Sales Ending for 2009 Annual Sets and 2009 Lincoln Cents
On June 15, 2010, the United States Mint will end sales of the 2009 Proof Set, 2009 Silver Proof Set, 2009 Uncirculated Mint Set, and the 2009 Lincoln Cent Two Roll Sets for the "Professional Life" and "Presidency" designs. The impending close of sales has been known since mid-May, when a "Last Opportunity" section was added to the US Mint's website.
The 2009 Proof Sets and Mint Set each contain the four different 2009 Lincoln Cents struck in a special composition of 95% copper, rather than the standard predominantly zinc composition. In the future, this may help the sets hold distinction and elevated demand.
As it stands, the last reported sales figures for the 2009 annual sets are above the levels of last year's sets with the exception of the Silver Proof Set. The tables below show the sales start date, sales end date, and total sales for each set for 2009 and 2008.
| Product | Sales Start | Sales End | Sales To Date |
| 2009 Proof Set | June 1, 2009 | June 15, 2010 | 1,475,264 |
| 2009 Silver Proof Set | July 17, 2009 | June 15, 2010 | 690,822 |
| 2009 Mint Set | Oct 1, 2009 | June 15, 2010 | 771,204 |
| 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 |
The 2008 Proof Set had sold out unexpectedly before the close of the year and ended up with the lowest total sales for a standard proof set since 1959. The sets began selling at a premium immediately after the early sell out. The 2009 Proof Set looks like it will have marginally higher total sales, but this will still be a low number on a historical basis. As mentioned, the higher mintage may be offset by the greater residual demand created by the included 2009 Lincoln Cents and the countless number of sets broken up to obtain the cents.
The 2009 Silver Proof Set is on track to have the lowest total sales for a silver proof set since 1998. After peaking at 1,175,934 with the 2004 Silver Proof Set, total sales have decreased steadily each year since then.
The 2008 Mint Set has enjoyed a large rise in price since it sold out. The sets seem to sell for $45 to $50, which is almost double the original issue price at the higher end of the range. Last year, before the 2008 Mint Set sold out, I mentioned it frequently as a potential winner. This year, I also like the prospects of the 2009 Mint Set. It was available for a shorter period of time compared to the other sets and will have relatively low final sales. Once again, the inclusion of special composition Lincoln Cents should add a permanent incremental source of demand. Of all the products going off-sale on June 15, I like the 2009 Mint Set the best.
Last but not least, sales of the 2009 Lincoln Cent Two Roll Sets will end on Tuesday. When initially announced, many collectors didn't like the fact that sets containing $1.00 face value worth of circulating coins were priced at $8.95 each. After the first set sold out in a few weeks and began selling at a big premium on the secondary market, more collectors started ordering the sets.The final two designs will fall between the first two designs in terms of total number of sets sold. The final sales or last reported sales are shown below.
| Sales To Date | |
| Birthplace | 96,000 |
| Formative Years | 300,000 |
| Professional Life | 291,534 |
| Presidency | 259,941 |
The final set for the "Presidency" design has better prospects than the "Professional Life" design because of the lower total sales and also the low mintages of the coins included. The 2009 P & D Presidency Lincoln Cents had a final mintages of 129,600,000 and 198,000,000, respectively. These represent the lowest mintages for circulation strike cents since 1955.
Labels: 2009 Lincoln Cents, Annual Sets
posted by Mint News Blog @ 3:24 AM
33 Comments:
Not sure if mintage numbers mean as much as other factors. Why does the 2000 silver proof sets still fetch such low premiums when mintage was not very high?
I have to agree with the 2009 mint set having a good potential of being in great demand in the future. Only in that set will anyone be able to get four satin finish brass pennies. For anyone in the future who wants to have a complete penny collection will have to have them. With so few being produced and sold there will be alot of collectors unable to obtain them.
For that matter anyone who will be trying to have a complete satin set from 2005 on will have to pay a premiun. I'm sure there will be those who will see the value of collecting the satin sets now.
I'm afraid all of these products will be secondary market dogs. It's all in PERCEPTION. Products that are just pulled off-sale on an arbitrary date do not have that perceived scarcity that the products that unexpectedly sell-out do, even if mintage numbers end up being virtually identical. It's the d*mndest thing I've ever seen!
I hear what the last poster is saying but I agree that the inclusion of the Lincoln pennies will bring about a premium to both the 2009 silver proof and mint sets. However, since the mint set is lower price, it may have more buyers than the silver proof set.
I will have to wait ten or twenty years to see the outcome of these opinions.
I'm not interested in the secondary market. I collect certain coins because I enjoy it. As a collector I think the satin coins will be in demand unless people stop collecting US coins.
I view the '09 Unc. Mint Set as the most historic and unique set since the switchover to the Memorial backs fifty years ago. I also believe that the '05 is almost as important on the cool scale with the Westward Journey nickels (OK I'm a sucker for any Old West sort of icons). The '10 set with the new reverse will also be a must. After '10 don't see much until '17 if the Kennedy halves survive and they do a 100th b-day reverse.
My 2 cents anyhow.
Jim L.
With all the proof sets and mint sets piled up on coin dealer tables at shows, and probably similar amounts in coin stores and part time dealers' stocks, I wonder how many people really collect them.
With the last poster. Was at a coin store last week, and he has boxes of mint sets. I mean big boxes full of these sets. He said most sell for half of what he paid for them, just a few years ago. A complete State quarter mint set collect has dropped by hundreds in less than two years.
A question for those of you who own the 2010 Silver proof quarter sets. I just received mine in the mail and I noticed that the Hot Springs reverse has a finish that I've never seen before. Rather than having a mirror-like finish, it has a kind of rippled appearance that is uniform throughout the entire background. Do any of you see this on yours?
I believe this "new" finish is laser etch tooling. It can be seen on the 2010 commems also. I actually prefer the original finish since it had a finer grainy appearance.
Yeah, the proof coins being made today look like crap, IMHO.
Sorry, I wasn't referring to the raised surfaces of the coin, but rather the background or field of the coin. I only see this on my Hot Springs quarter, not on the other quarters. All the other quarters have the smooth mirror-like finish to them.
My guess is they did that because there's so much field on that hot springs quarter. I noticed that right away back when I got my clad set.
The uncirculated Hot Springs quarters also have a grainy field on the reverse rather than a flat, mirror-like field. I think this is an intended part of the design
I believe that at least 25% of the proof sets and mint sets from 2009 were taken apart to obtain the 95% copper P&D cents as well as the satin finish nickels, dimes, halves and dollars. If someone has access to the PCGS & NGC population database they can quickly assess how many sets were broken-up by adding the number of coins that were graded as "SMS" or "Satin Finish". In addition to those graded coins, may unslabbed satin finish coins were sold on "ebay" or by coin shops and dealers, as well as individual collectors who took single coins from sets to add to their albums or display holders. As a collector I have split-open many mint sets over the years to obtain individual coins which can never be reassembled into their original sets.
The PCGS population report for 2009 Lincoln satin finish has not appeared yet on the main population report site. Sometimes it takes them a year or so to get the previous year's numbers up there.
However, if you have access to PCGS's CoinFacts, it does give (I assume real time) population reports for these coins.
In that case, they only have about 1000 or so that were graded (per design and mint mark).
Anybody have population reports for the other TPGs?
I would have thought that more than 1000 sets would have been given to PCGS by now.
The TV coin guys probably have put a good dent in slabbing these, but they usually give 'em to ICG or ANACS or somebody like that.
Anybody know how much PCGS-slabbed 2009 satin finish cents are going for?
Anyone know why the mint sets over the last several years have such declining sales figures?
All mint sets since 2003 (except for 2005) have sales figures less than 900,000 and sales figures for the last 2 years are less than 800,000. Last years sales figures were the lowest since 1963 and this years sales figures will be the 2nd lowest since then even though it's the largest set ever with the one year Lincoln cent designs.
CG
CG
My guess would be that outside of the '09 & '05 the others are judged as plain vanilla. Why the '08 does as well as it does (which is still not THAT great) is a mystery to me. Various comments over time have mentioned the cut-up of sets and its effect on the actual count of remaining intact sets. If you take a look at the stuff on Coin Shop, as one example, there is a lot cut-up. In future years the buyers insisting on intact Mint Sets may pay more in some cases than we would now imagine.
Jim L.
CG,
My guess is the economy may have effected recent mint sales. Specifically the sales of the 2009 mint set. I think that a lot of buyers - including coin dealers - have not had the extra funds to invest in recent mint sets, especially the 2009. I feel that demand will evemtually outpace the supply and the price of the 2009 Mint set will increase dramatically. Just my thoughts.
TMM
It might go up, but I doubt it would be very dramatic.
I think that part of the reason for the declining overall sales of Mint Sets the past few years is the beating that those who buy them from the Mint take on the secondary market. The 2005 and 2006 sets always lose money, and the 2007 loses money too if you sell online and have to pay fees to everyone. Only the 2008 makes the original buyers any money. The 2009 has both higher sales than the 2008 and also lacks the "perceived scarcity" factor due to the arbitrary end of sales by the Mint.
If only it had been declared "sold out" by the end of February. It would be fetching at least double issue price right now if it had!
My prediction is that after tomorrow, sales on eBay will still come in below Mint issue price until about the end of July, then start to pick up slightly in August. By Christmas, the sets MIGHT be able to make the original buyers about $8-$10 above issue price BEFORE paying the selling fees.
In other words, it could take a while to make any decent money on these.
Isn't this the last year of satin finish coins? I thought they were doing away with that so next year will have regular circulation strikes to deal with in theses sets.
According to the coin guys on TV last year was suppose to be the last year for any atin finish coins.
As Michael noted, sales figures for the silver proof sets have also been declining over the past several years. The sales of the separate silver quarter proof sets have also been declining.
The '09 6 piece silver quarter set is at about 292,000 and should sell out soon which would make it the lowest sales figure of any of these separate silver quarter sets and would mean there should be just under 1 million '09 silver quarters total. Each of these sets also has more silver intrinsic value as well to add to the numismatic value.
But whether these sets increase much in value remains to be seen.
CG
"Isn't this the last year of satin finish coins?"
Nope. The coin guys on tv had it wrong.
http://news.coinupdate.com/is-the-last-year-of-satin-finish-for-us-mint-uncirculated-coin-sets-0163/
Best investment for your money are the 2000 silver proof sets (not 2010).
Worst investment for your money (bought on today's aftermarket) are the '08 clad proof set.
I agree the '00 silver proof sets are a steal based on total mintage and what you get for your money.
I think the '08 clads will come down in price over time. I think the '10 clad sets and mint sets are great values, the silver set already has a high premium for the silver.
Anybody going to make any last-minute orders of the 2009 Mint Sets? I'm still trying to decide. Under 800,000 of the 95% copper pennies seems pretty small, but will anyone ultimately care down the road?
A scheduled end date usually brings down premiums. You also may find you get someone elses picked over returns. I usually order first day, so I'm waiting for '10 annual sets.
I'm in for a penny (no pun intended) in for a pound on these.
Yeah I picked up an extra box o' 5 unc sets and a coupla silver sets to go with my purchases earlier in the year. I've found that issues with special circumstances - in this case, the 95% copper pennies - generally do ok down the line. Combine that with the relatively low mintages of the 2010 sets (clads excepted) and these should increase in value over time.
What happens to all the unsold inventory?
Supposedly the Mint breaks down and destroys the unsold product. However, in the past they have "uncovered additional inventory" of products that had been declared "sold out" years before. Buyer beware, I guess.
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