The Coin Collecting Den

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!

It’s taken a lot of time and effort, but I’m happy to announce the addition of a new section to the site: Coin information pages! These pages contain coin specifications, coin history and facts, and mintage information broken down by mint location. The first pages cover dollar coins, from the Morgan dollar to the newest Presidential coin designs. I will be adding pages for half dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies as well over the coming days.

Check them out!

Continuing the theme of collecting on a budget, I’d like to take a look at the US presidential dollar set that is currently in process. Beginning in 2007, the Mint began releasing dollar coins with the names and faces of past US presidents. Four are being released each year, with ten released so far, and 41 total currently scheduled through 2016.

Reasons to collect Presidential Dollars:

• Just like the state quarters, the dollars are being released in order of the presidents, beginning with George Washington. Another great educational opportunity for kids to learn about our presidential history!
• Dollar coins can be obtained at your local bank as they are released to make sure they are in great condition.
• The set will be continuing for a number of years, so the annual investment is small, and there will be more to look forward to for quite a while!
• Budget: 41 presidents = $41, one from each mint would be $82. Add a folder and you’re looking at about $90. While more than the quarter set, this expense can be spread out over a number of years, and $8 per year for the presidents is very manageable.

So you’re interested in starting a coin collection? Great! Collecting can be a fascinating, and potentially profitable, lifelong hobby. But for many would be collectors, including myself, while the spirit is willing, the wallet is weak. In this post, I’m beginning a series on ways to get into the coin collecting game on the cheap.

One popular and easy way to start collecting coins is the U.S. State quarters. This series began in 1999 and continues through the end of 2008, with each state getting its own unique design. In 2009, six additional quarter designs were released for Washington D.C. and the US territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The US quarters set is a great way to start for several reasons.

• Since the quarters were introduced in the order of states joining the Union, they are a great educational opportunity for kids to learn about the 50 states, as well as the often overlooked territories.
• The quarters are recent, so they are all in circulation. This makes them much easier to find compared to older collectibles. A quick search of your change or a roll of quarters from your bank is all you need to start!
• While easy to start, there are still enough different quarters to collect that the set won’t be completed in a day or two. Part of the enjoyment of collecting is finally finding the piece to complete a set, and collecting all 56 designs will take long enough to feel satisfying!
• Budget: 56 quarters is only $14. Double that to $28 if you decide to collect one from both the Denver and Philadelphia mints. Add a few more dollars for a nice folder to keep them all in, and you’ve started a great new hobby for less than $40!

US quarters are only one way to get started collecting on a budget. My next post will cover another great beginner set: the Presidential Dollars.

The Zachary Taylor Presidential Dollar, the last of the four presidential dollars released for 2009, will go on sale at the Mint at noon Eastern time on Thursday, November 19. Rolls of 25 coins will be available from both the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. Rolls will be priced at $35.95 each, with no quantity restrictions.

The Mint will be releasing the fourth and final Lincoln Bicentennial penny on Thursday, November 12. The design commemorates Lincoln’s presidency in Washington, D.C.

Two roll sets will be available at 12:00pm on November 12 for $8.95. The set includes one 50 coin roll from the Philadelphia Mint with no mint mark, and one roll from the Denver Mint with the “D” mint mark. Orders are limited to five per household.

The Presidency design is the fourth and final of the Lincoln Bicentennial series, with the previous designs commemorating Lincoln’s birth and early childhood in Kentucky, formative years in Indiana, and professional life in Illinois.

Yesterday the Mint announced sales of 19,468 American Buffalo Gold Proof coins through November 1, nearly equaling the entire 2008 production of 19,591 in one week of sales. No limits are in place for production or orders of the Buffalo coin, so it seems likely 2009 could surpass the 58,998 sales in 2007 for second highest mintage since the 246,267 coins sold in 2006, the first year they were offered.

The Mint also announced the 2009 US Virgin Islands First Day Coin Cover will be available for purchase Tuesday, November 10. The US Virgin Islands quarter is the last in the series of D.C. and the 5 US territories released this year. The First Day Cover will be limited to 20,000 units.

The 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof coin went on sale yesterday, October 29. Based on the average price of gold for the period being $1,050.28, the coins were priced at $1,360 each, with no order limits or announced mintage limit. The current spot price of gold is $1,037.50, which could mean a price drop of $50 is in the future for this coin. No sales figures will be out for at least a few days, but since the Mint’s site didn’t crash the way it did with the launch of the Lincoln Chronicles set, it’s safe to say the demand has been more moderate. This may be due to the previously mentioned possibility of a price drop if the price of gold stays below $1,050 per ounce. It may also be due to the lack of a mintage limit, which could mean enough coins will be produced to fill the market demand and reduce the value of the coin in the secondary market. Time will tell!

So I checked the mail Friday, and to my surprise there was a box from the Mint! I was not expecting anything so soon, as my order still showed as “processing” as late as Wednesday and was listed as shipping 10/31/09 when I ordered on the 14th. It was a great surprise! I took some pictures of the unboxing, check them out after the jump!

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The Mint announced today that the 24-karat American Buffalo Proof gold coin will begin sales on Thursday, October 29 at 12:00 pm Eastern Standard time. If gold remains between $1,050 and $1,099.99 per ounce, the coins will be priced at $1,360 each. There is no order limit and no announced mintage limit, apparently the Mint is not suffering any shortage of 24-karat blanks, in contrast to the 22-karat blanks used for the American Eagle coins. Demand seems likely to be high for this coin! This could mean the production figures for this coin will be relatively high, which in turn could limit the secondary market value compared to last year’s more limited mintage.

On a related note, the Mint has already sold 86,000 American Buffalo bullion coins as of today (10-22-09) since they went on sale October 15. That is a very robust figure, particularly in comparison to 2008, when 172,000 coins were sold in the entire year. This is a definite indication of strong demand that seems likely to include the proof coins as well.