The US Mint is off to a very slow start for 2010 numismatic product releases. The lack of collector products is due to delays surrounding the release of the new America the Beautiful Quarters, the next First Spouse Gold Coin, and of course collectible Gold and Silver Eagles.

To date, the US Mint has had only five product release dates, which included nine different individual products. (For product dates, I counted each day that new 2010-dated products were released. The number of different individual products includes all of the available packaging or ordering options, such as separate P and D rolls or separate proof and uncirculated versions.)

Using the same method of counting, by this date in 2009 the US Mint had nine product release dates, which included 19 different individual products. By this date in 2008, there were twelve product release dates, which included 35 different products.

Delayed products contributing to the slow start include the Abigail Fillmore First Spouse Gold Coin, which previously had a tentative release date set for March 4, 2010. In late February, the US Mint stated that the release would be pushed forward to an unspecified date in March. The release of America the Beautiful Quarters has been delayed with no updated information until recently. (See America the Beautiful Update below) There has been no new information on collectible Gold and Silver Eagles for 2010. As mentioned in previous posts, the release of these collector coins will remain contingent on the ability of the US Mint to fulfill "full public demand" for the bullion coins.

Last year the US Mint had waited until the last few months of the year to announce the cancellation or release of several long delayed products. They had also released some of the final 2009-dated products in early 2010. This year, it feels like they are falling even further behind.

America the Beautiful Coins Update

Per an article in the latest issue of Coin World, the designs for the five 2010 America the Beautiful Quarters will finally be unveiled on March 24, 2010. The US Mint will hold a special ceremony at the Newseum located in Washington, DC.

The first America the Beautiful Quarter featuring Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas is expected to be released during April. (By comparison the first State Quarter had been released on January 4, 1999.)

The candidate designs for the 2010 quarters have been available since September 2009 when the CCAC and CFA performed their reviews and issued recommendations. The candidate designs for 2011 were also subsequently released in January for the CFA and CCAC's review.

Things have been moving forward with the required 5 ounce America the Beautiful Silver Bullion coins. According to an article in Numismatic News, a new coin press was installed at the Philadelphia Mint on March 1 to strike the over-sized coins. The same article mentioned that the new bullion coins are not expected to be released in late summer or early autumn.

The silver bullion coins will be sold through the US Mint's network of authorized purchasers, who also distribute American Eagle and American Buffalo bullion coins.

The US Mint subsequently stated that each release of the bullion coin series would carry a maximum mintage. There is no requirement to strike the America the Beautiful Silver coins to demand, as exists for the American Silver Eagle bullion coins.

Today on Coin Update News: The latest US Mint Sales Report

The US Mint recently provided the final mintage for the 2009 American Silver Eagle bullion coin. Figures had previously been available for the number of coins sold during the year. This amount differs from the mintage, since annual sales totals usually include coins minted across multiple years.

The final 2009 Silver Eagle mintage came in at 30,459,000.

This figure represents a new record high, surpassing the previous record of 20,583,000 for 2008 Silver Eagles. The lowest mintage for a Silver Eagle bullion coin occurred for the 1996 Silver Eagle at 3,603,386 coins. Mintage figures for all years are included below.

American Silver Eagle Bullion Coin Mintages

1986	5,393,005
1987	11,442,335
1988	5,004,646
1989	5,203,327
1990	5,840,210
1991	7,191,066
1992	5,540,068
1993	6,763,762
1994	4,227,319
1995	4,672,051
1996	3,603,386
1997	4,295,004
1998	4,847,549
1999	7,408,640
2000	9,239,132
2001	9,001,711
2002	10,539,026
2003	8,495,008
2004	8,882,754
2005	8,891,025
2006	10,676,522
2007	9,028,036
2008	20,583,000
2009	30,459,000

So far during 2010, the US Mint has sold 6,067,500 Silver Eagle bullion coins. This includes the final inventory of 367,500 coins dated 2009, with the remainder representing 2010 coins.

The final mintage for one ounce 2009 Gold Eagle bullion coins has not yet been finalized. In fact, the US Mint is still continuing to sell the remaining inventory of 2009 coins. When the 2010-dated coins first went on sale, the US Mint had 51,000 of the prior year coins still within inventory.

Since most people prefer the newly dated coins, the Mint has been requiring authorized purchasers to buy one 2009-dated coin for every three 2010-dated coins ordered. There should be around 5,000 of the one ounce 2009 Gold Eagles left to go.

The final mintages for the fractional 2009 Gold Eagles were previously available, as these coins sold out in December. The mintages are 110,000 for the one-half ounce, 110,000 for the one-quarter ounce, and 270,000 for the one-tenth ounce.

The first sales figures are available for the 2010 American Veterans Disabled for Life Silver Dollars. The coins recently went on sale February 25, 2010 with introductory pricing in effect.

Through February 28, 2010, the US Mint has recorded sales of 66,209 proof coins and 32,149 uncirculated coins. This makes for a combined total of 98,358. The maximum authorized mintage for the coins is set at 350,000 across all options, meaning that sales have reached 28.10% of the total after just a few days of sales.

With the strong opening sales, is a sell out possible?

Last year, the Louis Braille Silver Dollars had recorded opening sales of 40,844. After two weeks, sales had reached 70,274. The last reported sales in mid-December was 217,874 across all product options.

The more popular Abraham Lincoln Silver Dollar had achieved opening sales of 177,722 across both proof and uncirculated versions. Within about five weeks, sales had risen to the 450,000 level required for a sell out of the individual options. Out of the maximum authorized mintage of 500,000 coins, 50,000 were reserved for the Lincoln Coin and Chronicles Set released later in the year.

So far, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Commemorative falls directly in the middle of last year's two programs in terms of velocity of sales. At this early point, I am inclined to think that the coins will eventually sell out of the 350,000 maximum authorized mintage, but the sell out won't occur until much later in the year.

Go to Coin Update News to view the full US Mint sales report for weekly sales through February 28, 2010.

Separately, I wanted to take a moment to mention a new feature on Coin Update News, gold and silver market commentary by Patrick A. Heller. His commentaries will appear usually twice per week, with new articles published on Tuesdays and Thursday or Friday. Pat Heller owns Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Michigan and writes the newsletter "Liberty's Outlook." He is also the gold market commentator for Numismatic News.

The latest article was published yesterday: Largest Private Refinery Discovers Gold-Plated Tungsten Bar

Go to the page Gold and Silver Commentary to find past articles and new articles as they are published.

Regular features on CoinUpdate.com also include weekly US Mint sales reports, monthly US Mint bullion sales reports, Michael Bugeja's Coingrader Capsule, and the periodic news roundup.

The United States Mint has just released their coin production figures for the month of February 2010. The latest update includes production of the first 2010 Roosevelt Dimes and the final mintage for the 2010 Millard Fillmore Dollar.

During February 2010, the US Mint produced a total of 194.4 million coins. This compares to 218.41 million coins produced in the prior month. Coin production had averaged 295 million coins per month across all of 2009.

Production at the Philadelphia Mint was confined to cents, dimes, and Native American Dollars. The Denver Mint only produced cents. The table below displays the breakdown of production, and the year to date totals.

2010 US Mint Coin Production Figures
	February 2010	Jan 2009 - Feb 2009
Lincoln Cent - Denver	78.80 M	128.80 M
Lincoln Cent - Phil.	84.00 M	149.23 M
Jefferson Nickel - Denver	0	0
Jefferson Nickel - Phil.	0	0
Roosevelt Dime - Denver	0	0
Roosevelt Dime - Phil.	19.00 M	19.00 M
Quarters - Denver	0	0
Quarters - Phil.	0	0
Kennedy Half - Denver	0	1.70 M
Kennedy Half - Phil.	0	1.80 M
Native Am Dollar - Denver	0	14.00 M
Native Am Dollar - Phil.	12.60 M	23.80 M
Pres Dollar - Denver	0	36.96 M
Pres Dollar - Phil.	0	37.52 M
Total	194.40 M	412.81 M

The US Mint has now also listed final production figures for the 2010 Millard Fillmore Presidential Dollars. Although there were no Presidential Dollars produced in the past month, the figures had not yet been added to the section where the US Mint lists finalized production numbers by coin design. The final numbers for Millard Fillmore are 36.96 million Philadelphia Mint coins and 37.52 million Denver Mint coins, for a combined total of 74.48 million.

This represents a new low for overall circulation mintage of a Presidential Dollar. Previously, the Zachary Taylor Dollar held the circulation mintage low at 78.26 million. The 2009-D Zachary Taylor Dollar still holds the mintage low for an individual circulation issue at 36.68 million.

The US Mint produced the first 2010 Roosevelt Dimes during February. The last time the US Mint had produced dimes in April 2009. A few weeks ago, CoinWorld had reported that the Federal Reserve ordered 224 million dimes from the Mint. Last year, total production of 2009 Roosevelt Dimes was a combined 146 million.

There have still not been any 2010 Jefferson Nickels produced. The same CoinWorld story mentioned that the Federal Reserve did not order any nickels.

Production of 2010 America the Beautiful Quarters has also not commenced and the US Mint is yet to reveal the final designs for the coins. The Mint had previously indicated that the designs would be unveiled at a special ceremony held in February, but the month has already come and gone.

Sales recently ended for a few of the US Mint's Presidential Dollar products. This includes last year's annual Proof Set and the bags and rolls for the James Monroe Dollars.

The 2009 Presidential Dollar Proof Set is no longer available. This set first went on sale February 10, 2009 priced at .95 each. The set contains the four different Presidential Dollars for that year featuring William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, and Zachary Taylor.

The set has sold 627,925 units as of the last available weekly sales report. This is lower than the final reported sales for the 2008 set, which came in at 860,172.

I had actually expected sales of this set to end on February 11, 2010 when sales of the 2010 Presidential Dollar Proof Set began. Recently, it had been the US Mint's practice to end sales for the previous year's annual set offerings once the current year version went on sale. Does this signify that the practice will no loner be used?

Another group of products which recently moved to "sold out" status are the 2008 James Monroe Dollar 25-coin rolls and 250-coin bags from the Philadelphia or Denver Mints. These products went on sale way back on February 14, 2008 as the fifth release of the Presidential Dollar series.

The last reported sales for these products were 50,652 of the 25-coin (P) rolls, 49,399 of the 25-coin (D) rolls, 1,053 of the 250-coin (P) bags, and 565 of the 250-coin (D) bags.

An interesting aside related to the James Monroe Dollars- shortly before the circulation release and start of bags and rolls sales, tens of thousands of the dollar coins had been struck on copper-nickel clad planchets intended for quarters were discovered. The errors were found during the coin wrapping process by a private contractor of the US Mint. According to US Mint statements, all of the errors were collected and returned to the US Mint. To date, there have been no reports of any of the Monroe Dollars struck on quarter planchets ever surfacing.

My recent post on 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin Prices highlighted the fact that huge premiums were being paid for proof like coins which had received NGC's "PL" designation. Many readers wanted to find more information about how to identify proof like coins and how they are differentiated from non-PL coins.

Bob and Rich Leece or Robert B. Leece Numismatist Inc. (http://rareusgold.com), who have probably handled more UHR Double Eagles than anyone, were willing to provide their expertise for an article published on Coin Update.

The following excerpt from the article is their description of the characteristics of Proof Like Ultra High Relief Double Eagles and how they can be distinguished from non Proof Like coins.

A PL coin has a definite Proof Like and Shinny Mirror Surface on ALL of the Obverse and Reverse of the coin. The only difference from the UHR PL coins and other Modern Proof coins is that the UHR PL coins do NOT exhibit the Cameo Contrast that is evident on standard Modern Proof Coins. In our opinion they fit the standards of Proof in all other aspects. Once you have seen a PL and a NON PL UHR side by side it the difference becomes more obvious. A NON Proof Like coin has a satin matte like surface not unlike a standard MS or burnished modern coin.

The problem lies in that there is a wide range of "in between" surfaces. They range from almost PL to very slight faint hints of PL. There are also coins that are PL on the Obverse but not on the reverse. The range can be drastic. From our experience a UHR is much more likely to have a PL Obverse and non-PL reverse. It seems to me that the definitive distinction of a PL coin is a coin that has FULL PL surfaces on Obverse and Reverse including and MOST importantly in between the rays on the reverse of the coin. That is the most likely part of the coin to lack the true PL surface.

The full article contains additional information and images of Proof Like UHR Double Eagles, including an estimate of the proportion of coins qualifying as proof like and how they could have been created.

Read the full article:
Proof Like 2009 Ultra High Relief Double eagles Fetch Big Premiums

Tomorrow February 25, 2010 at 12:00 Noon ET, the United States Mint will begin sales of the 2010 American Veterans Disabled for Life Silver Dollar. This is one of two commemorative coin programs scheduled for 2010, each including the issuance of a silver dollar.

The obverse of the American Veterans Disabled for Life Silver Dollar features the legs and boots of three veterans. A banner across the top reads "They Stood Up for Us". Below the image, "In God We Trust", the date and mint mark, and "Liberty" appear.

The reverse of the coin features a wreath of oak branches with a ribbon wrapped around and a forget-me-not flower at the base. A central inscription reads "Take This Moment to Honor Our Disabled Defenders of Freedom". Additional inscriptions "United States of America", "E Pluribus Unum", and "One Dollar" appear surrounding the wreath.

The US Mint will offer proof and uncirculated versions of the coin, both struck at the West Point Mint. Introductory pricing in effect until March 29, 2010 will be .95 for uncirculated coins and .95 for proof coins. Regular pricing will be .95 and .95.

There will be an initial ordering limit of 100 units per option per household in effect for at least the first 30 days of release. The US Mint has not made any indication that a special set will be created for this commemorative coin program. Only the two individual ordering options have been mentioned with a maximum authorized mintage of 350,000 across both options.

The other commemorative program for this year will feature the 2010 Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar. This coin is currently scheduled for release on March 23, 2010.

New Coin Grader Capsule: Submitting Coins to PCGS and NGC

Tomorrow around mid-morning, the prices for the US Mint's numismatic gold coins will likely be raised. Under the US Mint's pricing policy, the prices for numismatic gold and platinum coins may be adjusted once per week in response to changing precious metals prices.

The Mint calculates the average price of gold based on the London Fix prices from Thursday AM of the prior week to Wednesday AM of the current week. The relevant prices so far are indicated below:

Thurs Feb 18 AM	1,105.50
Thurs Feb 18 PM	1,118.00
Fri Feb 19 AM	1,107.00
Fri Feb 19 PM	1,112.75
Mon Feb 22 AM	1,119.75
Mon Feb 22 PM	1,115.25
Tue Feb 23 AM	1,112.00
Tue Feb 23 PM	1,107.00
Wed Feb 24 AM	?

As long as tomorrow's London AM Fix comes in above ,002.75, then the average price will be within the ,100 to ,149.99 price range, prompting an increase. The coming price increase would take place after two price decreases on December 16, 2009 and January 27, 2010.

The price for the 2009 Gold Buffalo Proof Coin would be raised from ,360 to ,410. The price for the proof First Spouse Gold Coins would be raised from 4 to 9. The price for the uncirculated First Spouse Coins would be raised from 1 to 6.

For the past few weeks the spot price of gold has increased while the prices for US Mint numismatic gold coins has remained stable. This has led to elevated sales levels for the available gold products.

One particular coin that I wanted to point out is the uncirculated version of the Anna Harrison First Spouse Gold Coin. In the past three weeks, the US Mint has recorded sales 295 coins, bringing total sales from 3,153 to 3,448. In each reporting period, this particular coin had the highest sales out of all available First Spouse Gold Coins. Before the recent surge in demand, the Mint had been selling fewer than 15 coins per week.

The higher interest in this coin can be attributed to several factors. First, along with other gold coins, collectors are placing orders with the rising price of gold and ahead of the impending price increase. Second, sales of the coins are expected to end next month when sales of the next issue of the series begin (or sooner as happened on one occasion). Third, the coin will likely mark a new mintage low for the First Spouse Gold Coin series. The current low mintage (for coins no longer available directly from the US Mint) is held by the Louisa Adams uncirculated coin with last reported sales of 4,223.

I have been closely watching the First Spouse Gold Coin series for a while, since I believe that some of the low mintage coins and the Liberty subset will eventually gain more widespread appreciation. While I am not convinced that the Anna Harrison uncirculated coin will represent the exact low mintage point for the series, it will probably be among the lowest and worthy of some consideration ahead of the price increase.

Today on Coin Update News: Full US Mint Sales Report

Just a quick post to pass along news of the rescheduled 2010 Lincoln Cent coin exchanges to be held at two Washington DC locations.

The Washington DC exchanges were originally scheduled to take place on February 11, 2010, the same day as the official launch ceremony in Springfield, Illinois, but they were canceled due to weather.

The coin exchanges have been rescheduled for this Thursday, February 25, 2010 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The exchanges will be held at the US Mint sales counter at Union Station and the first floor of the US Mint headquarters at 801 9th Street NW.

Today, the 2010 Presidential Dollar Proof Set that I ordered from the US Mint arrived, providing the first view of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Dollar in hand.

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this is a network for the serious collectors of MS70 coins

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Silver ms70 dollars are amazing

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Everyone here has most likely heard of Numis Network. I joined last week and was collecting just silver bullion at the time but now collect all MS70 coins. The values are mindblowing and didn't realize how much appreciation happens with the highest qulaity coins. I am new at this and would love some feedback

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I purchased a 1972 Memorial penney that has highly visible doubling of "In God We Trust", but not on the date. Is this a counterfeit or a variation and does it carry any value?

I say your collection is complete. I would like to know what book you have that does not have a spot for this coin. I want to buy one.

Regards,
Richard
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Received an email from a member who purchased this item for .25. What do you think?



edited by coinbug on 11/8/2009

i am interested in what you would do not what you should do thanks i appreciate any replies from collectors who know what they are talking about.

what would an EXPERIENCED AND KNOWLEGEBLE collector do if they found an illegal 1975 aluminum penny in their pocket.