The United States Mint will release the 2009 Zachary Taylor $1 Coin Cover tomorrow December 30, 2009 at 12:00 Noon ET. This will represent the final release of the year for the American Presidency $1 Coin Cover series.

The cover will include two Zachary Taylor Presidential Dollars from the first day of production at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. The coins are mounted on an illustrated display card with a 44-cent Flag postage stamp. The postmark will be November 19, 2009, Louisville, KY to mark the circulation release date for the coins.

The covers are priced at $14.95 each with a production limit of 40,000. The US Mint product page can be found here.

Sales of the Presidential Dollar Coin Covers have shown a general decline since the first releases of 2007. That year, the US Mint sold a high of 50,000 for the George Washington cover and a low of 44,466 for the James Madison cover. For 2008, the high was 36,138 for the James Madison cover and the low was 25,476 for the Martin Van Buren cover.

All of the previously released 2009 Presidential Dollar coin covers are still available for sale at the US Mint. The last reported sales figures are 26,983 for William Henry Harrison, 23,679 for John Tyler, and 21,492 for James K. Polk.

In the past week or so, there have been changes to the status of several US Mint products. This includes some which have sold out and others which have returned from previous "sold out" status. This post will provide a recap of these products.

2009 Lincoln Cent Proof Set

As briefly mentioned at the end of a post last week, the 2009 Lincoln Cent Proof Set (LN2) sold out around December 21, 2009. This product contains the four different 2009 Lincoln Cents, in proof version. These coins are struck in a special composition of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc that was used for the first Lincoln Cents issued in 1909.

The sets were announced by the United States Mint in August, after the full 2009 Proof Set containing the cents had already gone on sale. By that time, countless proof sets had already been broken up in order to sell the four 2009 Lincoln Proof Sets separately.

The new offering included the single lens containing the four 2009 Lincoln Cents in a newly designed box. The sets were offered for sale at $7.95 with an ordering limit of 5 sets per household that remained in place for the duration of the offering.

The last reported sales for the set was 201,107. Following the sell out, the prices of the US Mint packaged set have risen to around $15-$16 each. Here are the current eBay auctions.

2009 Kennedy Half Two Roll Set

The 2009 Kennedy Half Dollar Two Roll Sets sold out on December 24, 2009. This product, along with the 200-coin bags, went on sale January 22, 2009.

Starting in 2002, the US Mint no longer produced Kennedy Half Dollars for release into circulation. They did continue to produce a limited mintage of the coins for sale directly to collectors in numismatic bags and rolls, priced at a premium above the face value. The mintages of Kennedy Halves has remained low since this date.

Early in 2009, the US Mint had produced 1.7 million coins at each the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. When supplies started to dwindle, they produced an additional 200,000 coins per facility in September and October. The final mintage of 1.9 million coins each comes in above the mintage low set last year when 1.7 million coins were produced at each facility.

At the time of this post, the 200-coin bags still remain available for sale on the US Mint's website priced at $130.95.

Direct Ship Rolls

In another swift change to the US Mint's Direct Ship Program, the previously available 2009 Native American Dollars have been removed from sale and placed in the "Sold Out" section.

Direct Ship rolls previously listed in the "Sold Out" section have become available once again. The available coins include the Presidential Dollars for George Washington (2007), John Adams (2007), Thomas Jefferson (2007), James Madison (2007), Andrew Jackson (2008), and Martin Van Buren (2008). Each option is limited to a maximum order quantity of two $250 boxes.

Despite reports published in the mainstream press which indicated that the US Mint would record charges as cash advances, some Mint News Blog readers have reported that recent orders have come across as regular purchases. The US Mint does retain the messages about agreeing to comply with the intended purpose of the program. Perhaps this has been enough to curtail abuses of the program.

Sales of the briefly offered 2009 fractional Gold Eagle bullion coins have now concluded. The mintages for the 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, and 1/10 oz 2009 Gold Eagles have ended up on the high end, as measured by the total reported sales figures for each denomination.

Typically, the fractional weight Gold Eagles are available throughout the year. This year the situation was different, following a late 2008 announcement that the US Mint would focus production on one ounce Gold Eagles only and delay offering fractional weight versions until later in 2009. The first batch of fractional Gold Eagles was finally offered to authorized purchasers on December 3, 2009 with a second and final allocation available beginning on December 14, 2009.

After the December 3 debut, the US Mint had already recorded sales of 56,000 of the 1/2 ounce coins, 58,000 of the 1/4 ounce coins, and 260,000 of the 1/10 ounce coins. These numbers were already high enough to place each coin above the respective mintage lows for each bullion denomination.

The second batch of coins offered for sale have pushed the totals for the 1/2 and 1/4 ounce coins much higher, but only added slightly to the total for the 1/10 ounce coins. The final sales figures for the 2009 fractional Gold Eagles are shown below.

2009 Fractional Gold Eagle Sales
2009 1/2 oz. Gold Eagle	110,000
2009 1/4 oz. Gold Eagle	110,000
2009 1/10 oz. Gold Eagle	270,000

The total sales for the 1/2 oz coin actually place it as the fifth highest mintage for a 1/2 oz Gold Eagle bullion coin. The 1/4 oz. Gold Eagle ranks as the sixth highest for its denomination. Only the 1/10 oz coin ends up with a mintage which is below average.

For further comparison, in 2008, the US Mint had sold 50,000 1/2 oz coins, 58,000 1/4 oz coins, and 270,000 1/10 oz coins.

The rapid pace of sales for long suspended products that the US Mint briefly offered near the end of the year has been interesting to witness. Before I attributed this to pent up demand, but is the US Mint inadvertently creating greater demand by delaying products and then offering them for very limited time periods? This year's "flash offerings" of Gold Buffalo coins, fractional Gold Eagle bullion coins, and Platinum Eagle coins all generated greater sales than previous years when the products were available throughout the year.

On a final note, I wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to Mint News Blog readers! Thank you all for your readership and comments throughout the year.

Today on Coin Update News: 2010 Silver Eagle Availability

The United States Mint has released the final design selections for the 2010 First Spouse Gold Coins. Next year's coins will feature Abigail Fillmore, Jane Pierce, James Buchanan's Liberty, and Mary Todd Lincoln. The latter two coins are expected to draw broader collector interest.


The 2010 Abigail Fillmore First Spouse Gold Coin will feature her portrait on the obverse and a scene of her shelving books in the White House Library on the reverse. The obverse was designed and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill. The reverse was designed by Susan Gamble and sculpted by Joseph Menna. Other potential reverse designs had included a scene of Abigail Fillmore with famous White House guests such as Charles Dickens.


The 2010 Jane Pierce First Spouse Gold Coin features the First Lady's portrait on the obverse paired with a scene of her watching a Senate debate from the visitor's gallery. The obverse and reverse were designed by Donna Weaver. The obverse was sculpted by Don Everhart and the reverse was sculpted by Charles Vickers. Other potential reverse designs for the Jane Pierce coin had included a scene during a thunderstorm where the Pierces met in college and a scene of her reading a book on White House grounds.


The 2010 James Buchanan's Liberty Gold Coin will feature a reproduction of the Liberty Gold Quarter Eagle obverse, originally designed by Christian Gobrecht. This $2.50 gold coin had been produced from 1840 to 1907. The reverse design of the coin will feature an image of a young James Buchanan working as a bookkeeper in the family store. The reverse was designed by David Westwood and sculpted by Joseph Menna. Other potential reverse designs included an image of James Buchanan serving as the US minister to Russia, and Buchanan and his niece who served as the White House hostess.

The Buchanan's Liberty Gold Coin will represent the fourth and final issue in the "Liberty" subset of the First Spouse Gold Coin series. Many collectors have chosen to collect these coins, which reproduced classic US coin designs, in lieu of the entire series. The three other coins of the Liberty subset are Thomas Jefferson's Liberty (Draped Bust Half Cent), Andrew Jackson's Liberty (Capped Bust Lettered Edge Half Dollar), Martin Van Buren's Liberty (Liberty Seated Dime).


The 2010 Mary Todd Lincoln First Spouse Gold Coin will feature the First Lady's portrait on the obverse. The reverse depicts a scene of her visiting wounded Union soldiers, bringing flowers and books. The obverse was designed and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill. The reverse was designed by Joel Iskowitz and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill. Other potential reverse designs included an image of Mary Todd Lincoln and her husband greeting White House visitors and an image of her bandaging a wounded soldier, which was questioned for historical accuracy by a CCAC member.

The Mary Todd Lincoln coin is expected to draw increased interest since she is one of the better known First Ladies and the wife of President Abraham Lincoln. During 2010, the new design of the Lincoln Cent will debut and the 2010 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Dollar will be issued, creating a nice lead up to the release of the Mary Todd Lincoln coin in December 2010.

Before the end of the year, I wanted to take a post to review the status of the US Mint's core annual proof and mint set offerings. By core annual sets, I am referring to the 2009 Proof Set, 2009 Silver Proof Set, and 2009 Uncirculated Mint Set.

In past years, sometimes one of the US Mint's annual sets has sold out before the end of the year, catching collectors by surprise. Last year, the US Mint sold out of the 2008 Proof Set in mid-December. The unexpected nature of the sell out and a relatively low mintage combined to drive secondary market prices higher. This 2008 Proof Set still sells for more than double the original issue price.

The most recent sales for this year's core mint and proof set offerings are shown below, along with the date that sales began for each product. (You can view the full weekly sales report posted today on Coin Update News.)

Product	Sales Start	Sales to Date
2009 Proof Set	June 1, 2009	1,392,782
2009 Silver Proof Set	July 17, 2009	628,289
2009 Mint Set	October 1, 2009	657,322

For comparison here are the sales start dates, end dates, and final sales figures for the 2008 offerings.

Product	Sales Start	Sales End	Total Sales
2008 Proof Set	June 24, 2008	Dec 14, 2008	1,405,674
2008 Silver Proof Set	Aug 26, 2008	July 17, 2009	774,874
2008 Mint Set	July 30, 2008	Feb 25, 2009	745,464

Interestingly, the sales figures for the 2009 sets are still below the levels reached last year. Personally, I was expecting the 2009 annual sets to have higher mintages due to the inclusion of the 95% copper Lincoln Cents. The introduction of separate Lincoln products may have dampened the effect. If an early sell out occurs for any of the 2009 sets, there would be a strong case for higher prices. Personally, I prefer the regular clad version 2009 Proof Set and 2009 Mint Set.

At the time of writing this post, one of the single denomination proof sets has already sold out. The 2009 Lincoln Cent Proof Set, which contains the four 95% copper Proof 2009 Lincoln Cents, sold out today. The set originally went on sale August 26, 2009 priced at $7.95. The most recent sales report indicates that the US Mint sold 201,107 of the sets.