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If you think about it, 2009 might be the “between” year for state quarter collectors because the official 50 State Quarter program ended in 2008 and the next quarter collection, honoring National Parks and National Historic Sites, doesn’t begin until 2010.
BUT, this in-between year also has some of the hardest-to-find of the quarter series (and remember scarcity means higher value in the end): those honoring Washington, D.C. and the territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, The Virgin Islands, American Samoa and The Northern Mariana Islands. Although all of these state quarters have not been officially released into circulation, you can find 24 karat gold layered versions right now at The Franklin Mint.
2009 is also the year of the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln penny, so almost each and every penny of any significance from the last 100 years seems to have taken on more value. Again, you can look to The Franklin Mint for an historic collection of eleven Lincoln pennies including a 1943 steel penny plus a genuine Abraham Lincoln stamp.
What adds to this 100 year penny collection are the four new designs coming out this year for the reverse of the 2009 penny. These are so scarce that prices for them have risen to crazy levels and the Federal Reserve has so many older pennies (talk about a collection!) that it is just is not interested in sending out the new pennies, regardless of the new design of the U.S. Mint and Congress’ good intentions-- or even the high demand from collectors.
It’s the “perfect storm” for making coins highly sought after and collectible: a banking system unwilling or unable to make a one-in-one-hundred design change on coins available thru normal circulation; a depressed economy where people are literally watching their pennies and thus turning millions of them into coin recycling machines to get some quick dollars; an ever-expanding stockpile of older pennies, many of which have a high copper content and are worth more melted down than they are as currency (yet there is a current ban on such penny melting); and finally a huge ‘fan’ interest in everything Lincoln (including his 100 year old image on our smallest coins).
The Lincoln coin mania will continue next year, 2010, because that’s when the Lincoln Presidential Dollar comes out. Now, THAT will be a real collectible…and suddenly spark new interest in Presidential Dollars.
In case you’ve forgotten, 2009 is already the third year of the Presidential Dollars, but the Presidents being honored this year are certainly NOT our most notable. But that very fact may make some of the 2009 and 2010 Presidential Dollars more valuable in the future.
Who will be able to say they have a complete Presidential Dollar collection if they don’t have the coins honoring William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K Polk or Zachary Taylor? And how can we forget that the very first Presidential Dollar of next year will honor Millard Fillmore in the same year that we honor Abraham Lincoln with his first Presidential Dollar. If you don’t have a Fillmore Dollar, you just don’t have a complete Presidential Dollar Collection.
The Franklin Mint has had all the Presidential Dollars since the very first George Washington Presidential Dollar. And you can get them all, just as they are released, in the Limited Edition Presidential Dollars, not just in a golden color, but layered in pure 24 karat gold.
When you really think about it…2009 is becoming THE year to start collecting coins!
Jay Johnson was the former 36th Director of the United States Mint, appointed by President Clinton and serving until August of 2001 at which time he became a Senior Advisor to the Department of the Treasury. During Mr. Johnson's tenure, the Mint set new and unbroken records by producing more than 28 billion coins and returning a $2.6 billion profit to the U.S. Treasury. He oversaw the most successful coin program in history - the 50 State Quarter program - which was collected by over 144 million people in the U.S. (one out of every 6000 Americans). He also managed the Sacagawea Golden Dollar program (of which a record of over one billion was produced) as well as the launch of the Buffalo Silver Dollar, which became the fastest-selling commemorative coin in history. Mr. Johnson also oversaw the operations of the gold depository at Fort Knox.
Prior to his becoming Mint Director, Johnson was a U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin (8th District) and had a 30-year career as an award-winning local TV newscaster in Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida. Before entering politics, he worked as an anchor and reporter at WLUK-TV and WFRV-TV, both in Green Bay. He also worked in markets in Florida and Michigan, and spent time as a disc jockey in Texas. The Michigan native also served in the Army as an information specialist from 1966 to 1968.
