Exciting New US Mint Products in 2009!

2009 will be a busy year at the US Mint, with a variety of new issues to keep things exciting. From the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle to fantastic new circulating cents and quarters, there are options for both casual and advanced collectors. Here are some of the noteworthy programs scheduled for 2009.

1. A Numismatic Dream: 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin

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The US Mint will produce a spectacular, pure gold $20 coin in 2009. This issue is based on Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Ultra High Relief 1907 Double Eagle, but is a reduced size. It was inspired by a pattern coin (Judd-1779), two examples of which are in the Smithsonian Institution. Whereas those patterns were produced using two Eagle planchets stacked atop one another, the 2009 coin is struck on a single planchet of pure 24-karat gold. Four additional stars have been added on the rim to represent the current 50 states (there were only 46 states in 1907), and the inscription "In God We Trust" has been added to the reverse.

2. A Collectible for Everyone with Special Versions for Numismatists: 1909 Lincoln Bicentennial One Cent Program

While the 1909 Ultra High Relief will appeal to serious collectors, the US Mint will also produce four different one cent coins that will circulate and are available at face value. The 2009 cents celebrate the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the centennial of the first issuance of the Lincoln cent. The four designs encapsulate different stages of Lincoln’s life:

• 1. Birth and early childhood in Kentucky (1809 – 1816)
• 2. Formative years in Indiana (1816 – 1830)
• 3. Professional life in Illinois (1830-1861)
• 4. Presidency in Washington, DC (1861 – 1865)

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The designs will be issued at approximately three-month intervals throughout 2009 and will be struck in large quantities to meet the demands of commerce. Additionally, the Mint has been authorized to produce examples for collectors with the exact metallic content as contained in 1909: 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc. Between proof and uncirculated versions, collectors will have lots of options.

3. Six More Fifty States Quarters: The District of Columbia and United States Territories

The hugely popular State Quarters program will get six more quarter-dollar coins in 2009. Quarters for the District of Columbia and five United States Territories: the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands will be issued in equal sequential intervals in 2009. Uncirculated and proof coins will be produced in both clad and 90 percent silver versions.

4. Celebrating America’s Less Popular Presidents: Four More Presidential $1 Coins

The US Mint issues four Presidential $1 Coins per year and in 2009, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, and Zachary Taylor are being honored. The Statue of Liberty reverse design remains the same for all issues. New for 2009, the dollars feature larger, more dramatic artwork, "In God We Trust" on the obverse, and edge-incused inscriptions of the year of minting, "E Pluribus Unum," "In God We Trust" and the mintmark. The word "Liberty" does not appear on the presidential $1 coins, as it does on other circulating coins. The value of liberty is instead conveyed by the Statue of Liberty on the reverse.

5. Continuing the First Spouse $10 Gold Coin Program

The production of the First Spouse gold coins will continue in 2009 with the issuance of coins celebrating Anna Harrison, Letitia and Julia Tyler, Sarah Polk, and Margaret Taylor. Each of these has a unique reverse design featuring an image emblematic of the spouse’s life and work. They contain ½ oz. of .9999 fine gold. With the reduced offerings of the Buffalo and American Eagle gold coins, these coins may become more relevant and popular in the marketplace.

6. A New Reverse for the Sacagawea Dollar: Native American $1 Coins

Beginning in 2009 the US Mint will issue $1 coins featuring designs celebrating important contributions made by Indian tribes and individual Native Americans to the history of the United States. The obverse design continues the Sacagawea design first produced in 2000. The 2009 reverse depicts the theme of agriculture and features a Native American woman planting seeds in a field of corn, beans and squash.

7. A First, and an Old Favorite: 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Dollar and Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollar

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The 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille system which is still used by the blind to read and write. This coin represents the first time a US coin features readable Braile. The Abraham Lincoln dollar celebrates the bicentennial anniversary of Lincoln’s birth with a portrait on the obverse. The reverse features an excerpt of Lincoln’s famous speech at Gettysburg.