Coin Blog

The Presidential Dollar series will enter its fourth year in 2010. The year will also include one of the most well known Presidents, hopefully giving the series a boost.

The US Mint recently released the line art images for the 2010 Presidential Dollars honoring Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln. These images will be used for the obverse of each coin and the reverse will continue to feature the Statue of Liberty as designed by Don Everhart.

The Presidential Dollars will be struck for circulation at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. The dollar coins will co-circulate with the Native American Dollar series. Proof versions of each dollar coin will also be produced for inclusion in a variety of US Mint products offered to collectors.

Images for each of next year's Presidential Dollars appear below.

Millard Fillmore Presidential Dollar
13th President
1850-1853

Franklin Pierce Presidential Dollar
14th President
1853-1857

James Buchanan Presidential Dollar
15th President
1857-1861

Abraham Lincoln Presidential Dollar
16th President
1861-1865

Today the James K. Polk Dollar was officially launched and released into circulation. This is the 11th Presidential Dollar of the series and the third release of the year. Although mintages are not yet available for the coin, the trend this year has been for a lower mintage for each subsequent coin.

The obverse of the coin features a portrait designed by Susan Gamble and sculpted by Charles Vickers. The inscriptions read "James K. Polk" "In God We Trust" "11th President" and "1845-1849". The coin's date, mint mark, and "E Pluribus Unum" can be found on the edge of the coin.

The official launch ceremony was hosted by the United States Mint in Columbia, Tennessee, at the ancestral home of President Polk. Children who attended the ceremony received a free dollar coin. Other attendees could exchange their bills for rolls of the new coin.

At the same time, the US Mint began selling individual collector rolls of the Polk Dollar on their website. These rolls are specially packaged and sell for $35.95 per roll. Separate rolls can be purchased from either the Philadelphia or Denver Mints.

The John Tyler Presidential Dollar will be released on May 21, 2009. Even before the release of the coin, the final mintage is already available. The US Mint has been producing circulating coins in drastically reduced numbers as the need for additional circulating coinage has declined.

The obverse of the John Tyler Dollar features a portrait of the 10th president designed and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill. The reverse of the coin carries the same design of the Statue of Liberty used for all other Presidential Dollar coins.

The final mintages will represent the lowest combined mintage for a single issue of the Presidential Dollar coins series. The mintages have fallen steadily throughout the series, slipping below 100 million for the first time with the release of the William Henry Harrison Presidential Dollar. The mintage for the coin honoring John Tyler appear below.

John Tyler Presidential Dollar Mintage

The US Mint recently posted the mintage information for the William Henry Harrison Presidential Dollars. The trend of lower mintages for the Presidential Dollar series continued. Since the start of the series, each subsequent release has shown a lower mintage than the previous, except for the Andrew Jackson Dollar, which showed a small uptick before the trend resumed.

The 2009 William Henry Harrison shows coin production of 43,260,000 at the Philadelphia Mint and 55,160,000 at the Denver Mint. This makes a total mintage of 98,420,000 across both Mints.

While this is the lowest on record for the series, the amount is still relatively high.

Due to the slowing economy, there is a reported glut of coinage, which causes fewer new coins to be produced. This has impacted other denominations to a greater extent. For example, there were only 53 million nickels produced across both Mints though February 2009.

Does it make sense that we need more dollar coins than nickels for circulation?

The first Presidential Dollar of 2009 featuring William Henry Harrison will be released next week.

The US Mint announced details for the official launch ceremony which will take place at William Henry Harrison's birthplace in Berkeley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia. The ceremony will be held February 16, 2009 at 11:00 AM ET. Festivities will include a coin point of new Harrison Presidential Dollars, a coin exchange for those in attendence, and a free coin for children 18 years old and less. There will also be a tour of the manor by guides dressed in costume.

The William Henry Harrison Dollar will be the ninth release of the Presidential Dollar series, which began in 2007. He served as President for only 30 days in 1841. The new obverse design was designed and engraved by Joseph Menna.