It's hard to find Philadelphia struck coins in Colorado

[JC Stevens]

On another thread BJ noted “ Trails are found on a 2014(P). It started me thinking again about how few (P) cents we see out West “ Colorado”. In the last 2 boxes I searched there were just over 400 2013’s and only 2 were P’s the rest were struck in Denver. Dates 2003 are about 90% Denver. Dates in the early 90’s are about 80% Denver.
So when you search boxes back east are the newer coins all from the Philadelphia mint?

[furryfrog02]

I live about 2hrs south of Philly in Maryland. I would say that my boxes are 80-90% "P". The further you go back in years, the more "D"s show up. Just takes them time to make the trip out here. I'm not complaining though since most of the major varieties seem to be from Philly

[Maineman750]

Yes...and that is why some of our members exchange boxes from coast to coast.

[BadThad]

And it's basically the opposite for me in the Midwest, I don't see many D or S mint coins in boxes. When I do see them, they are usually pretty worn.

[admrose]

I wonder...do the folks on the west coast find a lot of the '68 thru '74 San Fran issues?

[Jacob]

Speaking of Philadelphia and Denver mints. I find it odd I find more 59-64 and 68-69 Denver than Philadelphia coins. Ive been saving copper cents lately upto 45 dollars put away and the ratio is 1 out of every 5 was a Philly for them years.

[GrumpyEd]

I wonder...do the folks on the west coast find a lot of the '68 thru '74 San Fran issues?

Yes, I find a few 68-74 S mints in every box.

The Ps are scarce.
Out of all the cents I get in change (ignoring rolls/boxes I get to search) I've only seen one 2013-P in my normal change and we're already into 2014. When searching, I'm happy to see any P mints. As years pass they do mix better, out of 1980s cents I do see some P mints. The migration is slow.

In the past I've traded and bought east coast boxes to get P mints, the D mints have less chance of finding the nice doubled dies.

[learningnumismatist]

I rarely see San Francisco minted coins.I got kinda lucky with a small bucket of unsearched wheats in that aspect.

[ledger35]

It's no different than the fact that we don't find many Denver Mint coins this side of the Mississippi.

[JC Stevens]

I rarely see San Francisco minted coins.I got kinda lucky with a small bucket of unsearched wheats in that aspect.

I think starting in 1975 SF minted coins were for set and proofs. Not very many are in circulation.

[admrose]

I think starting in 1975 SF minted coins were for set and proofs. Not very many are in circulation.

Nailed it. While the 1968 - 1974 "S" cents were for general circulation, they were still minted at a 1:6 ratio compared to Philly and Denver issues.