Coin Blog

The first production figures are available for the newly launched America the Beautiful Quarters series. In keeping with the recent trend of declining mintage for circulating coins, the Hot Springs Quarter production figures mark the lowest circulating production level for an individual quarter since the 1950's.

The Philadelphia Mint produced 30,600,000 coins and the Denver Mint produced 29,000,000 coins for a total of 59,600,000. The previous quarter released featuring the Northern Mariana Islands had a total combined production of 72,800,000.

In the eyes of collectors, the declining mintages may be a good reason to collect the new series. Low mintage coins are traditionally seen as key dates, although the levels aren't really in the same league as some classic key date rarities. Will America the Beautiful Quarters Mintages continue the downward trend? How low can the mintages go?

Last month the first 2010 Roosevelt Dimes began showing up in circulation. This occurred a bit sooner than the first 2009 Roosevelt Dimes, which didn't show up until late May.

This denomination received more attention than usual last year because of the extremely small mintage. After years of mintages in the billions, the US Mint drastically scaled back production in 2009, as the need for newly minted coins for circulation dropped. The 2009-P Roosevelt Dime had a mintage of 96.5 million and the 2009-D Roosevelt Dime had a mintage of 49.5 million.

This year's Roosevelt Dime seems poised to have higher mintages and seemingly more widespread availability. Through the end of April, the US Mint has produced 73.5 million 2010-P Roosevelt Dimes and 40 million 2010-D Roosevelt Dimes.

So far the few people who have managed to get rolls of 2010 Roosevelt Dimes have been selling them for quite a premium, however, I think the high prices will be more short lived than last year's coins.

The United States Mint has just posted the final production figures for the Millard Fillmore Presidential Dollar. This is the first Presidential Dollar coin to be released for the year 2010 and the thirteenth release of the series overall.

The Philadelphia Mint produced 37,520,000 coins and the Denver Mint produced 36,960,000. This makes a total mintage of 74,480,000 across both facilities.

Comparing these figures to prior Presidential Dollar mintages shows that Millard Fillmore has the lowest overall mintage, coming in below the 78,260,000 mintage for the Zachary Taylor Dollar. The lowest mintage for an individual circulation strike issue still rests with the 2009-D Zachary Taylor Dollar at 36,680,000.

It seems likely that the trend for lower Presidential Dollar mintages will continue this year... at least until the release of the Abraham Lincoln Dollar in December.

On December 31, 2009, the United States Mint ended sales of the popular 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin. Until recently, the final report of sales figures through the closing date were not available.

The US Mint recently released this information, indicating that final sales were 115,178. Since this is the final unaudited sales information, the final mintage may be slightly lower due to returns, order cancellations, or other adjustments.

Collectors are already starting to debate whether this level of mintage may impede or support future premiums for the coin on the secondary market. Some argue that a mintage over 100,000 creates a plentiful supply of the coins, and they will be destined to sell for a few hundred dollars above the bullion value.

Others argue that this is a one year only issue of a historic recreation of one of the most beautiful coins of all time. Most buyers are likely to hold the coin in their permanent collection, meaning that only a fraction of the total mintage will ever be offered for sale. The high demand and restrained supply will support greater premiums as time moves on.

The coin mintages for the fourth and final 2009 Lincoln Cent design was recently released. The "Presidency" design has the lowest overall mintage of the four designs. The 2009-P Presidency Lincoln Cent has the lowest mintage for an individual one-cent issue since the 1950's.

For the Presidency design, there were 129,600,000 coins produced at the Philadelphia Mint and 198,000,000 coins produced at the Denver Mint. This makes a total of 327,600,000 overall coins struck for circulation.

The previous low for combined mintage for one of the designs was the Birthplace Cent with 634,800,000. The previous low for an individual issue of the 2009 Lincoln Cent was the 2009-P Birthplace Cent with 284,400,000. The latest figures represnts significanlty lower numbers.

The last time an individual Lincoln Cent struck for circulation had a lower mintage was 1955, when the San Francisco Mint produced 44,610,000.