I knew it all along! Abe Lincoln is a sell-out! I don't mean the man sold out, I mean the coins that honor him are sold out! Specifically, the Uncirculated Lincoln Bicentennial Silver Dollars and the 2-Roll Lincoln Log Cabin (Childhood aspect) One Cent Coin Sets have both sold out on the U.S. Mint Web site.
The maximum mintage for the Lincoln Silver Dollar is 500,000 units spreads across three product options in two finish types. The two finish types are the Proof and Uncirculated versions. The product options are:
(a) The Proof Lincoln Bicentennial Silver Dollar
(b) Uncirculated Lincoln Bicentennial Silver Dollar
(c) The 5-coin set that will include the silver commemorative plus the four 2009 penny designs struck in copper.
According to the April 13 issue of Coin World, the U.S. Mint says that the split between Proof and Uncirculated versions should be about 70/30. This means that about 70%, or about 350,000 of the Lincoln Commemorative coins will be Proof, leaving only about 150,000 in the Uncirculated version.
I think that pretty much everyone expected the Lincoln Silver Dollar to sell out, but they didn't expect it to take this long. A spot-check of the Mint's Web site at press time (4:48 pm CT on Tues. Mar. 31, 2009) shows the Proof version still for sale, although there should have been fewer than 3,000 specimens left as of the 26th. If you want one of these, hurry over and place your order before the Proof version sells out, too.
Log Cabin Lincoln Cent 2-Roll Set Sells Out
The Log Cabin 2-Roll set sold out last Thursday, too. The Mint had 100,000 2-roll sets up for grabs at $8.95 per set, with a maximum of 5 sets per household, and the public snatched them up pretty quickly despite the stiff mark-up, selling all 10 million pennies in less than 2 weeks.
The Log Cabin pennies are finally circulating to some extent now; I've had circulation reports from all over the country, with Texas and Southern California being the two epicenters. The pennies are still going strong on eBay, with rolls from the Philadelphia Mint selling for $20 to $30 each, and rolls from the Denver Mint selling for $9 to $15 each. 50-roll bricks ($25 face value bank boxes) are closing at $300 to $389 for both Mints, with Philly running higher.
The mintage for the P-Mint pennies is much lower than the D-Mint coins, but I don't know for sure what the final numbers are yet. I had previously reported mintage figures of 342.4 million from Denver and 194.4 million from Philly based on U.S. Mint information, but my contact there told me today that they now believe those numbers include some of the Rail Splitter pennies, too. Hopefully I will have final numbers by tomorrow (in which case I'll post an update.)
The Rail Splitter pennies will go on sale on May 14 at 12 noon ET, and the Mint is also expected to have only 100,000 sets, so buy early if you plan to get them this way. Since no provisions are being made to ensure that the banks get them any sooner than they got the Log Cabin Cents, the Rail Splitter pennies probably won't be circulating right away either. They will be handed out at face value during the launch event on May 14 in Lincoln State Park near Dale, Indiana. The Rail Splitter pennies will probably also be available for one day only at the U.S. Mint sales depots in Washington, DC, as the first 2009 penny was.
I imagine that a huge crowd of eBay speculators will show up at the Indiana event, judging from the very sweet profits that were made by the folks who went to the Hodgenville event for the Log Cabin penny.
Other U.S. Mint Coin News
There is such a flood of coins coming out of the U.S. Mint this year it is difficult to keep up with them all, but here are two recent releases:
The Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar went on sale on March 26. There has been some speculation in the forums as to why the Mint put this coin on sale so soon after the Lincoln Commemorative, especially in the current economy, but maybe they wanted to give it maximum time to sell out. Or maybe the National Federation for the Blind wanted it to go on sale this soon. (The NFB never got back to me with answers to some questions I submitted, but I know they're probably pretty busy right now.) The NFB is the beneficiary of the $10 per coin surcharge on the Braille commemoratives.
The bags and roll sets for the Puerto Rico Territorial Quarter went on sale on March 19. The official release ceremony is on April 2 in San Juan.
The William Henry Harrison Presidential Dollar rolls from Philadelphia mysteriously went AWOL from the U.S. Mint Web site for a couple of weeks, but the Mint told me it wasn't sold out and they didn't know why it wasn't listed. I still don't know the reason, but the coin is back for sale in both P and D rolls if you missed getting them the first time. There were no plans to add Harrison to the Direct Ship Program at all, but the Mint has been known to add unsold numismatic (Web sales) quantities at a later date. The Direct Ship listing is a constantly changing menu of sold out and in-stock types, so it pays to check it every so often.
The Sacagawea Dollar, which was renamed the Native American $1 Coin starting this year, is apparently not making it to banks at all! The U.S. Mint sent out a mailing to its Presidential Dollar marketing supplies subscriber list that says, in part:
Where to get Native American $1 Coins.
Right now, the only place to get Native American $1 Coins is from the United States Mint. The coins can be ordered free of shipping and handling. To order, please go to www.usmint.gov/$1Coin and click on the Circulating $1 Coin Direct Ship Program button and follow the instructions.
This will be your last automatic mailing.
If you need more brochures, posters or other materials, you may order them from our materials Web site. As always, we will continue to provide them free of charge. And don’t worry, we’ll send you a reminder email when next year’s poster or other new materials are available.
Um, so was this the last mailing or not???
You can find the free goodies on the U.S. Mint Web site in the Presidential Dollar marketing materials section, if you want some.
Did You Buy the 2-Roll Log Cabin Set?
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Comments
I hate to start a thread on a bad note, but out of curiosity – are others having similar trouble as the UHR as with the proof coin? I ordered mine a month ago, the mint front page order status says to be shipped by March 6, the detailed says In stock and I remember a recent notice saying they would be shipped March 20, but so far nothing (and I can’t get anyone to answer the phone at the mint). I think it is a great coin and bought it fairly early on expecting the sellout – and the penny looks great too!
The Mint has changed my shipping date twice. The date when I ordered them was March 19th, the very next day it had changed to March 20th. But a few days later it moved to April 4th. that is a Saturday so I expect another delay, soon.
The E-Bay sellers made a killing on the first round of Lincolns, but eventually the buyers are going to catch on.
Already, NGC has graded almost 8,000 2009-P’s as First Day of Issue, and based on the endless supply of PCGS FDI pieces on E-Bay, it would shock me if there weren’t similar numbers from that service.
To put that NGC number in perspective, the 2009-P Lincoln FDI already has the second highest population of any Lincoln coin minted after 1959, only topped by the 1995 Doubled Die example. Also, the coin is almost 5% of the total population of NGC Lincolns, any date, graded as Mint State Red.
And the NGC pops do not include the BU “graded” coins.
*lol* Looks as if the Mint made a “mint” off the sales of all those rolls of the new Lincoln Cents!
Thanks, but I’ll wait for them to come out in circulation . . . and it’ll be fun to see when and when I find my first new coins!
Seriously, the new Lincoln Cent coins are the main reason why I came back to the hobby. Now I’m encouraged to finally complete my entire set.
All best, Joe
I am not a BIG time coin dealer, just a private collector who has ordered from the mint for years. I ordered five sets (Limit) of the Lincoln pennies the next day they were released. My order was accepted, but shipping would be delayed. Last week I received an email saying that my orderer was cancelled, try reordering. I did and again it was accepted. Two days ago I again received an email saying my order was cancelled. But no reorder this time since they have been sold out. This is the second time the mint has cancelled an order I placed for a hot selling item. All I can say is that this is par for the course, the rich and powerful always come first in this land of the FREE.
I bought 18 of each. Never bought a coin before.
The US mint sent me an email about them being backordered till April 16.
Blind: Doctors: Eye Glasses, Future blind and it hitting all the major networks. You guys are collectors, not investors.
Anyway you know more about the mint than me: What does a backorder mean?
I ordered my five sets 13 minutes after going on sale on 3/13/09 and have yet to receive them ??? The latest update said they would ship on 4/4 ??? Interesting to see the increase in value before you even receive the goods…. only in America ….
I agree with JerseyJoe… I am going to wait until they are available in pocket change…and also to be plucked without the heavy mark ups.
Even if every high grade brilliant 2009 penny plucked was worth 10 cents someday, hey thats a nice profit that far exceeds inflation.
I plan to hoard the better examples of the 2009 spot free blazing luster cents in plastic tubes and also keep my eyes out for error coins and the potential for the 1909 95% copper planchets destined for mint examples only … to make their way accidentally or intentionally to the normal production for circulation.
The odds of these 95% copper 1909 based planchets making their way to normal production is very probable if they were sloppy with the coin hoppers or someone intentionally grabbed a handful or more of the 95% copper alloy planchets and threw them in with the normal copper plated zinc 2.5% copper production.
The thrill of the hunt is on!
Dave =)
Joe! I don’t thin any one here knows what back orderd means. That’s the mystery. In stock. Back orderd. If that makes sense to any body, please clue me in. Thanks!
coiny
Sorry, that was for jon. My answer about back orders mysterys.
coiny
The U S Mint is now nothing more than part of the coin hustling business, where uniformed collectors will continue to get fleeced.
First we have the so-called Certified “First Day of Issue” coins that will never sell for more than they are right now. Then we have rolls being bought up by e-Bay speculators, so a false shortage is created, now the Mint is cashing in by over charging.
Hate to sound like a pessimist, but a lot of people who are spending big money on these new coins better really like them as they will never be worth these prices again.
Talking about the Lincoln C silver dollar. I noticed there is an apparent cud like annomoly running along the rim of the obverse under Lincolns portrait covering about a third of the coins rim. It comes off of the rim then covers a small area of the field. It is barely noticable without a loop. I used reading glasses and a loop. I’m calling it a cud. But i’m not sure what it is. If any one else has noticed it on their UNC CLSD, could you please say here? Thank you! I would appreciate it.
coiny
The terms “in stock” and backordered” should have their expected meaning with respect to the PBGS warehouse. By that I mean that “in stock” ought to mean that PBGS has the product and can ship it any time it wants to and “backordered” ought to mean that PBGS is waiting for coins from the mint or some other important piece of the product from another vendor. I have lost all faith in anything that PBGS says, so I no longer believe that when they say “backordered” that they aren’t just trying to reduce customer pressure. Clearly, when they say that items are “in stock” it means little since I now have one order with only two items, both of which have been “in stock and reserved” for 30 days now. “In stock” should mean that they will ship tomorrow, or the next day at the latest. Another order is for the now sold out Lincoln pennies and dollars, again all items are listed as being “in stock and reserved”. That order is 23 days old. PBGS has already “pre-charged” me for the pennies (where they charge and let the charge expire without finalizing it and without shipping product) which seems to be something they do before actually shipping (in violation of written policy), but that was a week ago now and no shipment yet.
Coiny, if you post some pictures on the forum “http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?folderId=3&listMode=13&nav=messages&webtag=ab-coins” just “post a new message” and upload some images, lots of people will see and comment.
Clair
Thank you clair! Can’t upload pictures yet, so i had only the description to go on. That hopefully someone has seen this on their UC Lincoln silver dollars. It’s not easy to see. Don’t know how well that would show up in photos. Maybe some where down the road someone with the photo capability can/will post some photographs of this anomalie.
Thanks again clair!
coiny
The Lincoln dollar proof is also “sold out”. The mint is still taking orders, but they are going on to a waiting list. I assume that this is in case that they do not sell the limit of dollar/penny sets and (if they produce it this year) the American Legacy Collection sets. I assumed that the reason that both dollars were introduced early was because they both commemorate the birth of their subject and both men were born early in the year (both in 1809, Braille in January, and Lincoln in February) but it might be to help sell more of the Braille dollars also. If the mint produces the American Legacy Collection this year, it would be expected to contain one of each dollar in proof condition. I did not purchase the collection last year because with only one dollar in it (the Eagle), the markup of $30 above the cost of all the coins purchased separately was too much for me to swallow.
Clair
hey,I ordered the 5 rolls.same for me.march 20,delay then april 4th. However have not received backorder. Says its in stock. No sweat waited 3 months for my 06 eagles, only to find out they had 07 reverses.Bring on some errors.
hey saw on ebay, mint roll sets not even received yet are selling for 50.00-60.00. the exact mintage from numismatic news is 97,149,this is from numismatic news
Ordered 2 rolls on 3/14. Called Customer Service today (4/11). They said had not received coins from mint yet!! “Should ship within 14 days”!!!! I’ll believe it when I see it.
My Lincoln penny rolls are shipping today and should be here tomorrow (I paid for fast ship). I ordered five sets. I just wish PBGS had the smarts to include the Lincoln dollars from the same order in the package, since those have been “in stock and reserved” for longer than the pennies. Oh well, they will just have to pony up another next day air charge when they decide to ship the dollars.
Clair
My Lincoln penny rolls arrived this morning. I posted some comments and pictures on the forum at:
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=51&nav=messages&webtag=ab-coins&tid=1450
Clair
I begrudingly bought the overpriced rolls of pennies. 8.95 is a rip-off and wish the mint didn’t have a monopoly on this racket. The collector is getting the shaft on this one. Also, for the $8.95 price, one would think they could have made much more available.
As far as shipping delays, they are as bad as ever. one would think the UHR book delay is happening to every release. First spouse coins, Lincolns, Brailles, Lincoln cents, everything is being delayed.
Someone told me to be patient and I’ve read that it used to take 6 months to ship stuff. However, for the two or three years I have been ordering from the mint, it has never been this bad. It was twice as fast before, if not faster. It is now a mystery when any of my coinswill ship and no one at 800-USA-MINT can help.
To make matters worse, after a period of time, the much delayed orders can’t be cancelled by me nor 800-USA-MINT. So, they will ship and get “refused delivery,” costing the mint and the taxpayers money.
More service improvement suggestions for the mint:
*Improve speed of shipping. It once took 16 days to ship me first spouse coins. Now the same number of coins has taken over 32 days and there is no idea for when they will ship.
*Allow for cancellation of all orders, especially since they are taking a month and longer to ship. Why waste money on “refused delivery?”
*again: quality improvements! I’m still returning Proof Lincolns for spots and scratches. Most of the coins in my Lincoln orders are going back for these reasons.
I orderd two more Lincon proof coins a week ago. Got an e-mai from them regreting to inform me they are no longer available. They have sold out. But that service reps would gladly help me pick out something in it’s place of similar value. [I don't think SOOO] Thanks anyway.
coiny