Mint News Blog

News, Information, and Commentary on US Mint Products

Monday, March 23, 2009

2009 Coin Production


The current economic situation has caused a slow down in commercial activity and brought many long hoarded coins back into circulation. As a result, production figures for new coins are down dramatically. It's a frequent observation that recessions produce key date coins, will this hold true for the current cycle?

The table below lists the 2009 coin production figures published by the US Mint for the first two months of the year. Some denominations have the separate designs split out (such as the quarters). In the past, once a figure had been posted for an individual design, this has represented the final production number. The figures for the static designs (and the Lincoln Cent which has not been separated by design) continue to increase as new months are reported.
2009 Coin Production (Jan 2009 - Feb 2009)

Philadelphia Denver
Lincoln Cent 194.40 M 342.40 M
Jefferson Nickel 23.04 M 30.24 M
Roosevelt Dime 67.50 M 41.50 M
District of Columbia Quarter 83.60 M 88.80 M
Puerto Rico Quarter 53.00 M 86.00 M
Kennedy Half 1.70 M 1.70 M
Native American Dollar 7.28 M 0.70 M
William Henry Harrison Dollar 43.26 M 55.16 M

While the numbers are uniformly low, there are a few figures that are of particular interest. The Lincoln Cent figure might represent a comparatively huge decline from prior years. Last year, each Mint produced more than 2.5 billion cents. If the figures above represent the total production for the "Birth and Early Childhood" design, this would be just a fraction of the usual cent mintage. Availability of the 2009 Lincoln Cent continues to be sporadic, except for the US Mint offering, which already pegs the value at $4.50 per roll.

The Jefferson Nickel and Roosevelt Dime figures will be figures to watch as we move further into the year. If the numbers above are annualized, the final mintages will have a drop of about 50% from the prior year levels. More importantly, I think these two denominations are much less likely to be saved by collectors since they are overshadowed by this year's quarters and pennies. The availability of BU circulation strikes for this year might eventually be very limited.

The figures for the first two quarters from the District of Columbia & US Territories Quarters Program represent a sharp drop from the production figures for the prior State Quarters series. Last year, each mint produced roughly 200 - 250 million of each quarter. The lowest mintage for the entire State Quarters series was the Oklahoma Quarter with 194.6 Million. The figures above indicate that the 2009-D Puerto Rico Quarter has a production of only 53 million. A circulating quarter has not had a mintage this low since 1962.

One thing to note about the figures. They seem to represent coin production for coins minted during 2009. It's possible that the US Mint produced 2009-dated coins during December 2008, which may be included in the prior year numbers. This is particularly evident for the Native American Dollars figure- the prior year figure experienced a huge jump in December, which seems to be attributable to 2009 Native American Dollars produced rather than an extra run of 2008 Sacagawea Dollars. For this reason, some of the production figures might not translate directly into the final mintages.

Nevertheless, there will most likely be some very low mintage 2009 coins when all is said and done. It won't be easy, but if you can acquire fresh rolls of 2009 coins from your bank at face value and put them away, I think you will be rewarded down the road.

I will follow up on the 2009 coin production situation as we move through the year, but you can also track the numbers directly on the US Mint's website here.

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10 Comments:

At March 23, 2009 at 11:43 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was just wondering about the mint offered Harrison Presidential P rolls. Why they have sold out, how many were sold, why 1 roll sold for $281 on E-Bay (plus $5 shipping) & why others aren't listed.

 
At March 23, 2009 at 5:32 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Since the Mint is supposed to maintain a 1 in 5 mix of Native American dollars to Presidential dollars, the Mint will have to significantly ramp up Native American production or significantly curtail Presidential production, barring the suggested December 2008 production numbers.

Interesting to see the continued extreme E-Bay prices for the new Lincolns. NGC has updated their pops for the coins, and they now show slightly over 4,600 coins graded as First Day, most of those in MS-66. If PCGS pops are similar, then a lot of people are overpaying for those coins.

 
At March 23, 2009 at 7:26 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dude is right, P-mint Harrison dollar rolls are gone from the mint website. wtf?

 
At March 23, 2009 at 8:34 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Re: why 1 roll sold for $281 on E-Bay (plus $5 shipping)

Because: "A fool and his money are soon parted."

That's about the only explanation for such behavior. This is the same thing that makes some people pay $20 and more for a single roll of 50 Lincoln birth place cents when they can get two rolls directly from the US Mint for $8.95. Why wouldn't a person choose to get two rolls from the Mint for far less than one roll on eBay? This is not logical behavior by any means.

 
At March 25, 2009 at 5:49 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Since the Mint is struggling to produce as much as they can and seem overwhelmed with the various items they must Mint, perhaps they dropped the Harrison P's on a temporary basis. Maybe. Hopefully they will come back even for a short time. Hard to believe since they are not freely floating around in circulation, and have an almost 45 mil production, they would pull them for sale and allow them to sit in warehouses. Maybe.

 
At March 25, 2009 at 1:36 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

My opinion...

the mint is worried about making up too much worthless change when the hyperinflation hits from all the trillions of dollars being printed from thin air. They know that the small change will become worthless and don't want to be left holding the bag (so to speak)

 
At March 26, 2009 at 8:05 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Harrison rolls of P & D are NOT sold out as of 11p.m. ,Thursday 3/26, N.Y. time. I just ordered 1 roll of each Harrison on the Mint website. It does appears\ that Lincoln unc $1 are sold out, and those Lincoln cent rolls. - Breezy

 
At March 27, 2009 at 11:58 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

About the Presidential dollar offerings: as we get into the time period of lesser known or less popular Presidents, it would seem safe to think that the Mint will produce smaller and smaller quantities due to lack of interest, use, and availablity.

IMO, these are the items to buy for investment trading. They will be in shorter supply and anyone wishing to complete a full set will need to pay up for missing issues. Popular presidents will certainly languish unwanted.

 
At March 29, 2009 at 2:52 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

New mint figures for the 2009 UHR ? Delivery was 5/24it appears the next batch will be 6/24 or the 5/24 has been pushed back.

 
At March 30, 2009 at 11:09 AM , Blogger Mint News Blog said...

The latest sales figures for the UHR show 55,513 coins sold.

 

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