The Mint is one of the oldest federal agencies in the United States. For over 225 years, coins of all kinds have been produced by the U.S. Mint. At first, the coins were produced slowly by man-powered machines, and as technology evolved, computers took over. In 1792, the Coinage Act was passed by congress. This act officially established and regulated the first United States Mint in Philadelphia. At the time, the United States of America was newly formed, and it needed its own form of currency. The Philadelphia Mint began to fund the nation and allow for the sale of goods and services in exchange for coins. This bar graph charts exactly how many coins the U.S. Mint has produced over the past 100 years. Showcasing the highs and lows of the economy over this time span. They have provided this helpful breakdown below of the amount of each coin produced in the last century:
The first coin ever struck was a half dime made of silver that legend says was donated by President George Washington himself. The first coins to be largely produced by the mint were the half cent and cent in copper, the half dime, dime, quarter, half dollar and dollar in silver, and the quarter eagle ($2.50) half eagle ($5) and eagle ($10). From 1941 to 2021, the Mint has produced a total of 816,138,372,612 coins.
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- 1¢: 532,526,921,514
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- 5¢: 66,480,447,520
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- 10¢: 108,961,661,303
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- 25¢: 96,240,624,175
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- 50¢: 5,523,598,288
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- $1: 6,405,119,812
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