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.

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.

Today at 12:00pm Eastern, the US Mint will release the eagerly awaited Lincoln Coin & Chronicles set. The set includes:

• One 2009 Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Proof Silver Dollar
• Four proof 95% copper cents featuring the four different 2009 reverse designs
• Reproduction photograph of Abraham Lincoln
• Reproduction of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln’s handwriting
• Certificate of Authenticity

All in a leather-like tri-fold case with a slip cover. Production of the set is limited to 50,000 pieces, representing the last 50,000 Lincoln silver dollars out of the otherwise sold-out total production of 500,000. The price will be $55.95 and sales will be limited to one per household for the first 30 days of availability, though it seems unlikely this won’t sell out well before that point.

Everyone knows that the US Mint is located in Philadelphia. Few, however, may be able to explain why. After all, the Mint is an important agency of the federal government, and nearly all other government agencies are headquartered in Washington D.C. Why is the Mint different?

The answer lies in the origins and establishment of the Mint. From December 6, 1790 till May 14, 1800, Philadelphia was the capital of the United States.  On April 2, 1792, the Coinage Act was enacted into law. The act created a monetary system based on dollar units, specified the metallic composition and fineness of coins, and created the a mint located “situate and carried on at the seat of the government of the United States, for the time being,” meaning Philadelphia. The Act also authorized the President to construct buildings in Philadelphia, beginning with the Mint, the first Federal building constructed under the Constitution.

The Original Philadelphia Mint

Philadelphia was in many ways a good location for the Mint, as it was one of the young nation’s main commercial centers and the location of the headquarters of the Bank of the United States, the central bank. From the start, the Washington administration seemed to view Philadelphia as a long-term location and instructed the Mint to purchase, rather than lease, land for the initial building (on a site formerly occupied by a distillery.) The cornerstone was laid on July 31, Mint operations began in October 1792 and by November a special batch of half-dimes had been produced. Traditionally, the silver for those coins is believed to have come from silverware provided by George and Martha Washington!

The early years of the Mint were rather rocky, with yellow fever causing work stoppages in 1797, 1798, 1799, 1802, and 1803, and sufficient gold and silver to produce coins difficult to procure (the Coinage Act didn’t authorize the Mint to purchase gold or silver for coinage!) While the future of the Mint as an institution may have been in doubt, the Mint became firmly situated in its Philadelphia buildings. When the seat of government moved to newly constructed Washington, D.C. in November of 1800, Mint officials  resisted the move. In March of 1801 Congress passed legislation directing the Mint to remain in Philadelphia until 1803, due to the Mint’s resistance, a shortage of government funds to pay for a move, and the fact that the survival of the Mint was in question. Alexander Hamilton argued that the Bank of the United States could operate more efficiently than the Mint, and several votes to abolish the Mint were held, but narrowly defeated.

Then in January 1803, Mint Director Elias Boudinot filed a report with Congress outlining ways to improve the efficiency of the Mint. This led to a vote to retain the Mint in March of 1803 in its Philadelphia location. Congress continued to pass extensions allowing the Mint to stay in Philadelphia throughout the early 1800′s, typically for 5 years at a time. Finally on May 19, 1828 Congress passed a law leaving the Mint in Philadelphia “until otherwise provided by law” and there it remains!

Today at 12:00pm EST the US Mint will release the special Braille Education set for sale to the public. Production is limited to 25,000 and orders are limited to one per household. The set includes one uncirculated Louis Braille commemorative silver dollar in a tri-fold package with educational information and readable Braille.

Funds from the sale of Braille commemorative dollars go to the National Federation of the Blind to further Braille literacy programs.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t expect this to be a big seller. I do wonder though if Tuesday’s announcement canceling the silver American Eagle proof and uncirculated coins might give a bit of a boost to the Braille set.

The Mint today announced that all gold and silver American Eagle proof and uncirculated coins are canceled for 2009. They also announced the cancellation of the American Eagle platinum bullion coins for 2009.

The cancellation means the following collector coins and sets will not be produced in 2009:

• 1 0unce American Eagle silver proof coin
• 1 ounce American Eagle silver uncirculated coin
• 2009 US Mint uncirculated dollar coin set
• American Eagle gold proof coins (1 ounce, 1/2 ounce, 1/4 ounce, and 1/10 ounce)
• American Eagle gold proof 4 coin set
• 1 0unce American Eagle uncirculated coin

The reason for the cancellations was, “The unprecedented demand for American Eagle gold and silver bullion coins,” which the Mint is required by law to produce “in quantities sufficient to meet public demand.” Since the public demands all the gold and silver coins the Mint can stamp, no blanks are left for us, the collectors. One more reason to hope for economic recovery to pick up steam, so investors will turn back toward other options and quit hogging all the precious metals!

The Mint did throw a small bone to the numismatically minded however, as they announced a one-ounce American Buffalo Gold Proof coin and one-ounce American Eagle Platinum Proof coin for 2009. The American Buffalo coin is tentatively scheduled for an October 29 release, with the American Eagle Platinum coin scheduled for December 3.