World Coins and the U.S. Mint

Many are not aware that for over 100 years, the U.S. Mint manufactured coins for other countries. The U.S. Mint could be called the "World Mint" during those years. Through December 31, 1973, the Philadelphia, San Francisco, New Orleans and Denver Mints produced 9,416,334,160 coins for 42 foreign countries. These numbers are higher now as it appears that production was ongoing until 1984.*

After the 1980s only one issue was made, the 1000 Silver Kronur Leif Ericson commemorative for Iceland dated 2000. This coin was struck at the Philadelphia Mint as a two-coin set. The second coin was a commemorative U.S. Silver dollar. While the U.S. Mint has been producing tokens for other countries since the early 1800s, the "official" act which authorized the production of coins for foreign governments was passed on January 29, 1874. It reads as follows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That it shall be lawful for coinage to be executed at the mints of the United States, for any foreign countries applying for the same, according to the legally prescribed standards and devices of such country, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe; and the charge for the same shall be equal to the expense thereof, including labor, materials, and use of machinery, to be fixed by the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury: Provided, That the manufacture of such coin shall not interfere with the required coinage of the United States.

Two years later, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, the first world coins were minted for Venezuela. These were the centavo and 2 1/2 centavo of which 10,000,000 and 2,000,000 were produced respectively. Then, except for the 1883 Hawaiian issues, there was a gap in production until 1895 when the Philadelphia Mint produced 5,000,000 20 centavos for Ecuador. From that point until 1984, the U.S. Mint produced world coins nearly every year. Minting world coins was diplomatically and financially a good move for the U.S. Mint, especially during the war years, when some countries experienced severe shortages.

Comparing the Department of the Treasury Bureau of the Mint's report with major world coin catalogues, such as Krause's Standard Catalog of World Coins, the collector will find a number of discrepancies. Prior to 1906, production figures were based on the government's fiscal year, July 1- June 30. Consequently, the dates appearing on the actual product may not correspond to the production report. In addition, a number of issues are not recognized by Krause as U.S.-made and conversely, Krause lists a number of coins as products of the U.S. Mint that are omitted from the report from the Mint.

The diversity of issues produced is astounding and is especially interesting considering that from 1876 to the end of the 20th century, the U.S. Mint was producing limited shapes and denominations with little variance in metal content for our own coinage. World coin metal content included copper, silver, gold, copper-nickel, bronze, brass, zinc, steel, stainless steel, German silver and aluminum.

A variety of shapes were produced like the Belgium Congo hexagonal shaped 2 francs and the scalloped Ethiopian 25 cents. There were holed coins such as the Netherlands East Indies centstukken and the satang of Siam. Both circulation strikes and proofs were produced. Standard issues were struck as well as commemoratives. Sizes varied as well from the smallest coin ever made by the U.S. Mint, the Panama 1904 2-1/2C to the largest (at the time), the Liberia 1973 $5.

The P, D and S mintmarks of the U.S. Mints appeared on many issues. Although New Orleans did produce coins for foreign countries, the "O" mintmark never appeared. In addition, mintmarks from foreign countries appeared on some coins. Although not listed in the Mint report, there were varieties, re-strikes, world coins struck on U.S. coin planchets and a number of oddities. Many issues were melted.

For the collector, putting together the set of World Coins Manufactured by Mints of the United States can be an interesting and very challenging endeavor. It provides the collector with a smorgasbord of numismatic treats from over 40 countries. While many of the issues are common there are also some extremely rare issues. The PCGS Set Registry^SM offers a run from 1876 to 1973 and is considered "a work in progress." Later dated issues will be added as the information becomes available. The set, found in the multi-country category, is laid out just like the Mint's report beginning with Argentina and running through Venezuela, with each country in date and denomination order. Collectors who participate are welcome to provide feedback about any issues that may need to be added to or removed from the set.

* At the time this article was written, the author was not able to obtain a copy of any governmental records past 1973 in order to verify later-date statistics.

References:
Domestic and Foreign Coins Manufactured by Mints of the United States 1793-1973, by the Department of the Treasury Bureau of the Mint. 1973.
Foreign Coins Manufactured at US Mints. By Tim Ziebarth. The Willamette Coin Club, Portland, Oregon. March 2006.