * The German euro and cent circulation coins dated 2002 were minted some time between mid-1998 and late 2002.

    Guess it primarily boils down to what the law/some act says about the year that is supposed to be put on the coin. :)

    Christian
     
  10. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Primarily because they start releasing the new coins on Jan. 2nd. Do you have any idea how long it takes to mint several million coins ? Do the math, modern presses can mint approximately 1,000 coins per minute. Now figure out how long it takes to mint say 50 million, or a 100 million. And that's just 1 denomination. And with modern cents, they produce them in the billions.

    Now consider how many different coins there are, and don't forget all the Proof sets, Mint sets, bullion coins, medals and commems that go on top of that.

    Then you have all the handling that takes place. The mint has to ship them to the Fed. The Fed has to ship them to the Fed banks and then the branch banks. They ship them to the armored car companies. They ship them to the small banks and stores. Every single one of those people has to count and verify the numbers.

    Good Lord - it's a wonder we ever get any coins at all until they are 5 years old.
     
  11. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    The thing is normally they want to be able to start shipping out the last of the old years coins by the end of December and the new years coins as soon after the beginning of the year as possible. They can do that better if they have a stockpile of the new years coins already on hand ust in case the new year starts on say Tuesday (very long weekend) and they get a request for coins on Wednesday. If they have a stockpile they can ship the order right out. If they don't start coining the new date until Jan 2 it might be several days before they can supply the order.
     
  12. chrisild

    chrisild Coin Collector

    Makes a lot of sense. But the pieces mentioned in the first post have the date 2010 - and are available now, in mid-October 2009. OK, those are not circulation coins ... The only explanation I have is that some people may want to have a new Maple Leaf piece every year, and issuing the new one in time for the Christmas season allows the mint to sell a few more. :)

    Christian
     
  13. Just Carl

    Just Carl Numismatist

    Your all missing the point. The question is what does the date on a coin mean? That is really simple. Look at any coin and imagine no date on it. There would be this empty spot on it and everyone would wonder why the empty spot. So now everyone puts a dats there. :D
    That does bring up something though. I wonder how many coins are actually made anywhere with no dates on them at all? Also, I presume in the far past many coins did not have dates on them. Don't know though since I don't collect coins so old no date.
     
  14. chrisild

    chrisild Coin Collector

    In terms of modern (21st century) coins, Azerbaijan comes to mind. The series issued in 2005 (1 to 50 qǝpik) does not have any dates.

    Christian
     
  15. vrt

    vrt Junior Member

    After scratching the "year when the coin was minted" meaning I'm down to 2 options:

    1. "the year when the coin is supposed to be shipped out of mint" - it can be true only if mints make decision which year to use in every day production to ship these coins exactly up to the end of the specific year.

    2. if federals order coins of specific year to get by specific date (that's where "otherwise they can't get them all out" fits) then the meaning is different and probably defined in some law.
     
  16. 900fine

    900fine doggone it people like me

    Interesting thread, and a classic case of "there are no stupid questions". One would think a topic like "the date on a coin" would be straightforward, but it isn't. There's a lot of intrigue and trivia.

    For me, Early US coinage is particularly interesting. For instance, flowing hair half dimes. There are two dates - 1794 and 1795 - but only one mintage report covering both dates ! No one knows the mintage of either date, only the total of the two.

    Regarding the famous 1804 Dollars - the mint report indicates there were many dollars minted in 1804, but it never states they were dated 1804 !

    There are two varieties of Nichols Hoard draped bust large cents - dated 1796 and 1797 - which share the same reverse die. But the 1796 coin is a later die state, which indicates the 1796 coin was minted after the 1797 coin. I don't recall the Sheldon numbers... I'll try to find 'em later.

    1799 is a key date for large cents, but there is no record of how many were minted.

    Early US coinage is full of these sort of things.

    In general, I think early US Mint reports were intended to balance / audit the amount of metal used and had little to do with the dates on the coins.
     
  17. 900fine

    900fine doggone it people like me

    I remember when the UK monetary system went decimal. For years, we had coins dated in the future - they distributed the coins years ahead of time so folks could get used to them.
     
  18. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    There's tons of 'em. The first coin to have a date on it, in Arabic numbers, was minted in Denmark in 1234. And it wasn't until a few hundred years later that dated coins (European) even became common.
     
  19. vrt

    vrt Junior Member

    That's nothing. There was a great thread about luster and different types of it - in the end I've asked the fundumental question - what is the luster? - I believe nobody answered :eek:dd:.
     
  20. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Oh it's been answered a hundred times. Luster is the reflection of light caused by the flow lines on a coin.
     
  21. vrt

    vrt Junior Member

    It's offtopic here but if you're correct then you have to accept that your coins do not have luster at the night - no light-no reflection of light-no luster... When you're talking about your coin that at this moment rests in a locked safe you should not say something like "it has great luster" unless there is light in the locked safe and the coin is at the top of the pile.

    That maybe what it is, still I prefer to think of luster as of property of coin regardless of light condition. Light and its reflection just help to see this property.

    Have I taken it too far? :eating:
     
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