U.S. Mint Mintage Lookup Tool

The 1849 Double Eagle has a mintage of just 1 (pattern coin, not for circulation), but among business strikes, the 1870-S $3 gold piece has a known population of just 1–2 examples. Among commonly collected coins, the 1893-S Morgan Dollar (mintage 100,000) and the 1895 proof-only Morgan (880 struck) are among the rarest by surviving population. The 1913 Liberty Nickel with 5 known examples is perhaps the most famous rarity.

The Pittman Act of 1918 authorized the melting of up to 350 million silver dollars to sell the silver to Britain. Approximately 270 million Morgans were melted at that time. Additional millions were melted in 1942 and then in the early 1960s when the Treasury began releasing long-stored bags of Morgan and Peace dollars. This is why surviving populations of many dates are far lower than their original mintages suggest.

Mintage is one factor among several. The others are survival rate (how many weren't melted or lost), condition census (how many survived in high grades), and collector demand. A coin with a mintage of 1 million could be worth less than a coin with 10 million if the lower-mintage coin is a less popular series with fewer collectors. Mintage is best used as a relative indicator within the same series — comparing 1893-S to other S-mint Morgan dollars, for example.

Official U.S. Mint production figures are the primary source, supplemented by numismatic research for historical coins. Some early mintage figures are approximate due to incomplete historical records. The most authoritative published references are the official U.S. Mint Annual Reports, the Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins), and the PCGS and NGC online databases.

The 1964 (90% silver) is the most commonly collected and has a large mintage, but its silver content gives it a $8–$12 melt value floor. The 1970-D (mintage 2,150,000) and 1987-P/D (2,890,758 each) are the true key dates — all three were struck only for inclusion in special mint sets and were never released for general circulation. All 1965–1970 Kennedy halves are 40% silver and worth $3–$5 for metal alone. See our full Kennedy Half Dollar Value Chart for complete values.

These labels reflect a date's relative scarcity within its own series, not an absolute value ranking across different denominations. A "key date" is the hardest date in a series to find in any condition and typically commands the strongest premium; a "semi-key" is meaningfully scarcer than the series' common dates but not as difficult as the true key. Because the labels are series-relative, a "semi-key" Morgan Dollar can still be worth far more than a "key date" modern Roosevelt Dime — always compare values within the same series, not across the color-coding alone.