Imperial Valley press., 1918-08-19
NEW RECORD IN COINAGE
OF NICKELS AND PENNIES

ton that 445,O0O,000 one-cent piece
were coined by the government in tn
fiscal year 1918 lends interest to
compilation by the National City BAN
Of New York regarding the country
, growing demand for these little CONS
e which the 1918 output was the lar
est on record.
The banks statement on this sub
ct shows that the number of one
, ent coins manufactured by the mint!
{, the United States from 1898 TO th'
Cnd of the fiscal year 1918 was B.,
..33. 900. 900, while the number issued il
ile last six years, in round numbers
ne billion. The number of one-cen1
pieces coined never touched the 90,
100000 line in any year prior to 1907.
the annual average from that time tt
1916 was nearly l00,000,000 per year,
in 1917, 13,5O0,000, and in 1918 445,-
228.20l pieces.
The number of one-cent pieces
coined from the beginning of the gov
eminent to date would, even if all
were in existence and circulation, al.
low for each individual about thirty;
three one-cent pieces. OF course, the
j lumber actually available is far less
I IAN this, for it is quite probable that
out of the 3,463 100000 one-cent p. .eces
coined by the government not more
than about 2,4OO, 900 900 are now in ex-
istence, or at least in circulation, max
ing the present average per capita for
all the people of the United States of
;bout twenty-three one-cent gpieces.
Coinage of one-cent pieces begar
with the first operation of the mints
the total number coined in the first
reriod for which details are available
1880 having been 1,O66,033. ant
i that same period there were coined
..2,524 half-cent pieces. The falf-
mt piece seemed to gain in popular.
iy in the Immediately subsequent pc
cd, for the number coined in Tho
.eriod 1S04-l0 Was about as great a
number of One-cent pieces coined
'om that time on, however, the half
, mt piece apparently lost popularity
the mints soon supended thei
:. anufacture and in 1860 their coinage
>rminated. The number of one-cent
; eces coined averaged less than TO-.
,OO, 900 per annum down to about 1855
When there came a rapid increase, The
number coined in 1857 being about
100000, in 1860 over 2O,0OO,000, il
1864 53,OOO,OO9. Following the close
IF the Civil war the number agair
yreatly declined, being in 1870 les:
than 6,OOO,OOO, in 1880 100000, il
1890, 47,0OO.OOO, in 1900, 67,O00,OO0
in 1906 96,000,000, crossing the 100,.
100000 line in 1907, and making the
highest record in l910-152 2,846.218
while the total for the fiscal year 1915
was lO1, ,23O,317; 1877, 213,5Ol 900, and
III A'Ao, '1c,o-osOVo.
All one-cent pieces now issued by
he government are of bronze. In the
very early periods they were of cop
per, then for comparatively short
line of nickel, though the proportion
which the copper or nickel coins
formed Of the total is very small, the
antire number of copper one-cent coins
ssued having been 156, 6,289, 900; nickel
200, ,772, 900; bronze. $3,lO5,841 900.
The "minor coinage" of the United
States including in that term the half.
.ent, one-cent, two-cent, three-cent and
five-cent coins, aggregates about
; ZOO, 100000 in number. OF the one.
,ent coins, the total number. as already
indicated, is about 3,463, 100000, of
which about 200,OO0,OO0 were nicke'
and l56,OOO,000 copper; of the two.
cent coins there we're issued 45.6Ol,.
900; of the three-cent coins 3l,378,O0Ol
made Of nickel and 42,770,OOO made of
silver; and of the five-cent pieces the
total number issued has been of nick
el 1923 100000 and of silver 97,GO4,-
900.
All token coins issued by the gov
erment are now of bronze or nickel.
all of the one-cent pieces being of
bronze and all Of the five-cent pieces
being of nickel. The use of silver for
the manufacture o. the minor coins
was discontinued in 1874.
The face value of the "token" coins
issued by the government (the one
cent pieces and five-cent nickels) is of
course much greater than the value of
the metal which they contain. In fact.
the profit on the manufacture of these
coins, together with a slight pcofit
on the manufacture of the minor silver
coins (ten, twenty-five and fifty-cent
pieces) is more than enough to pay the