As the First Spouse Gold Coin series prepares to enter its fourth year of release, sales seem to have established a new baseline of demand for the 2009 issues. The 2007 coins were all heavy sellers with the first three coins selling 20,000 proof and uncirculated versions each. The 2008 coins saw a decline in sales with all uncirculated coins selling less than 5,000 coins each and all proof coins selling fewer than 8,000 coins each.

All of the 2009 releases still remain on sale. Current sales data suggests that this year will find a slightly lower base of demand. The uncirculated issues seem to be lining up for final sales of less than 4,000 for uncirculated issues and lower than 7,000 for proof coins. All issues still remain available for sale, so this can certainly change.

Here is the latest sales data for 2009 releases as of February 21, 2010. View all First Spouse Coin mintages.

The United States Mint has unveiled the designs to be used for the 2010 First Spouse Gold Coins. These will represent the fourteenth through seventeenth releases in the ongoing series. Included are two likely highlights for collectors- the James Buchanan’s Liberty coin, which reproduces the design from the Liberty Head Quarter Eagle and the Mary Todd Lincoln coin, which will feature one of the best known First Ladies.

The line art designs released by the United States Mint are shown below for each of the four releases:

2010 Abigail Fillmore First Spouse Gold Coin

This coin features a portrait of Abigail Fillmore and a scene of her putting books on a shelf in the White House library, which she established with an appropriation granted by Congress. The obverse was designed by Phebe Hemphill and the reverse was designed by Susan Gamble.

2010 Jane Pierce First Spouse Gold Coin

The Jane Pierce coin features her portrait on the obverse and a scene of her watching Senate debates on the reverse. She is shown within the visitor’s gallery of the Old Senate Chamber in the US Capitol Building where she was known to have listened to the debates about slavery. The coin was designed by Donna Weaver.

2010 James Buchanan’s Liberty First Spouse Gold Coin

Because James Buchanan served as President without a spouse, an image emblematic of Liberty is used for the obverse. The design is a reproduction of Christian Gobrecht’s Liberty Head Gold Quarter Eagle with added inscriptions. The reverse of the coin depicts a scene from James Buchanan’s youth, when he worked as a bookkeeper in the family country store. The reverse was designed by David Westwood.

2010 Mary Todd Lincoln First Spouse Gold Coin

The Mary Todd Lincoln coin will be the last releaes of the year and a possible focus for many collectors. The obverse features her portrait and the reverse depicts her visiting wounded Civil War soldiers to bring them books and flowers. The obverse was designed by Phebe Hemphill and the reverse was designed by Joel Iskowitz.

Last year, the US Mint offered a limited number of gold coins for collectors, which potentially helped support interest in the First Spouse Gold Coin series. So far the schedule for 2010 coins does not include any gold coins besides the four releases of the First Spouse series. The status of the collectible Gold Buffalo and Gold Eagle offerings has not been confirmed.

On December 3, 2009, the United States Mint released the Margaret Taylor First Spouse Gold Coin. This was the last of five coins released during the year for the series.

The obverse of the coin features a portrait of Margaret Taylor and the reverse is a scene of her bandaging a wounded soldier during the Seminole War. Prior to her husband’s Presidency, she had followed him during his military career to many outpost and hardship locations.

When the coins were released they were priced at $754 for the proof vesion and $741 for the uncirculated version. This was the highest starting price ever for a coin of the First Spouse Gold Coin series. After the recent pull back in the price of gold, the prices have been reduced to $729 and $716.

So far, the US Mint has recorded sales of 2,249 of the proof version and 1,248 of the uncirculated version for the Margaret Taylor First Spouse Gold Coin. This is running slightly below the pace of sales for prevoius releases.