What Is Coin Mintage?
Minting is the process of printing and distributing certified coins into circulation. However, “mintage” refers to the total number of pieces an authorized coin manufacturer (i.e., mint) produces.
Some pieces, like the American Silver Eagle, have millions of coins in circulation; high-scarcity coins may only have a few dozen left in existence.
What Do Collectors Consider a Low-Mintage Coin?
Classifying coins as “low-mintage” can be tricky. Several factors, such as the date of production, quality of proof, and surface design, help numismatists determine the scarcity of a piece.
Take the Lincoln cent as an example. The Lincoln penny is one of the longest-running pieces of currency in U.S. history. The highest mintage for this coin was the 1944 Lincoln cent, and nearly 1.5 billion pieces entered circulation that year. These coins are not worth as much to rare coin enthusiasts since so many are on the market….