2009 Coins Are Out There, Right?

The 2009 pennies are difficult to find in circulation from my experience. I can only presume this is because of the unique designs for this year. People must be hoarding them even though the vast majority of them are only worth a penny. I can't say I've tried other denominations for 2009 so I have no real experience with those. I finally decided the best thing to do was to just buy uncirculated and proof sets to get the pennies for that year. They are abundantly available for reasonable prices. I suggest you attend a coin show where the dealer concentration produces more competition. Good luck.

They're out there. As the weeks, months, and years go by, I search through a very large number of coins--the key is volume. For reasons we all pretty much understand, 2009 coins aren't found in abundance, but they do turn up now and then. Volume and persistence--it does take time. Of course, a quicker way to gather them is to tap into coin shops, coin shows, and online sources.

In the 12 years I've searched through my pocket change, I've yet to find a 2009 nickel or dime. I had to purchase them to complete my Dansco albums. I've seen a fair number of the cents and quarters, though.

According to the U.S. mint, 3,548,000,000 circulating 2009-dated coins were struck in 2009. Normally they are well over 12 Billion struck a year from all denominations for a long time.

The mint set is an option, but those coins had a satin finish that year and are slightly different than the circulation strikes. I'd say you really have to hunt to find them and actively get rolls, search, and turn in rolls and repeat over and over to get what you want at no cost. 2009s will be hard.

2009 Lincoln Cent Mintages
Philadelphia ... Denver

Birthplace
284,400,000 ... 350,400,000

Formative Years
376,000,000 ... 363,600,000

Professional Life
316,000,000 ... 336,000,000

Presidency
129,600,000 ... 198,000,000


2009 Jefferson nickel
Philadelphia ... Denver
39,840,000 ... 46,800,000


2009 Roosevelt dime
Philadelphia ... Denver
96,500,000 ... 49,500,000


2009 Quarters
Philadelphia ... Denver

District of Columbia Quarter
88,800,000 ... 83,600,000

Puerto Rico Quarter
86,000,000 ... 53,200,000

Guam Quarter
42,600,000 ... 45,000,000

American Samoa Quarter
39,600,000 ... 42,600,000

US Virgin Islands Quarter
41,000,000 ... 41,000,000

Northern Mariana Islands Quarter
37,600,000 ... 35,200,000

they are all lower mintage than normal, and are buried in the roughly 2-4x normal production rates of the years before and after. Quarters from 2009-2012 are also lower than normal mintages, 2012 P or D being the lowest and hardest to find. 2012 P Acadia National park at just under 21.6 million struck, and 2012 P or D Chaco culture right at 22 million each struck are the lowest of the ATB series. They are out there, there's just many more of many other dates out there than there are of them.

I hope this helps to understand what you are up against, it's not impossible, but it will take forever to randomly come across them in pocket change, if you are really searching for them, it increases the chances by a lot, and it will still take time to get "decent" examples, and that gets worse and worse every year of circulation.

I can attest to the Hoarding of these 2009 pennies .
Oh heck ,just realized I have over 50 OBW rolls ; All mints and reverse's .

I've never seen a 2009 Nickel in circulation.

I do remember getting a few 2009 dimes; some I remember getting in change at the snack bar at the swimming pool we belonged to that year and then there were a few 2009-D's even that showed up in Southern Ohio and Southern Indiana that I came across.

I didn't really look at the quarters for the most part but I do have a proof and mint set from the US mint for 2009 so I do have examples of all of the coins for that year.

I do see the occasional 2009 Lincoln, usually an LP-1 (Birthplace) or LP-2 (Formative Years). Don't Think I've ever seen an LP-4 (Presidency) in circulation either.

And like T-Bop, I did stash some Lincoln rolls of each variety and mink mark - I have a bunch a LP-2 rolls I got at the release ceremony in 2009; drug the wife and two boys along and made them all stand in line for their 5 rolls. The boys kept theirs but the wife donated hers to me and then I waited in line a second time for another 5 rolls when they went and explored the park. It was a memorable trip to be honest.

@HCIX, in 2009 the mint held release ceremonies for each of the four Lincoln cents. The first was held at Lincoln's birthplace in Hogdenville, KY. Thought about going to that one but didn't get organized. The second, which I DID go to, was in Lincoln City, IN - not too far north from Louisville, KY. I'm pretty familiar with that general area as I worked for a few weeks on a project in Jasper and we've also been to Corydon and French Lick for weekend trips as well. The third ceremony was in Springfield, IL. Was close to going to that one but couldn't arrange it schedule wise. And then the final one was in Washington, DC - pretty far from me so a no go.

Anyway, the release ceremony was a great experience. Rained like all get out all the way there but the skies cleared right as we got to the park. Listened to a short ceremony and then we headed to wait in line to buy rolls. They gave a single coin to each kid as we left the ceremony, so my two boys were among the first to get their hands on a 2009 Formative Years cent. Some people then were waiting in a long line to get the rolls stamped at the Lincoln City post office but we just headed home since it was a 2+ hour drive back to Cincinnati. Great time overall though.

I found two 2009-P dimes from circulation in the last few weeks. They are out there!