The US Mint on Thursday announced the ceremonial release date for the newly redesigned 2010 Lincoln Shield Cent.

The official launch will occur on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 9:30 AM Central Time at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

The city is a popular destination for those wishing to follow in the footsteps of Lincoln, as it is there where he spent most of his adult life prior to becoming the 16th President of the United States.

Along with a plethora of other Lincoln related sites, to include the museum and the historic site where he lived, Springfield is home to Lincoln’s Tomb.

The new Lincoln "Preservation of the Union" penny is emblematic of President Lincoln’s "preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country." The reverse features a union shield with a scroll draped across it bearing the inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM. The 13 vertical stripes of the shield represent the states joined in one compact union to support the Federal government, represented by the horizontal bar above. Read the rest of this entry »

Buried deep in the proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Budget released by President Barack Obama is one page that could have far reaching consequences into American circulating coinage, and reads as if it came straight from US Mint Director Ed Moy’s Congressional testimony nearly two years ago.

Titled "Other Savings: Coinage Material – Department of the Treasury," the proposed section seeks to grant the Department of the Treasury authority to change the composition and weights of the most common circulating coins: the penny (cent), the nickel, the dime, the quarter and the half dollar.

Stating that the primary cost driver for the United States Mint is something that it has no control over, namely the price of metal, the Budget goes on to cite the fluctuating prices of the two main metals used in circulating coin composition, copper and zinc. Both have seen 100% plus increases over the last several months, which is tame compared to the swings nickel has experienced in the last few years of over 500%.

According to the 2009 Annual Report recently released by the United States Mint, the total cost of producing a cent was actually 1.62 cents, for a net loss of .62 cents on each one. The nickel, only worth five cents, actually took 6.03 cents to strike during the last fiscal year, losing the Mint 1.03 cents a piece. With these figures firmly in mind, it is easy to understand why some parties are concerned with the costs associated in making the coins. Read the rest of this entry »

The United States Mint will send the Millard Fillmore Presidential $1 Coin into circulation on Feb. 18, 2010. On the same day the US Mint will ceremoniously unveil the new dollar at the Moravia Central School in Moravia, N.Y. at 10 AM ET.

Fillmore was born only five miles east of Moravia. He served as the 13th President of the United States from 1850-1853 after assuming the office when President Zachary Taylor passed away. These were tremulous times for the country which was already on the verge of a civil war, postponed by the Compromise of 1850. Fillmore is credited with the 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa effectively ending the isolationism of Japan. Read the rest of this entry »

Coin production at the United States Mint limped into January with only 218,410,000 coins struck. The pace was quicker than in December, but that is a non comparison since no coins were minted during the final month of last year.

Circulating Coin Production: January 2010

Measuring apples to apples to a better degree, production in January 2010 was less than half that of January 2009. And the first month of last year was a snail’s pace from prior months, registering a production total of 513,420,000 that was predictive of even slower months ahead. The new figures appear to be waving a red flag, signaling that the tepid economy is likely to seriously impact coinage mintages for a second straight year. Read the rest of this entry »

The United States Mint has closed out the month of January, publishing strong sales figures for its precious metals bullion coins.

American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin demand hit a record pace. Interest in American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins was elevated, reaching the top ten in all-time January sales. The numbers are more than interesting considering several factors, including New York gold prices falling 1.1 percent in January and silver prices plunging 3.9 percent.

Silver Eagle sales tallied up to an amazing 3,592,500, making it the best January ever for the one ounce silver coins. In comparison, only two months in the history of the program have ever seen numbers topping the 3 million mark. The most recent was March of last year with 3,132,000. The all-time leading month is December 1986 at 3,696,000 — the first full month in which the coins were available under the new American Eagle Bullion program. Read the rest of this entry »

The Royal Canadian Mint’s Winter 2010 Collection — Product Spotlight

Earlier this month, the Royal Canadian Mint released its first new collector coins of 2010. To follow up on our recent 2010 Proof Set Spotlight honouring the Canadian Navy’s centennial as the theme of its 2010 Silver Dollar, we’re now pleased to tell you about another perennial favourite — the annual Specimen Set which pays tribute to one of Canada’s remarkable feathered friends.

The Royal Canadian Mint 2010 Specimen Set includes seven Canadian coins with a combination of superb brilliant and frosted relief finishes on lined backgrounds. Read the rest of this entry »

To celebrate the Winter Games, the Austrian Mint in Vienna has issued two silver 5 Euro coins. Each displays a winter discipline in which Austria is a world-leading performer.

The first has as its theme ski jumping. One sees the helmeted ski-jumper captured in his flight from the end of the steep ramp against a background of trees in an alpine forest. The second design shows a female snow-boarder as she performs a hair-raising air trick, flipping her snowboard up over the rim of the half-pipe in which they perform. Read the rest of this entry »

While catching up on the weekend’s reading I came across an article Debate rages in coin world: Theodore Roosevelt or George Washington on new quarter? The article is about how the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee debated whether to recommend that Teddy Roosevelt be placed on the obverse of the new America the Beautiful Quarters.

Introduced in 1932, the Washington Quarter was intended to be issued as a one-time circulating commemorative to honor the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. The quarter was born of controversy when Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon chose John Flanagan’s depictions over what had been determined to be a more artistic version by Laura Gardin Fraser. Although Mellon was a collector of great fine art that was later donated to the National Gallery of Art, many knew he was a sexist and refused to consider that a woman’s work was better than a man’s.

As the Great Depression deepened, no quarters were struck in 1933. Toward the end of the year, US Mint director Nellie Tayloe Ross was asked by the Federal Reserve to produce more quarters for circulation. Rather than use a new design, Ross ask the Treasury Secretary William Woodin for permission to continue to use Fraser’s design. Since Ross and Woodin did not want to undergo a new design competition, the Fraser designed continued until it was "updated" in 1999 for the 50 State Quarters Program. Read the rest of this entry »

In the lead-up to Australia Day, the Assistant Treasurer, Senator Nick Sherry, announced the design of the newest coin to go into the hands of Australians.

Commemorating and celebrating Australia Day and designed by the Royal Australian Mint in consultation with the National Australia Day Council, this 50 cent coin marks the spirit of this significant national celebration and will soon be available around the country.

Australian cricket great and National Australia Day Council Chairman Adam Gilchrist welcomed the newest coin to go into the hands of Australians. Read the rest of this entry »

US Mint American Silver Eagle sales have already scored their best ever January. Who would have thought? After all, there is still a full week left in the month. On top of that, the bullion coins are rationed, they were unavailable for seven days, and U.S. silver futures tumbled 8.1 percent last week (6.7 percent in London).

Yet, January 2010 is now in the history books. It is the best starting month of a year for the series that dates back to 1986. Despite all the aforementioned obstacles, authorized buyers scooped up 3,090,500 Silver Eagles from the United States Mint as of Friday, Jan. 22.

January is a traditionally strong month for these always popular coins, with over one million in sales registered in all but two years since 1999. Making this year’s three million plus start all the more impressive is the fact that even reaching the two million mark would have been historical. That happened only once before in Jan. 2008. Read the rest of this entry »