Last year the United States Mint issued four different reverse designs for the 2009 Lincoln Penny to recognize the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln. Each design represented a different stage of his life from his humble beginnings in Kentucky to his Presidency in Washington DC. The final mintages for each of the designs are now available.
The mintages for the recently released 2009 Lincoln Cent "Presidency" design will draw the most attention. There were 129,600,000 coins produced at the Philadelphia Mint and 198,000,000 coins produced at the Denver Mint.
Collectors often watch mintage figures for an indication of the rarity of coins. A sufficiently low mintage can result in higher prices. The mintages for each of the four designs at each US Mint facility are indicated below.
2009 Lincoln Cent Mintage
| Birthplace - Philadelphia | 284,400,000 |
| Birthplace - Denver | 350,400,000 |
| Formative Years - Philadelphia | 376,000,000 |
| Formative Years - Denver | 363,600,000 |
| Professional Life - Philadelphia | 316,000,000 |
| Professional Life - Denver | 336,000,000 |
| Presidency - Philadelphia | 129,600,000 |
| Presidency - Denver | 198,000,000 |
The mintages of the 2009 Lincoln Cents were much lower than historical norms due to a combination of factors. The status of the economy and a backwash of older coinage have reduced the need to produce new coins for circulation. The four different designs also caused the already low mintage to be split across four different issues.
To put the figures for the 2009 Lincoln Cents in perspective, the 2008 Lincoln Cent had 2.56 billion coins produced by the Philadelphia Mint and 2.85 billion coins produced by the Denver Mint. Every year from 1975 to 2008, the mintage for each date and mint mark combination of the Lincoln Cent series has been in the billions. The last time the mintage for an individual one cent coin issued for circulation has been as low as the current level was back in 1955 when the San Francisco Mint produced 44,610,000 coins.
Production of the one cent coin should rebound next year with the issuance of the 2010 Lincoln Cents. Although the economy and stockpiles of older coinage may continue to be a drag on production, only a single design will be minted for the entire year.
