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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 1732101, member: 66&quot;]The closest thing they have to that is with the commemorative coins.&nbsp; The organizations that are supposed to get the surcharges the collector have to pay don&#039;t get them until the Mint breaks even.&nbsp; If sales are poor and Mint does not recover its costs for manufacturing, advertising etc, the money comes out of the surcharges.&nbsp; Then the organization gets whatever is left, once they raise matching funds.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Yes at that time they did receive tax money to operate.&nbsp; But that was because at that time ALL of the seigniorage profits were turned over to the Treasury General Fund.&nbsp; And then the Mint would have to get an appropriation from Congress in the budget to operate the next year.&nbsp; Then it changed and the Mint turned over MOST of the seigniorage while keeping enough to self fund its operations.&nbsp; So they turned over a little less and stopped receiving tax funds.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Care to define well above face value?&nbsp; Proof Morgan dollars were $1.08.&nbsp; The % cost was higher on the smaller denominations.&nbsp; Proof Seated halves were $.54, quarters were $.28, dimes were $.12&nbsp; The minor proof sets were a real rip off, 1,3,and 5 cent piece cost $.12&nbsp; A gold proof set with a dollar, quarter eagle, three dollar, half eagle , eagle , and double eagle, face value of $41.50 cost $43.&nbsp; In more recent times the mark-up did get higher.&nbsp; The 1936 set with a face value of 91 cents cost $1.89&nbsp; I guess from that point on I would agree they were sold at well over face value.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>When does the &quot;very early years&quot; stop?&nbsp; The cent wasn&#039;t a significant moneymaker until 1857.&nbsp; Silver coinage operated at a loss until 1853 with the small profits from the copper coinage making up the difference.&nbsp; Silver coins weren&#039;t really costing less than their face value to produce until the 1870&#039;s when the price of silver started its long term downward trend.&nbsp; Gold was coined at a loss or at best about break even until 1933 when they stopped coining it.&nbsp; I don&#039;t believe the Mint made much profit until after the 1870&#039;s and it lasted until the 1950&#039;s.&nbsp; Then profits declined due to the rising cost of silver with the cent and five cent being the major source of income.&nbsp; The real profit explosion then started with the clad coins in 1965.&nbsp; Now for the past ten+ years we have been losing money on the cents and five cents and it the profits from the larger coins that kept the mint in the black.&nbsp; Then the mint gat a real shot in the arm from the state quarters and the dollar coins and profits BOOMED.&nbsp; Today quarter production is down, we are still bleeding red from the cents and five cents (2 cents and 8 cents apiece to produce, 2012 mint report.&nbsp; Down from the 2011 report) and with the loss of the dollar coin next years mint report could be very interesting.&nbsp; The 2012 report showed a profit of about 32 million (down from 2011 of about 388 million.) and the only reason for that profit was because the 2012 report included 79 million in profits for the dollar coins struck in the last quarter of calendar year 2011.&nbsp; Without that the mint would have been in the red.&nbsp; (These figures do not include the profits made on numismatic coin sales)</p><p><br /></p><p>You comment about checking the annual reports to see just how much the did make sounds interesting.&nbsp; It would be interesting to see just how much they did make each year through 1922 (That&#039;s as far as my collection of old mint reports goes.&nbsp; I also have all the reports since 2000.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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