Coin Mintage what do the figures in Renniks & McDonald's mean

[castlesw]

Hi,

can someone explain if there is any correlation between figures published in the R.A.M annual reports for coin production and  coin purchased with the figures that appear in Rennik's and McDonald's.

The annual reports do not seem to clearly indicate how many of each year have been purchased ( released into circulation ) . It says how much has been purchased but not what date those coins purchased had.

Any information would be greatly appreciated

[numismatichemist]

Converting the reported statistics into actual mintage figures is always tricky, as it isn't always clear which designs and dates are being referred to. Further, to work out total mintage for the calendar year, you have to work out the half-yearly figures from the two financial year reports that include that calendar year.

[castlesw]

Tricky is a good word. It would appear to me that unless these publications are provided with more detailed information than appears in the actual annual reports then the figures they publish are more guesses or estimates rather than accurate substantiated figures. A case in point is the varying mintage estimates for the 1993 50 cent piece which now appears to be a lot lower than originally reported. McDonald's has a note from Wayne Roberts suggesting the lower figure - based on what? I don't know