The new penny was formally launched in Hodgenville, KY this morning. Kentucky Governor Steven Beshear and U.S. Mint Deputy Director Andy Brunhart jointly released the first official batch of the new pennies, which feature the Log Cabin design intended to be emblematic of Lincoln's humble birth in a poor, rural part of Kentucky.
Following the speeches and ceremony, thousands of the new cents were distributed to schoolkids and sold to the general public at face value. Each person could buy up to 10 rolls of the coins ($5 worth.) The folks at this event are some of the very few Americans who will get to see this new penny any time soon.

The new penny was formally launched in Hodgenville, KY this morning. Kentucky Governor Steven Beshear and U.S. Mint Deputy Director Andy Brunhart jointly released the first official batch of the new pennies, which feature the Log Cabin design intended to be emblematic of Lincoln's humble birth in a poor, rural part of Kentucky.
Following the speeches and ceremony, thousands of the new cents were distributed to schoolkids and sold to the general public at face value. Each person could buy up to 10 rolls of the coins ($5 worth.) The folks at this event are some of the very few Americans who will get to see this new penny any time soon.

The New U.S. Penny Is Here - Sort Of...
Thursday February 12, 2009
This is an exciting and long-awaited day for most coin collectors. The beloved Lincoln Cent is getting the first of four new cent reverse ("tails" side) designs today. Although the "heads" side will remain the same in 2009 as it has been for 100 years, the penny reverses this year will cycle through four different phases of Abraham Lincoln's lifetime. The first of these designs depicts the famous log cabin in Hodgenville, Kentucky where Lincoln was born in 1809. Everyone is eager to see the new pennies, but as I was the first to report last week, the new pennies won't be in circulation in most U.S. metropolitan areas for several months.

One of the biggest problems the Mint is dealing with right now has actually been around for at least two years. I first reported it to them in late 2006, and reports from readers confirm that the recent events are far from the first of this type that the Mint Web site has seen. Here's what happened:
When the 2009 Ultra-High Relief Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle (what the hobby seems to be calling the UHRDE now, formerly called the UHR) went on sale, the Mint's Web site suffered its usual first-hour-of-sales lock-down. Buyers repeatedly refreshed the pages over and over, trying to place their orders early in the cycle so they could get their coins first and avoid potential delays due to high demand. This was pretty much Business As Usual for the U.S. Mint.

Lincoln Commemorative Coin Economics
The first thing that went wrong for the Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollar was Read more...
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U.S. Mint Web Site Security Breach
Tuesday February 17, 2009
Most coin collectors are aware by now that it is not "business as usual" on the U.S. Mint Web site these days. Problems began in early January when the Mint changed eCommerce fulfillment contractors (again. You might remember the last time the Mint changed contractors in Jan. 2008; the Mint Web site suffered an 8-day outage

Before the analysis, I'd like to report the total Lincoln Commemorative sales figures, as of 11:59 pm on Monday, Feb. 16, 2009. The Proof version has sold 116,558 coins The Uncirculated total is 61,164, for combined sales of 177,722 units. The total maximum mintage is 500,000 coins (including both Proof and Uncirculated types) of which 50,000 Proof coins are reserved for a special set later this year. (The special set will consist of the Lincoln Commemorative and the four 2009 Proof Lincoln Cent designs struck in 95% copper.)
With a maximum mintage of 500k, the 227,722 coins spoken for above leaves more than half of the issue unsold at the moment. How did it happen that a commemorative that was expected to sell out within hours, sold less than half the mintage?

Coin Market Case Study - The Lincoln Commemorative
Wednesday February 18, 2009
The Lincoln Commemorative Dollar was expected to be a quick sellout, according to most coin market observers (myself included). So what happened? Why didn't this coin sell out quickly? The answer provides an interesting look into how the coin market operates

With the implementation of the United States Mint’s new contractor-operated fulfillment center and changes to shipping methods for our numismatic products, all shipments are now trackable.Standard shipping is sent via FedEx Smart Post Presort (ground), which uses the United States Postal Service (USPS) for final delivery. All orders under standard shipping can be tracked through the FedEx Web site.Expedited shipping (orders valued at more than $300 or by customer request) is now delivered by UPS (Air and International). All orders under expedited shipping can be tracked through the UPS Web site.APO, FPO, and P.O. Box addresses are serviced by USPS Priority Mail. All orders shipped by Priority Mail can be tracked through the USPS Web site.All packages will be insured for their full value.When the United States Mint changed over to a new fulfillment contractor in January 2009, it dropped the signature requirement for most orders. Based on feedback from our customers, the United States Mint

The U.S. Mint has issued two statements this morning regarding the recent issues on its Web site. I'm going to publish both statements in their entirety because I know everyone will want to read them for themselves. The first statement seems to be a lot of blather that surrounds one very important point, which I have highlighted in bold. (Even though these statements are dated Feb. 19, they were released the morning of Feb. 20. The bold text does not appear in the original version sent by the Mint.)
Product ShippingFebruary 19, 2009