Abraham Lincoln Presidential $1 Coin to Be Issued by US Mint in November

One dollar Presidential coins are issued by the US Mint, and have gained in popularity among coin collectors in recent years. Similar to the State Quarter program which issues quarters based on the date of each state's admittance to the Union, Presidential coins are issued in the order that the President served in office. There have been about four coins issued each year since February of 2007, starting with George Washington. The program should come to a close in 2016, when the Ronald Reagan Coin is issued. If further coins are added, then Congress would need to pass a law directing the US Mint to take action.

The Abraham Lincoln $1 presidential coin will be released on November 18th, 2010. The coin issuance occurs exactly one week before to 2010 Thanksgiving holiday. The holiday happens to have been officially founded by Abraham Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War. On October 3rd, 1863, Lincoln signed Thanksgiving Proclamation, which set the precedent for recognizing a national day of Thanksgiving to "set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens"

The Abraham Lincoln Coin will be the final $1 coin released in 2010. Based on recent US mint data from Wikipedia, expect somewhere in the range of 75 to 100 million minted coins to be made available. The number of coins being minted have seen a steady decrease since the the initial George Washington mint of about 340 million coins. As with the other coins, the Abraham Lincoln coin will carry the trademark E PLURIBUS UNUM inscription along the edge of the coin. The reverse side will feature the Statue of Liberty.

The cost for a Presidential coins vary depending on the source. Numismatic value of coins will always vary with quality of the coin, rareness, and desirability of the buyer. The going rate for a set of encased Presidential coins from any of the issue years: 2007, 2008, 2009 will vary from about $20 to $35, depending on the source of purchase, and the Presidents that are included in each set.

The next release following Abraham Lincoln will be the Andrew Johnson $1 coin, to be issued in early 2011.