Coins returned for melting

[Proudtoown]

Does anyone know of a website or some where that data is maintained on the melting of coins? For example, does the mint, or whomever, have a site where I can look at a 1901 S xyz coin, 5 million minted, 3.2M returned to be melted. That way I could look and say well, now theres only 1.8M out there?

[Conder101]

The mint did not keep records on dates and mints when they melted down coins. Nor do any of the smelters around the country.

[RWB]

The U.S. mints kept records of coins melted for recoinage by denomination, but nothing else. Post-1933 gold melted was also recorded by denomination. (Information on the latter will be published in a future issue of the Journal of Numismatic Research.)

[Kevin J Flynn]

The following is from my two cent book, The Authoritative Reference on Two Cent Coins

 

Kevin

 

Minor coins were redeemed as part of the Act of March 3, 1871.

 

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and required to redeem in lawful money, under such rules and regulations as he may from time to time prescribe, all copper, bronze, copper-nickel, and base-metal coinage of every kind heretofore authorized by law, when presented in sums of not less than twenty dollars; and whenever under this authority these coins are presented for redemption in such quantity as to show the amount outstanding to be redundant, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to discontinue or diminish the manufacture and issue of such coinage until otherwise ordered by him."

 

The Mint was authorized to reissue coins redeemed. For example, in 1875, a total of 761,400 Three cent nickels were reissued. By reissuing coins, the Mint was filling a need for that denomination without striking new coins. Coins redeemed were evaluated as to their condition. If they were acceptable, the coins were cleaned and redistributed. A report dated October 5, 1872 on the Base Coinage Redemption Fund of August 31, 1872, stated that a total of 9,883,545 Two cent coins were redeemed to date. Of these, 3,715,000 were reissued. Of course, no Two cent pieces would have been reissued after April 1, 1873.

 

Coins redeemed could be used for creating new planchets by melting them.

 

The following are the number of Two cent pieces redeemed per the Record of Minor Coins Redeemed. 1871-81 from the National Archives. The other minor coins were also included in the records, but not included below.

 

Year Number Redeemed

1871 3,073,329

1872 3,483,433

1873 1,689,140

1874 1,674,201

1875 1,059,218

1876 1,269,340

1877 1,134,469

1878 1,921,931

1879 1,890,313

1880 281,220

1881 81,347

 

Total reedemed between 1871 and 1881: 17,557,941

 

Also, the Annual reports of the Director of the Mint shows the number melted, below are the two cent pieces that were melted up through that year.

 

Fiscal Year Totals ending June 30 of that year.

Year Number Struck Number Melted

1890 45,601,000 15,616,391

1891 45,601,000 15,946,341

1892 45,601,000 15,946,341

1893 45,601,000 15,946,341

1894 45,601,000 16,078,829

1895 45,601,000 16,515,829

1896 45,601,000 16,653,079

1897 45,601,000 16,728,785

1898 45,601,000 16,811,761

1899 45,601,000 16,833,936

1900 45,601,000 16,846,836

1901 45,601,000 16,868,936

1902 45,601,000 16,883,586

1906 45,601,000 16,943,286

1907 45,601,000 16,954,201

1908 45,601,000 16,966,446

1909 45,601,000 16,983,391

1910 45,601,000 16,991,711

1911 45,601,000 17,005,361

1912 45,601,000 17,013,016

1913 45,601,000 17,019,666

1914 45,601,000 17,029,773

1915 45,601,000 17,046,703

1916 45,601,000

1917 45,601,000 17,068,864

 

 

Based on these totals, the total number redeemed between 1871 and 1881 as listed in the Record of Minor Coins Redeemed. 1871-1883 was 17,557,941. In the Annual reports of the Director of the Mint, in 1890, the number of Two cent pieces melted was 15,616,391. This difference of roughly 2 million Two cent pieces is in line with the 3,715,000 which were said to be reissued in 1872. This is another reason why the Mint could have dramatically cut down the number of Two cent pieces in 1871 through 1873. In a circular issued by the Mint in 1873, it stated that only the cent, three cent, or nickel could be issued in exchange for minor coins.