The Coin Collecting Den

The US Mint has revealed the product release schedule for the rest of 2010. You can start ordering each item at noon Eastern Standard Time.

I hope everyone reading has a happy, healthy, successful 2010!

The US Mint has released a preliminary product schedule for 2010. Currently, exact dates have been set for three 2010-dated products: Northern Mariana Islands Official First Day Coin Cover, 2010 Native American $1 Coin Rolls, and 2010 Kennedy Half-Dollar Bag and Two-Roll Set. The remaining products have release dates listed by month.

The preliminary schedule includes most of the same core products that were offered last year with the new 2010-dated coins. This includes quarter bags and rolls for the new America the Beautiful Quarter series, dollar rolls, coin covers, the Presidential Dollar and First Spouse Medal sets, and the usual annual sets. Also included are the 2010 First Spouse Gold coins and bronze medals.

The 2010 Proof Platinum Eagle is listed on the schedule with a release date of August. The US Mint has shown that they are more committed to the collectible Platinum Eagle offering than other collectible precious metals coins. The proof Platinum Eagle is in the midst of a six year “Foundations of American Democracy” reverse design series.

The collectible 2010 Gold and Silver Eagles and proof Gold Buffalo coins are not listed in the schedule. The US Mint has links to information on the availability of the coins, but these just lead to the product pages with the previously released information on the 2009 coins

If you had your heart set on picking up the 2009 Ultra High Relief Gold Double Eagle for your collection but just keep putting it off, your time is running out. The US Mint has announced that sales of the 2009 UHR will end at 3:00 pm Eastern Standard Time on December 31. This is, of course, not really a surprise, as 2009 ends just hours later. Over 108,961 coins have been sold so far. Final mintage figures will be published in January.

WASHINGTON – The United States Mint today announced the new design that Americans will see on the reverse (tails side) of Native American $1 Coins next year.  The design, based on the theme “Government – The Great Tree of Peace,” depicts the Hiawatha Belt with five arrows bound together, with the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, $1, Haudenosaunee and Great Law of Peace.  The United States Mint will commence issuing these coins in January 2010, and they will be available throughout 2010.

The Hiawatha Belt is a visual record of the creation of the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, with five symbols representing the five original Nations.  The central figure on the belt, the Great White Pine, represents the Onondaga Nation with the four square symbols representing the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Seneca Nations.  The bundle of arrows symbolizes strength in unity for the Iroquois Confederacy.  The design is by Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Thomas Cleveland.

Featured on the obverse (heads side) of the 2010 Native American $1 Coin is the familiar “Sacagawea” design by sculptor Glenna Goodacre, first produced in 2000.  Inscriptions on the obverse are LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST.  Like the Presidential $1 Coins, the Native American $1 Coins are minted in the distinctive golden color with the year, mint mark and E PLURIBUS UNUM edge-lettered on the rim.

As any serious (or would-be serious) coin collector knows, coins are graded on a 70 point scale meant to standardize descriptions of coin condition. All else being equal, a higher grade coin should be more valuable than a lower grade, and at the high end of the grading scale the difference can be substantial. For example, a 1924 Standing Liberty quarter from the Philadelphia mint is worth about $600 in MS-65 condition. Not bad, but the same type of coin in MS-67 condition is worth $2,400!

Obviously it is in every collectors interest to be able to grade coins, at least to a degree, in order to avoid over paying for coins and identify attractive bargains. Learning to grade is definitely not easy to do, however, particularly since the best way to become familiar with the differences between coins of various grades is to examine coins that have already been graded by an agency such as PCGS or NGC. Accumulating such a reference set is usually beyond the means of a novice collector, so what is an aspiring grader (like me) to do?

For the thousands of collectors in similar circumstances, PCGS has released their Photograde online photo reference sets. These photo sets show high quality images of coins graded XF45, AU50, AU55, MS63 and MS65. Images are included for nearly all series of circulating coins produced in the 20th century, including Indian Head cents, Liberty nickels, Barber dime, quarter and half dollars, Morgan dollars, and Liberty and Indian head $2.50 and $5 coins.

The good: The pictures are large and detailed, and definitely show the difference between the lower and higher grades.

The “bad”: Even with pictures, differentiating between MS-63 and MS-65 is tough-to-impossible, and no explanatory text is included to tell why the coins were graded as they were.

The verdict: Photograde isn’t sufficient to be a stand-alone grading tool. However, in conjunction with a reference such as the Red Book, the Photograde pictures can be an invaluable resource.

The Mint has released production figures for circulating coins through November 2009. Total production for the month was only 76.06 million coins, a decrease of nearly 80% from October and the lowest production in years.

These figures include the final mintages for the Zachary Taylor Presidential Dollar and the Northern Mariana Islands quarter. Only Lincoln cents, Presidential Dollars, and NMI quarters were produced during November. Cents and dollars were produced at the Philadelphia Mint, while the Denver Mint produced cents and quarters.

The table below shows coin production for both November and year to date.

November 2009 US Mint Coin Production Figures

Three denominations (Lincoln cents, Presidential dollars, quarters) featured multiple reverse designs that rotated over the course of the year. The table below breaks down the total production figures for the year by reverse design. Of note: It has not yet been confirmed if production of the Lincoln cent Presidency design has ended, so the table only lists totals for the first three Lincoln cent designs. By subtracting the totals for these first three designs from the totals through November given above, possible mintages for the Presidency Cent come in at 198.00 million Denver Mint coins and 129.60 million Philadelphia Mint coins, assuming no further production in December. These totals are substantially less than the first three designs.

The Mint has unveiled the images that will become the 2010 Presidential dollar coins. The four presidents, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchannon, and Abraham Lincoln will be released in three month increments throughout the year. The obverse designs on the Millard Fillmore and Abraham Lincoln Presidential $1 Coins are by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart; the obverse design on the Franklin Pierce Presidential $1 Coin is by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Susan Gamble; and the obverse design for the James Buchanan Presidential $1 Coin is by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill.

Fans of the Walking Liberty half dollar, Franklin half dollar, and Kennedy half dollar rejoice! I’ve added pages for each of the 20th century half dollar coins to the main coin information area for your edification and enjoyment!

Stay tuned for more updates!