Coin Blog

The US Mint began sales of the first commemorative coin program of the year on February 25, 2010. The coins are issued to honor the service of disabled veterans who survived the ordeals of war and made enormous personal sacrifices to defend the principles of democracy.

The 2010 American Veterans Disabled for Life Silver Dollars are issued in proof and uncirculaed versions, both produced at the West Point Mint. There is a maximum authorized mintage of 350,000 coins across both options.

The obverse of the coin features the legs and boots of verans, with one visibly on crutches. An inscription on a ribbon above reads "They Stood Up for Us". The reverse of the coin features a wreath oak branches with a forget me not flower at the base. A central inscriptions reads "Take This Moment to Honor Our Disabled Defenders of Freedom".

While I will purchase a pair of these coins for my collection, I would have liked to see a different obverse design. A similar legs and shoes theme was recently used on the Little Rock Silver Dollar just three years ago.

The US Mint released the thirteenth Presidential Dollar in the series featuring Millard Fillmore on February 18, 2010. The release was accompanied by two separate launch ceremonies held in Moravia, NY (the official US Mint launch ceremony) and Buffalo, NY (a special event at city hall attended by a US Mint rep). See this amusing article in the Wall Street Journal.

Following the format of the series, the Millard Fillmore Presidential Dollar features his portrait on the obverse, with inscriptions indicating his name, order of the Presidency, and years of the term. The reverse of the coin features a rendition of the Statue of Liberty that has been used in common for each coin of the series.

On the same day as the release, the US Mint began sales of 25-coin rolls from either the Philadelphia or Denver Mint. These rolls are priced at $35.95 each.

Although there have been reports of the 2010 Lincoln Cents already appearing in circulation about a month ago, the US Mint held a launch ceremony to introduce the new "Preservation of the Union" design on February 11, 2010.

The event took place in Springfield, Illinois at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Dollar Museum. Reports indicate that the attendance at the ceremony was not near the levels achieved for some of the 2009 Lincoln Cent launch ceremonies, but there still seemed to be a degree of excitement.

US Mint Director Edmund Moy explained the significance of the new Union Shield Cents design. The thirteen vertical stripes represent the original thirteen states. These are joined together below a horizontal bar representing the federal government.

The ceremony was followed by a coin exchange, where people could trade currency for rolls of the new coins at face value. There were 20,000 rolls available at the exchange. Many collectors have these stamped and post marked with a unique cancellation to commemorate the launch ceremony.

The United States Mint released the 2010 Kennedy Half Dollar on January 29, 2010. The Kennedy Half Dollar series began in 1964, although since 2002, the coins have not bee issued for circulation. Rather, a limited number of coins has been produced to satisfy the demand from coin collectors.

The US Mint is selling the 2010 Kennedy Halves packaged in either two roll sets of 200-coin bags. The two roll sets contain one 20-coin roll with the "P" mint mark and one 20-coin roll with the "D" mint mark. These sets are priced at $32.95. The 200-coin bags contain 100 coins for each mint mark. These bags are priced at $130.95.

Since I have collected the series for many years, I pick up a few of the US Mint's two roll sets each year. Although I have heard that the quality of the coins often varies, the rolls I opened last year yielded a few examples that graded MS67 at NGC.

Later in the year, the US Mint will release satin finish versions of the 2009-P&D Kennedy Half Dollar in the uncirculated mint set and clad proof and 90% silver proof versions of the 2009-S Kennedy Half Dollar in the annual proof sets.

This month the United States Mint launched and released the 2010 Native American Dollar. This is the second release of the series created to honor and celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of Native Americans. This year's design features the Hiawatha Belt, a visual representation of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy.

On January 4, 2010, the US Mint began sales of the 2010 Native American Dollar through their Direct Ship Program. The program is intended to allow small businesses and financial institutions to order dollar coins for the intention of using them in circulation. The dollar coins are distributed by the US Mint at face value with no charge for shipping in quantities of 250-coins. Collectors have also used this program as an opportunity to obtain uncirculated dollar coins at face value.

On January 22, 2010, The US Mint offered numismatic rolls of the dollar coins. These are 25-coin rolls containing coins from either the Philadelphia or Denver Mint priced at $35.95 each. As opposed to the Direct Ship rolls, these come in custom designed wrappers and customers can select the mint mark. Despite the premium and the availability of the coins at face value, collectors still ordered more than 8,000 of each roll in the first week of availability.

Following the release through these two options, the official launch ceremony was held on January 25, 2010. The event took place at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center in Manhattan. United States Mint Director Edmund Moy said, "The design is an acknowledgement of the confederation's influence on Western political thought, including concepts of equality and democratic self-government that existed on the North American continent long before the founding of the United States."