Coin Blog

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.

The final circulation strike mintages for the Zachary Taylor Presidential Dollar were recently released by the US Mint. They represent new mintage lows for each respective mint and on an overall basis.

The Zachary Taylor Dollar was released into circulation on November 19, 2009 as the fourth and final release of the series for the year and the twelfth release since the series began. Until this point, mintages have shown a general decline for each subsequent release, with two small interruptions.

The latest mintage figures break new ground to the downside. On an overall basis, the mintage came in at 78,260,000. This was divided between 41,580,000 coins produced at the Philadelphia Mint and 36,680,000 coins produced at the Denver Mint.

This comes in almost 10 million below the mintage of the prior release. The number is also about one fourth of the mintage achieved for the first release of the series for the George Washington Dollar. Will the mintages continue to decline as the series progresses?

The US Mint has recently released the final mintages for the Northern Marian Islands Quarter. This quarter was the final release of this year's DC & US Territories Quarter Program, which also honored the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands.

The latest mintage confirmed the trend of lower overall mintages for each subsequent release of the six coin program. For the Northern Mariana Islands Quarter, Philadelphia Mint produced 35,200,000 coins and the Denver Mint produced 37,600,000 coins. The total overall mintage from both mints was 72,800,000. These figures are for circulation strike coins, including those sold by the US Mint in their numismatic bags and rolls program.

This overall figure represents nearly a 100 million decline from the production of the initial release of the series featuring the District of Columbia. The mintage for the 2009-P Northern Mariana Islands Quarter of 35.2 million also notably represents the lowest mintage for a single date/mint mark quarter issue since 1960.

The mintage for the third design for the 2009 Lincoln Cents has been revealed. It is a step lower from the prior design, but still above the low level of the first design.

The 2009 Professional Life Cents had a combined mintage of 652 million. This is divided as 316 million coins produced at the Philadelphia Mint and 336 million coins produced at the Denver Mint.

The lowest combined mintage for 2009 Lincoln Cents remains as the Birthplace Cent with 634.8 million. The lowest individual coin mintage remains as the 2009-P Birthplace Cent at 284.4 million.

The latest figures are a contiuation of the low production experienced throughout the year. During 2008, the US Mint had produced more than 5 billion cents. This year they are on track to produce less than 3 billion across the four different designs. View complete 2009 Lincoln Cent mintages.