U.S. Mint profits on proof coins

[numisport]

It is said that the U.S. Mint did profit somewhat from proof coin production after 1936. Thanks to research done by Roger Burdette one can see that however miniscule the profit amounts were they justified continued production until WWII. I would like to know more about what prompted earlier proof coin production beyond just requests from collectors and department head cronies. I assume proof coin production lost money due to small numbers produced.

[RWB]

Manufacture of proof coins for collectors was intended to promote coin collecting. At least that's the reason from 1858 forward. It was discontinued in November 1916 because the Director was told (in part) there was little demand....which wasn't strictly true.

In In the intervening years proofs and medals were made in the same department and each produced a nice profit. Here is one of many quarterly letters of transfer for medal fund (including proofs) profit - there was sufficient income to pay all expenses of metal, equipment and labor - with a nice sum for the Treasury.

Annual profits are usually shown in the reports of the directors of the Mint.

[BillJones]

The mint was very busy making coins for the domestic economy as well as foreign countries during World War II. The was not much time left to make Proof sets. At any rate many of the regular mint employees were off fighting in the war. The quality of the Proof coins probably would not have been very good. Those who collect World War II coins have noted the drop in quality during that period.

[RWB]

According to 1947 mint documents, there was one employee who handled proof coin manufacture between 1936 and 1942. He retired in 1946, and this was mentioned as one reason proof coin production was not resumed in 1947. The other was high demand for military award medals, which soon evaporated as businesses returned to civilian production - including medals.

(The Victory medals were made from powdered metal:

" It was also noted that in 1946 the Waterbury Companies used powdered bronze metal to produce Victory Medals for the War Department and Quartermaster Corps. The unit price was soon reduced to well below the cost of U.S. Mint work and a greater share of military medals went to private manufacturers. Also in 1946, director Ross appointed a committee to investigate the economics of powdered metals for the production of planchets and coins. At that time production of planchets was not cost competitive with standard cold rolled manufacture of coinage strip.") [Quoted from draft of research article on Gould private patterns.]

[numisport]

This is great information thanks. After chasing these '36 to '42 proofs for a while now I do realize just how tough they are to find nice. They are out there though and they don't have to be in Pf 67 or 68 holders.