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Article by:

Gregory N. Mirsky
News

Foreigners in the Mint - A Mint Error News Exclusive Report

US Coinage struck on Foreign Planchets and Foreign Coinage struck on
US Planchets



Click here for a 69 page PDF report detailing
mintages of foreign coinage struck by the US Mint.


indentThe United States Mint struck coins for foreign countries starting in 1833 but did not have official authority to do so until The Mint Act of Jan. 29, 1874 was approved and signed into law. The 1874 act states that the U.S. Mint may mint coins for a foreign country if the minting does not interfere with regular minting operations, and shall prescribe a charge for minting the foreign coins equal to the cost of the minting (including labor, materials, and the use of machinery).

indentThe U.S. Mint did strike Liberia (LR) one cent coins in 1833. The Liberia one cent, in essence a token dated 1833, was struck by the Mint for the American Colonization Society. The U.S. Mint had long been in the business of striking medals for various groups and artists. In fact, the U.S. Mint was the only place to go in North America if you wanted a large sized medal struck, since no other equipment was available that could handle the immense pressures required to strike such pieces. The prospect of the mint manufacturing tokens, as in the case of the Liberian cents, was not a far offshoot from the medal making business. It is believed that the medal manufacturing activities of the mint led to some of the very first foreign coinage struck by the U.S. Mint.

indentThe American Colonization Society was founded in 1817 for the sole purpose of transporting "freeborn blacks" and "emancipated slaves" back to Africa. In 1822, the society established a colony on the West Coast of Africa that became the independent nation of Liberia in 1847. By 1867, the society had sent more than 13,000 "American blacks" to Liberia. The one-cent token featured "Freed Negro" standing next to a palm tree, with a ship in the distance. Though many regard the one-cent piece a "hard times" token, and thus not acknowledged by the US mint as foreign coinage in its annual reports, it did function as coinage in the Liberian colony.

indentU.S. Mint documents and records show that no coins were struck at any of the U.S. Mints for foreign countries between 1855 and 1875. Starting in 1895, the United States Mint has struck coins for foreign countries almost every year. In 1984 the Mint ceased its production of coins for other countries. All excess coinage capacity was allotted to the 1984 Olympic commemorative program.

indentThe 1874 act states that the U.S. Mint may mint coins for a foreign country only if the minting does not interfere with domestic minting operations. Therefore, foreign coinage production was halted. Mint modernization programs after 1984 such as coinage press replacement, commemorative programs and the production of bullion coinage quickly consumed any significant excess coinage capacity.

indentCurrently the Mint Administration directs foreign coin production to independent mints or other government mints. In 2000, the U.S. Mint struck a 1,000 Kronur coin for Iceland. The piece celebrated the 1,000th anniversary of Leif Erickson's trip to the New World, and was issued in conjunction with a U.S. commemorative silver dollar dated 2000 celebrating the same event. This marked the first time since 1984 that the US Mint had struck coins for another nation in its mints.

indentThe United States mint has struck coins for the following countries:

  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Bahamas
  • Belgian Congo
  • Belgium
  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Cuba
  • Curacao
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • Ethiopia
  • Fiji
  • France
  • French Indo-China
  • Greenland
  • Guatemala
  • Hawaii
  • Honduras
  • Israel
  • Korea
  • Liberia
  • Mexico
  • Nepal
  • Netherlands
  • Netherlands East Indies
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • El Salvador
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Korea
  • Surinam
  • Syria
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Venezuela

indentNot all U.S. Mint struck foreign coins were manufactured in the United States. The coins struck for the Philippines from 1920 until the outbreak of hostilities with Japan during World War II is a good example. The Manila Mint (Mint Mark ‘M') was opened in July 1920 as a branch Mint of the United States and struck coins for the Philippines while the Islands were under administration of the United States before World War II. The Manila Mint still maintains the distinction as being the only U.S. Mint to physically reside outside of the United States.

Foreign Coins Made by the U.S. Mint

indentEach coin made by the U.S. Mint for another country was minted to the specifications dictated by the client country. Some of the clients of the U.S. Mint requested to be furnished with planchets to be utilized at their native mints in the coining process, as was the case with Argentina in 1919 and 1920. In the case of the Venezuelan 1 and 2½ Centavos struck in the Philadelphia Mint in 1876 and 1877, the U.S. Mint sub-contracted out to the Waterbury Mint, owned by the Scovill Manufacturing Company, to supply planchets for foreign and regular U.S. issues. The Waterbury Mint provided the US Mint with many of the planchets for regular U.S. 1¢ and 5¢ pieces from 1888 to 1906.

indentIn some cases the client country would manufacture and furnish the dies to the U.S. Mint to strike the coins, while other countries opted for the U.S. Mint to produce the minting dies and to mint the issues. A third alternative that was utilized by some client countries, most notably the Dominican Republic, was the usage of a third party mint to produce the dies and then use the U.S. Mint to manufacture the coins. This arrangement led to coins like the 1897 Dominican Republic One Peso struck in 1898 and 1899 by the US mint with dies made by the Paris Mint that bear the "A" mint mark on the reverse near the bottom of the coin. In theory, a foreign coinage issue manufactured by the U.S. Mint could involve four or more parties:

  • The client country wanting the issue
  • The mint that designed and produced the dies for coinage
  • The mint that manufactured the coin planchets
  • The U.S. Mint that actually minted the issue
  • The mint or central bank that distributes the minted coinage into the economy

indentIn the case of the 1944 French 2 Franc pieces, it is believed that the French Algerian provincial government issued the pieces into general circulation into the Algerian economy and not into the originally intended French commercial economy.

indentOver the years of producing coinage for other countries, the traditional U.S. Mint marks appeared on foreign coins. As mentioned before, a mint mark from another country could be present on a foreign coin produced by the U.S. Mint. The New Orleans Mint never had a chance to display its "O" mint mark on a foreign coin. The only foreign issue that was struck at that Mint was a 1907 Mexican silver 20 Centavos piece that bore the Mexico City mint mark from where the coinage dies originated.

indentNot all of the foreign mintages of the U.S. Mint were met with great success. Some mintages met undignified ends in the melting cauldron such as the Chinese dollars and half dollars or the coinage of our present-day Hawaiian Islands. While war and political turmoil sent some issues back to the melting pot, war was also the reason for such high demand for the U.S. Mint to produce foreign coinage. Demand during the early to mid 1940's pushed coinage requests to all time highs as devastated World War II participant countries in the midst of rebuilding required coinage to be produced in order for their respective economies to recover in the post war era. Coinage requests from these war torn countries supplemented and competed for the surplus coinage capacity normally reserved for the US Mint's usual client countries. One can see in the annual mintage reports that many coins were reported as struck in one year but dated with the previous year's date.

indentWhile producing foreign coinage, the U.S. Mint demonstrated its metallurgical talents producing numerous alloys it normally did not use for standard US circulating coinage along with coin shapes that the U.S. Mint until that time was unfamiliar with. Coin shapes such as square, scalloped, hexagonal coins and those coins designed with holes in the center were required to be produced. While the U.S. Mint did make limited run pattern coins with holes in the center, as documented in Judd/Pollack, the U.S. Mint never executed a production run of such coins until the dated 2461 Siam (Thailand) One Satang it produced at the Philadelphia Mint in 1918. The U.S. Mint followed up the holed One Satang with additional holed foreign coinage issues such as the 1920 French Indo-China One Centime; the Fiji Half Penny and Fiji Penny produced from 1942 to 1943.

indentScanning the mintage figures of numerous client countries of the U.S. Mint over several years, one can see the ongoing effect of economic policies of each country by the debasing change of coinage compositions used to issue certain denominations of that country. It is interesting to note that a country often debases its coinage by substituting an inferior composition. Sometimes the metal is switched from gold to silver, or from silver to copper-nickel or brass.

indentOne interesting example occurred in Costa Rica in 1923. U.S. minted 50 Centimos and 25 Centimos coins were re-struck or counter-struck by the Costa Rican government into higher 1 Colon and 50 Centavos denomination pieces because of their metal content and a revaluation of their currency.

indentThe following are some interesting facts about some of the client countries and their coinage that the U.S. Mint struck for them:

Argentina

indentNo finished coins, only planchets, were produced for Argentina.

Australia

indentAll coins struck for Australia have either a "D", for Denver, or a "S", for San Francisco, mint mark. On the 3 Pence the mint mark is located on the reverse to the right below the last numeral on the date. The 6 Pence piece has the mint mark located on the reverse at the bottom, just above the date. The Shilling piece has the mint mark located on the reverse above the "N" in the word "Shilling". The Florin has the mint mark located on the reverse just above the date.

Brazil

indentBrazil bought raw planchets from the U.S. Mint and its suppliers. No Brazilian coins were minted by the U.S. mint.

Canada

indentDimes struck for Canada can only be identified by the differences in the reeding. A different style collar was employed by the Philadelphia Mint compared to dimes made by its Canadian counterparts. The Philadelphia Mint struck dimes for Canada in 1968 and 1969 due to a shortage of coins circulating during that time period.

China

indentBoth the dollar and half-dollar are dated 1936, the twenty-fifth year anniversary of the Republic of China. Unfortunately the dollars and the half-dollars were shipped to Hong Kong and arrived at the same time Japan began invading China in World War II. The coins were never placed into circulation and most were subsequently melted.

indentThere is a nickel composition specimen of the one dollar known to exist, and may have been a final die trial.

indentA re-strike in 1949 produced a total of thirty million coins. These re-strikes were dated 1934, the twenty-third year anniversary of the Republic of China. The Philadelphia Mint produced the bulk of the re-strikes with a total of 20,250,000, the Denver Mint produced 6,550,000 and the San Francisco minting facility produced 3,200,000 coins. No U.S. mint marks appear on any of the coins made for China by the U.S. Mint.

Colombia

indentIn addition to the U.S. Mint manufacturing coins for the government of Cuba, the Waterbury Mint in Waterbury, Connecticut, minted for Colombia the following pieces:

indent• 24,000,000 two and one-half Centavos (Y25) in 1881
indent• 400,000 two and one-half Centavos (Y25) in 1902
indent• 400,000 five-centavos (Y24, Y25) in 1888 and 1902

Costa Rica

indentIn 1942 the 2 Centimos issue was restruck as 5 Centimos pieces dated 1942. 274,342 coins were reported restruck by the Costa Rican government. Restruck coins are listed as Y58 in the Yeoman catalog. The U.S. Mint did not participate in the restriking process in 1942. Also in 1923 a revaluation of larger denomination silver coins occurred. Most 50 Centimos were restruck/counterstamped as 1 Colon pieces (Y44).

Cuba

indentOther private mints in the U.S. such as the Providence Mint also made coins for Cuba. In fact, the Providence Mint subcontracted out the actual manufacturing process to a company whose main line of business was as far as you can get from the numismatic field, they made air brakes!

Ethiopia

indentAfter Great Britain took possession of Ethiopia from Italy and returned it to Haile Sellassie and his government in 1941, Great Britain tried unsuccessfully to establish the shilling-cent system in Ethiopia. Ethiopian suspicion and a desire for a national identity lead to a new series of coins designed in Philadelphia by John Sinnoch (obverse) and Gilroy Roberts (reverse). The bust of Haile Sellassie and the date 1936EE (1944) are on the obverse; the reverse has the Lion of Judah and the denomination of 1, 5, 10, 25, or 50 Santim (Centime) in Amharic.

indentThe U.S. Mint in Philadelphia and the British Royal Mint have both minted this series for the country. Ethiopia used these coins into the late 1970s or at least until the Socialist Ethiopian government issued its own set of coinage.

indentAn interesting note that has parallels to the US Racketeer Nickel (Gold plated/coated U.S. 1883 Liberty No Cents Nickels) is the original 25 Centime coin. It was round like the 50 Centime piece and close to the same size. Unscrupulous people quickly discovered they could silver plate the 25 Centime coin and pass it for the 50 Centime piece. Few in the country could read the denominations on the coins due to low literacy rate. More than 400,000 25 Centime coins had been minted when they were withdrawn from circulation and retrofitted by hand with a scalloped edge. Later issues of the 25 Centime coins were minted with a special milling collar to form the scallops of the coin.

Hawaii

indentProofs were made of all denominations. No U.S. mint marks are present on the coins. Claus Sprekels, the sugar king, used his influence to have the coins made for the Hawaiian Government.

indentThe Hawaiian Dime was a substitute for the 12-½ Cent (Hapawalu) denomination specified in the original request to the U.S. Government. The 12-½ Cent (Hapawalu) would have required specially made blanks and usage of the Dime denomination would use a standard blank already manufactured and in use in US standard circulation coinage. Six Proof Dimes were made in September 1883 at the Philadelphia (PA) Mint for inclusion in four-piece sets containing the 10 Cent (Dime) piece, the 25 Cent piece, 50 Cent piece, and Dollar denominations. 250,000 circulation strikes were struck at the San Francisco, California Mint without mint marks from November 17, 1883 through June 1884.

indentAn additional set of 20 Proof Dimes were made at the Philadelphia Mint in 1884. Charles E. Barber and George T. Morgan prepared the dies for these Proof Dimes. The Proof Dimes were specifically created for inclusion in five-piece sets containing the 10 Cent (Dime) piece, the 25 Cent piece, 50 Cent piece, and Dollar denominations, plus the originally requested 12-½ Cent (Hapawalu) coin.

indentExperts consider the 1883 Hapawalu to be "patterns" with italic 8's in the date to be fabrications made outside the Mint (as were similar 1884 "patterns" of the Hapaha, Hapalua, and Dala denominations). The numismatic community did not know of these coins until 1954, when the collection of deposed King Farouk of Egypt was sold. Farouk owned many "patterns" from other countries that were made specifically for him, so it is highly likely that the 1883 and 1884 "patterns" with italic 8's in the date were made for him at the time he collected.

indentOne Hapalua with italic 8's in the date is known struck over an 1880 Quarter Dollar. The reverse legend "UA MAU KE EA O KA AINA I KA PONO" means "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness."

indentThere are other overstrikes known as well on Hawaiian coinage.

Iceland

indentAs of the time of this writing, the 1000 Kroner proof coin featured with the U.S. 2000 Leif Ericson Commemorative silver dollar was the last foreign coin produced by the U.S. Mint. No U.S. mint marks are present on the 1000 Kroner proof coins.

Korea (South)

indentCoins minted for Korea were dated to the Korean calendar. Coins issued in 1959 are dated 4292 and coins issued in 1961 are dated 4294. No U.S. mint marks appear on Korean coins.

Mexico

indentAll coins that were manufactured by the U.S. Mint bear the mint mark for the Mexico City Mint where the coinage dies were manufactured and prepared. The New Orleans Mint made its only foreign coinage production run for Mexico by minting over five million 1907 twenty Centavo pieces. Identical coinage runs for most issues manufactured by the U.S. Mint were also produced in the Mexico City Mint in tandem with the U.S. manufactured issues.

indentThe San Francisco Mint in 1949 produced an 1898 dated 1 Peso restrike originally minted in the Mexico City Mint composing of 90.27% silver and 9.73% copper. The original Mexico City Mint issue has 139 denticles on the reverse border while the U.S. made San Francisco Mint restrike has only 131 denticles on the reverse border.

Panama

indentNo U.S. mint marks are present on the coins struck for Panama. Some of the coins struck for Panama are on planchets identical to U.S. coinage of the time in weight, diameter and composition.

Peru

indentU.S. mint marks appear only on Peruvian coinage made at the San Francisco Mint. The "S" for San Francisco is located under the letters "T" and "A" in the word "Centavos" on the reverse of the coin for the brass composite five, ten, and twenty Centavos coined between 1942 and 1943. On the Half Sol a "S" for the San Francisco mint is located on the obverse at the bottom, under the coat of arms. Additionally, the U.S. Mint produced blank coinage planchets for the silver one Sol, gold one Libra, and gold one-fifth Libra from 1916 to 1919.

El Salvador

indentThe 1928-S One centavo is the only coin minted by the U.S. Mint for El Salvador that carries a U.S. mint mark.

Saudi Arabia

indentAll coins made for Saudi Arabia are dated with Arabic script. The Islamic date of 1356 was used on copper coinage and the Islamic date of 1354 was used on silver coinage.

indentFrom 1945 to 1947 the U.S. Government had the Philadelphia Mint create two distinct sizes of gold weights or "discs". At the time of their creation there was quite a bit of speculation as to what the purpose of these discs were for. One theory was that the discs were created for the Arabian American Oil Company in order to pay the Saudi Arabian Government in gold for oil supplies during World War II.

indentAn official explanation offered in 1956 by the Director of the Mint was that the discs were made to furnish the Saudi Arabian Government with gold bullion in the weight that the Saudi Arabian Government had requested. The Director of the Mint also explained that any gold bullion cast by the US Mint or any U.S. Assay Offices is customarily marked with its gold content and the eagle hallmark design of the U.S. Mints and Assay offices. Furthermore, the Director of the Mint stated that the U.S. Treasury Department considered the discs to be gold bullion and not coinage, and as such, were not authorized to be imported or held in the United States under the 1934 Gold Reserve Act.

indentInterestingly enough, some of the pieces were actually used as currency for a few years. Many of the gold discs were latter melted in 1951 as material for a latter Saudi Arabian gold piece. Most of the larger discs were sold as bullion over the years. Between 1949 and 1950 unopened crates of these pieces were dispatched to the bullion markets of Bombay, India and sold on the open market.

Syria

indentSyrian coins made by the U.S. Mint have two dates, one using the standard calendar and one using the Islamic calendar, written in Arabic script.

Thailand (Siam)

indentThe one Satang dated 2461 (Siamese/Thai Calendar) and produced in 1918 became the first massed produced coin by the U.S. Mint to feature a center hole. No U.S. mint marks are present on the coins.

Venezuela

indentVenezuela was the first official foreign coinage client for the U.S. Mint. The 1 Centavo and 2½ Centavo coins made of a copper-nickel alloy were produced in the Philadelphia Mint in 1876 and 1877. The U.S. Mint did not save exact alloy composition details on these coins. The U.S. Mint also did not record an exact breakdown by year of the mintage when they appeared in the 1877 Director of the Mint report.

indentCoinage manufactured for Venezuela by the U.S. Mint from 1876 until 1948 was inscribed "ESTADOS UNIDOS DE VENEZUELA".

indentCoinage after 1954 was inscribed "REPUBLICA DE VENEZUELA".

Planchet Suppliers to the U.S. Mint For Business Strike Issues

indentThe U.S. Mint, while having its own metallurgical plant to produce blanks for its minting purposes over the years, had several suppliers of planchets to supplement its production. Most notable is the Waterbury Mint with whom the U.S. Mint had a very long term relationship. Planchets for precious metal bullion coinage is currently provided by several of the firms that supply bullion rounds to collectors and investors with metals obtained from the former silver strategic stockpile (currently depleted as of the publishing of this article) or the open market as in the case of platinum coinage.

  • Olin: As the longest continuous supplier of metal to the US Mint, Olin Brass' Posit-Bond® clad metal is used in quarters, dimes and half dollars. In 1999, Olin Brass developed the unique alloy that the US Mint uses for the Sacajawea "Golden Dollar" coins
  • Sherritt Gordon/Westaim, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, No longer produces coinage blanks. Blanks made by Westaim were provided by the Canadian mint to the US Mint during the production ramp up in 1998 and 1999 in anticipation of monetary shortages due to the Y2K event and the introduction of the new one dollar coin.
  • PMX Industries is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, it is a wholly owned division of Poongsan Corporation of Korea since November 1998, and has supplied almost half of the coinage strips used by the U.S. Mint since 1992. Tel: (319) 368-7700 Fax: (319) 368-7720, 5300 Willow, Creek Drive S.W., Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404, U.S.A www.ipmx.com
The Providence Mint

indentProvidence Mint, Gorham Manufacturing Company was founded 1818 by Jabez Gorham to produce jewelry items. Coinage did not start until the 1890's. This independent mint minted coins for Cuba from 1897 to 1898 and produced coinage for Ecuador in 1919 and Serbia in 1917.

indentCuban Souvenir Peso (Y1, KM-M1), 1897, 90% silver, 10% copper, 10,000 pieces. The issue contains three distinct varieties and was struck in two separate locations. An unknown number of proofs exist for this date:

  • Variety 1: High relief, 858 pieces, 30 pieces were determined to be defective and subsequently destroyed. Coins were struck at the Dunn Air Brake Company, Philadelphia, PA. with dies manufactured and prepared by the Gorham company. Inscribed "PAT 97" at the base of the neck. Numerals of the date are widely spaced.
  • Variety 2: Low Relief, 4,286 pieces struck at the Providence Mint. Star right of "97" on the obverse is below the base line of the date. There is a letter "H" on the bottom right in the shield, on the reverse of the coin. No initials in the base of the neck. Numerals of the date are closely spaced.
  • Variety 3: Normal or Mid-Level relief, 4,856 pieces struck at the Providence mint. Star right of "97" on the obverse is above the base line of the date. There is no letter "H" on the bottom right in the shield. The stem of the "R" in the word "souvenir" is shorter than the stem of the "R" in the other two varieties.

indentCuban Souvenir Peso (Y2), 1898, 90% silver, 10% copper, 1,000 pieces. Unknown number of proofs exists for this date.

indentThe Providence Mint also struck a large silver piece in connection with "William Jennings Bryan's Free Silver" presidential campaign of 1896.

A partial registry of known US Coins on foreign planchets

indentSince the early days of the error coin-collecting hobby, error collectors always feared seizure of their numismatic errors by the US Secret Service. Nevertheless, interesting and intriguing errors have still surfaced. Once the domain of a closed group of collectors, these U.S. coins on foreign planchet errors shed light as to how quality control at the Mint was conducted over the years. The Mint could use millions of planchets of similar size yet different compositions in a given year which led to blanks being mixed.

indentNew discoveries will surface each year as old collections turn over and newer generations of numismatists grow more sophisticated in their classification and research of such coins.

(Year, Denomination and certifying agency, if available or known)


  • 1876 Philadelphia minted 10 million 1 centavo, 2 million 2.5 centavos resulting in an 1877 1 Cent on a Venezuela 1 Centavo planchet 2.3 grams/19mm certified by NGC. The planchets for the Venezuela 1 Centavo were manufactured by the Waterbury Mint, Waterbury, Connecticut, under contract from the U.S. Mint. (Numismatic News 24-DEC-2002)
  • 1884 Liberty Nickel On Wrong Planchet ANACS
  • 1888 Liberty Nickel On Foreign Planchet ANACS
  • 1890 P1971/J1758 Indian Head Cent On Foreign Planchet
  • 1900 Nickel Struck on Nicaragua 5 Centimos Planchet
  • 1904 Liberty Nickel Struck on Foreign Planchet NGC (weight is 2.7 grams)
  • 1905 Liberty Nickel Struck on Haiti 5-Cent Planchet ANACS
  • 1905 Liberty Nickel Struck on Haiti 5-Cent Planchet PCGS
  • 1905 Liberty Nickel 2.77 grams NGC
  • 1915 Lincoln Cent Struck on Full-Size Nickel Planchet (75/25 Cu-Ni) PCGS. One of two known authenticated and certified Lincoln Cent off-metals prior to
  • 1916. It was recently featured in a front page Coin World article and described as a possible Mint Experiment Test Piece. This was struck on a full-size planchet of Nickel composition. Pollock lists as #2028, "Nickel. Plain edge. Unique?" It is also listed in Judd as being a Mint Error. This is the same alloy that was used to strike the Buffalo Nickels during this time period. To view a unique 1920 Buffalo Nickel struck on a full-size copper planchet, authenticated and certified by NGC, click here. This 1915 Lincoln Cent is on a full-size planchet as the rims are full and sharp. If it was struck on a foreign planchet, there would be weakness in the rims.
  • 1920-P Cent struck on an Argentine 10-Centavo planchet.
  • 1943 off-metal Cent authenticated as genuine, but it is not copper. It is somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 percent silver, 30 percent copper. Weight is 57.6 grains [3.752 grams] as compared to 48 for normal US copper Cent and around 42 for steel. Walter Breen authenticated it. After analysis by Mort Goodman, it was identified as being struck on a planchet intended for the 25-Centsukken piece for Netherlands Guiana. According to the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1944, the Mint supplied 1 million coins to Curacao and 6 million coins to Surinam (Netherlands Guiana) during the 1943 calendar year.
  • 1944 the Philadelphia Mint produced 25 million Belgium 2 Franc coins from the same blanks as the 1943 zinc-coated steel Cents. 40+ steel 1944 Cents have been reported. (Coins, March, 1994, p. 34f / related story in Coin World, 1/31/94, p3)
  • 1945-S Walking Liberty Half Struck On An El Salvador 25 Centavo Planchet NGC MS 63 This is the only known Walking Liberty Half Dollar struck on a Foreign Planchet for another country. It is on a planchet that was produced for the El Salvador Silver 25 Centavo. The 25 Centavo was struck for only two years, 1943 and 1944. Since this Walking Liberty Half Off-Metal is dated 1945, it is on a left-over planchet that was stuck in the bin or hopper from the previous year or the coin was minted in late 1944 as the Mint was gearing up for the next year's production.
  • 1944`P' Struck on a heavy planchet. Brilliant Uncirculated. 5.96 grams. At nearly 20% over the official weight for a Silver War Nickel, this coin was clearly struck on wrong planchet stock. Although this Nickel has the luster and color of a Silver War Nickel, it is possible that this piece was struck on a planchet intended for a foreign coin struck at the Philadelphia Mint, but no such corresponding coin can be found in Steiner and Zimpfer for this time period.
  • 1944 Cent thick planchet specimen (Pollack #2078) is more likely a mint error struck on a foreign planchet or on incorrectly rolled stock
  • 1945 Cent Struck on Netherlands East Cent Planchet 2.32 grams (35.8 grains), 18.0mm
  • 1945-S Half Dollar on an El Salvador 25 Centavo planchet NGC
  • 1951 Roosevelt Dime struck on a 1951 Costa Rica 5 Centimos, double denomination, authenticated by ANACS. Roosevelt Dime off-metal strikes are rare due to the fact that the coin or planchet has to be smaller than the Dime blank. There are only a few Dime off-metals known. This piece was struck on a previously struck 1951 Costa Rica 5 Centimos. The Costa Rica coin has a weight of 15.43 grains and is composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel. These coins were only struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1951 and 1952, although they are all dated 1951.
  • 1956 Roosevelt Dime Struck on a Struck Copper 1956 Honduras 1 Centavo ANACS Brown
  • 1967 NGC Cent struck on 5-Cent thickness. Weighs 3.8 grams
  • 1968-S Cent Struck on a Philippine 5 Centavos Planchet (Brass 60%, Cu Zinc 40%)
  • 1968-S Proof Kennedy Half Struck on a Philippine 50 Centavos Planchet ANACS
  • 1970 10c ANACS struck on aluminum scrap (cut in half). It may be struck on a Nepal Paisa planchet.
  • 1972-D Lincoln Cent PCGS MS-60 Struck on a Philippine 5 Sentimos planchet (brass)
  • 1972-D Quarter Dollar PCI EF40 on an unidentified planchet
  • 1972-S PROOF 25c struck on an already Japanese 10 Yen. A proof double denomination on a foreign struck coin, Only 1 known PCGS. The US has never officially minted any coins for Japan.
  • 1972-D Eisenhower 1 Dollar struck on a 1 Piso (Philippines) planchet - ANACS
  • 1972-D IKE Dollar Struck on Philippine 1 Piso Planchet ANACS
  • 1973-D Nickel struck on a Philippine 5 Centavo planchet ICG
  • 1974-D IKE Dollar Struck on Philippine 1 Piso Planchet ANACS, PCGS
  • 1974-D IKE Dollar Struck on Phil 1 Piso Planchet ANACS
  • 1982-P Lincoln Cent was struck on an unidentified planchet
  • 1982 Panama ½ Balboa Struck on 1971 Kennedy Half Dollar ANACS MS 63 This is a double denomination involving two different countries and 11 years between the two strikes
  • 1982 Panama ½ Balboa Struck on 1972 Kennedy Half Dollar ANACS MS 63 This is a double denomination involving two different countries and 10 years between the two strikes
  • 1982 Panama ½ Balboa Struck on 1976 Kennedy Half Dollar ANACS MS 63 This is a double denomination involving two different countries and 6 years between the two strikes
  • 1991 Proof Cent Thick Planchet ANACS weighs 3.8 grams and is thicker then a Nickel. It may have been punched out of Copper-Zinc Cent stock, of Nickel thickness, or it may be an unidentified foreign planchet
  • 1997-D Cent struck on a Foreign Planchet NGC
  • 1998-P Lincoln Cent PCGS MS-65RD struck on a Foreign Copper blank. (Weight: 1.7 Grams.)
  • 1998 Malaysian Sen/Singapore Cent planchets were mixed in with a delivery of raw planchets to the Mint
  • 2000-D 1c struck on a Foreign Planchet NGC 1.68 gr. same composition, smaller planchet
  • 2000-D Sacagawea Dollars on outer ring intended for Canadian, bi-metallic coin
  • 2000-D Cent NGC 1.7 grams
  • 2000-D Sacagawea Dollar PCGS Struck on a Ghana 100 Cedis Ringed Planchet. The Ghana Blank is from a Bi-Metallic coin.
A partial registry of known foreign coins struck on US Planchets

indentWhile most collectors will focus on the U.S. Mint produced foreign coinage issues and U.S. coins struck on foreign planchets, to fully explore this subject we also need to examine the flip-side of this coinage equation. How often did foreign coinage runs get contaminated with U.S. planchets? Some foreign issues contained compatible U.S. standard planchets with similar metallurgical composition, weight and diameter such as the 1944 Belgium Steel two Francs piece that was struck on surplus 1943 zinc coated steel war cent planchets. It was impossible to differentiate between these two types of planchets. Other U.S. minted foreign issues contained totally different specifications. One can only wonder how they slipped through the inspection process of not only the U.S. Mint, but the inspector of the client country for whom the pieces were destined.

indentIn June of 2000, a Harmony Millennium commemorative twenty-five Cent piece was found struck on a Type I Planchet intended for a U.S. Five Cent piece. This particular piece is very interesting because it was not made in the US Mint but in the Royal Canadian Mint. A true foreigner! The U.S. planchet was made at, or for, the Royal Canadian Mint. The Royal Canadian Mint in 1999 and 2000 supplied planchets for 5c pieces and Sacagawea Dollars to be sold to collectors by the U.S. Mint and to assist and alleviate the production constraints caused by the introduction of the new Sacagawea Dollar in 2000. In addition to this discovery, a Canadian 2000 Elizabeth II 50 Cent piece was found struck on a U.S. One Dollar Sacagawea planchet.

Australia
  • Australia 1943-S Six-Pence on a U.S. steel Cent planchet ANACS
  • Australia 1943-S 1 Florin struck on a U.S. Nickel planchet
Belgium

indentBelgium, 1944 Produced from the same blanks as the U.S. 1943 zinc-coated steel cents. While sharing the same exact planchet as the U.S. 1943 zinc-coated steel cents this was an intentional decision and not a minting accident.

Brazil
  • Brazil 1961 20 Centavos struck on U.S. Cent planchet
  • Brazil wrong planchet 1967 10 Centavos struck on a U.S. Cent planchet
  • Brazil wrong planchet 1967 20 Centavos struck on a U.S. Cent planchet
Canada
  • Canada 1968 Dime struck on a U.S. Dime planchet
  • Canada 1969 Dime struck on a U.S. Dime planchet
  • Canada Elizabeth II 50 Cent 2000, Struck on an U.S. Sacagawea $1 planchet PCGS
  • Canada 2000 June - Harmony Millennium commemorative twenty-five Cent piece struck on a Type I Planchet intended for a U.S. Five Cent Coin, 5 Grams composed of Cupro Nickel.
Liberia
  • Liberia 1972 5 Cent(s) on a U.S. Cent blank.
  • Liberia 1974 25 Cent(s) on a U.S. Cent planchet proof coin KM-16a
  • Liberia 1974 5 Cent(s) Struck on a U.S. Cent planchet.
Panama
  • Panama 1966 ½ Balboa on a U.S. or Panama 5c blank
  • Panama 1966 ½ Balboa on a U.S. or Panama 10c blank 35.0 grains
  • Panama 1967 ½ Balboa on a U.S. or Panama 25c blank
  • Panama 1967 ¼ Balboa on a U.S. or Panama 5c blank 77.1 grains
  • Panama 1967 ¼ Balboa on a U.S. or Panama 10c blank.35.0 grains
  • Panama 1968 ¼ Balboa on a U.S. 5c blank
  • Panama 1968 ¼ Balboa struck on U.S. Nickel planchet ANACS
  • 1982 Panama ½ Balboa Struck on 1971 Kennedy Half ANACS. This is a double denomination involving two different countries and 11 years between the two strikes.
  • 1982 Panama ½ Balboa Struck on 1972 Kennedy Half ANACS. This is a double denomination involving two different countries and 10 years between the two strikes.
  • 1982 Panama ½ Balboa Struck on 1976 Kennedy Half ANACS. This is a double denomination involving two different countries and 6 years between the two strikes.
  • 1982 Panama ½ Balboa struck on a struck United States Bicentennial 1776/1976 Half Dollar.
Philippines
  • Philippines 1937M 10 Centavo(s) Struck in Aluminum
  • Philippines 1944D 20 Centavo(s) Struck on 10 Centavo planchet
  • Philippines 1944S 50 Centavo(s) Struck on a U.S. 25c planchet
  • Philippines 1945 20 Centavo(s) struck on a 10 Centavo planchet
  • Philippines 1945 ca 5 Centavo(s) struck on a U.S. silver Dime planchet
  • Philippines 1945S 50 Centavo(s) Struck on a 20c planchet
  • Philippines 1962 5 Centavo(s) on a U.S. Cent blank
  • Philippines 1966 5 Centavo(s) on a U.S. Cent blank
  • Philippines 1967-1975 50 Sentimo(s) on a U.S. Cent blank
  • Philippines 1967-1975 50 Sentimo(s) struck on a U.S. Cent planchet
  • Philippines 1969 25 Sentimo(s) on a U.S. Cent blank
  • Philippines 1970 25 Sentimo(s) on a U.S. Nickel blank
  • Philippines 1970 5 Sentimo(s) on a U.S. Cent planchet
  • Philippines 1970 5 Sentimo(s) on a U.S. clad Dime planchet
  • Philippines 1971 25 Sentimo(s) struck on a U.S. Cent planchet
  • Philippines 1972 1 Piso under size clad planchet intended for a U.S. 5c
  • Philippines 1972 1 Piso struck on a blank Kennedy Half Dollar
  • Philippines 1972 25 Centavo(s) on a U.S. copper planchet. Made at SF Mint
  • Philippines 1972 25 Centavo(s) on a U.S. 1¢ planchet
  • Philippines 1972-1974 1 Piso struck on an under size clad planchet, perhaps intended for a U.S. Quarter
  • Philippines 1972-1974 1 Piso struck on a U.S. 25c planchet
  • Philippines 1974 10 Sentimo(s) struck on a U.S. clad Dime planchet
  • Philippines 1974 25 Sentimo(s) struck on a U.S. Cent planchet

indentClick here for a more expansive document detailing mintages of foreign coinage struck by the US Mint.

Reference

  • Steiner and Zimpfer published a 1974 book entitled Foreign Coins Struck at Mints in the United States
  • Domestic and Foreign Coins Manufactured by Mints of the United States 1792-1965
  • Domestic and Foreign Coins Manufactured by Mints of the United States 1793-1973
  • Domestic and Foreign Coins Manufactured by Mints of the United States 1793-1976
  • Domestic and Foreign Coins Manufactured by Mints of the United States 1793-1980, by the Department of the Treasury/Bureau of the Mint and issued by the Government Printing Office Washington in 1981. Government Doc no: T28:2/:C 66/9/793-976
  • Foreign Coins Struck at United States Mints. By Charles G. Altz & K.H. Barton. 1964. Whitman Publishing Company, Racine Wisconsin
  • Scheerer, Harry W., Mint manufactured foreign coins., 2nd ed. 1996
US Treasury - Fact Sheet on the Manufacturing Process of US Coins

Numismática Ecuatoriana

Will U.S. Mint Once Again Produce Coins For Other Countries?

Foreign Coins Struck by the Royal Canadian Mint - United States of America



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