August 3rd, 2009 — Mintages
The US Mint just released the final production figures for the American Samoa Quarter. The overall mintage marks yet another low, as mintages for circulating coins continue to spiral downwards.
Overall, there were 82,200,000 American Samoa Quarters produced by the US Mint. This is further broken down into 39,600,000 quarters produced at the Denver Mint and 42,600,000 quarters produced at the Philadelphia Mint.
The overall mintage represents a decrease of 4.6 million from the prior Guam Quarter Mintage.
The mintage for the 2009-D American Samoa Quarter represents the new lowest quarter mintage for the DC and US Territories Quarters program, which also represents the lowest mintage for a quarter since 1962.
July 31st, 2009 — Coin Series
The US Mint will soon offer the First Spouse Gold Coin honoring Julia Tyler, the second wife of President John Tyler. These coins will go on sale at the US Mint on August 6, 2009.
The coins are produced in both uncirculated and proof versions, both struck at the West Point Mint. Each Julia Tyler First Spouse Gold Coin has a composition of 24 karat gold and contains one-half ounce of gold. The high gold content is responsible for the heafty price tag, expected to be around $629 for the proof and $616 for the uncirculated coin. (The US Mint deteremines actual prices based on the range of the price of gold for the prior week.)
The obverse of the coin features a portrait designed by Joel Iskowitz. The reverse features Julia Tyler dancing with her husband during a White House event, also designed by Joel Iskowitz. The obverse and reverse sculptor was Don Everhart.
The First Spouse Gold Coins have been relatively slow sellers, but the US Mint has an ordering limit of ten per version per household, which will be effective for the start of sales.
July 29th, 2009 — Coin Series
The latest quarter in the District of Columbia and US Territories Quarters Program was released on July 27, 2009. This was the quarter featuring American Samoa.
The reverse design of the coin features important items for traditional Samoan events. The ava bowl is used to make a special drink for island chiefs and guests. The whisk and staff symbolize the rank of Samoan orator who delivers speeches during important gatherings. The background of the coin displays a coastline with a coconut tree.
The reverse design of the American Samoa Quarter was designed by Stephen Clark and sculpted by Charles Vickers.
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July 24th, 2009 — Coin News
On July 17, 2009, the United States Mint released the 2009 Silver Proof Set. An annual proof set containing 90% silver coins has been produced since 1992. Back then the set had only five coins, but this year's set contains a whopping 18 coins. The sets are priced at $52.95 each.
The sets have expanded due to the larger number of quarters issued for 2009, as well as the four different designs issued for the 2009 Lincoln Cent. This is the largest sized proof set issued by the US Mint since the era of modern proof coinage began.
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June 3rd, 2009 — Coin News
Another new mintage low has been set for the District of Columbia & U.S. Territories Quarters series. Following the relatively high mintages for the State Quarter series, the six coin follow up had been showing very low numbers. This was due primarily to the economy, which caused an influx of old change into the system, removing the need to produce large amounts of new coins.
The latest data released was for the Guam Quarter. There were only 42,600,000 coins produced at the Denver Mint and 45,000,000 coins produced at the Philadelphia Mint. The total between the mints of 87,600,000 is less than half the number of coins produced for the District of Columbia Quarter.
These low numbers are starting to draw attention, but do they have farther to fall? The next quarters to be released will feature American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
