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.

With the First Spouse Gold Coin series now approaching the end of its third year of release, the mintages for coins released so far present some interesting trends.

The table below presents the mintage figures for the First Spouse Gold coins release so far. The coins from Martha Washington to Andrew Jackson’s Liberty are no longer available for sale directly from the US Mint. The coins from Martin Van Buren’s Liberty onward remain available for sale so mintages will continue to rise.

The coin series began with much fanfare, selling out the first three issues completely. Following the initial buzz, sales declined and fell into a new range. The releases for 2008 all have mintages within the 4,000 range for uncirculated coins and 7,000 range for proof coins.

As customary with US Mint product releases, the proof version of each coin has outsold the uncirculated version. The margin is not as wide as experienced for some recent commemorative coins where the proof version has sold more than double the uncirculated version.

Will the low mintages of some coins lead to higher secondary market prices? It has been a question on the minds of collectors of the series for some time. On the one hand, low mintage coins usually attract a premium over time. On the other hand, it seems that nearly all First Spouse Gold coins will have low mintages compared to commemorative coins, negating some of the allure.

The sales figures for the latest release of the First Spouse Gold Coin Series are encouraging. The latest coin honoring Martin Van Buren’s Liberty First Spouse Gold Coin was released on November 25, 2008.

The sales figures through November 30, 2008 show 2,845 proof coins and 1,603 uncirculated coins sold. This makes a total of 4,448 coins altogether. While this is a very far cry from the one day sell outs for the first three issues of the series, this is a stronger initial performance than other recent releases.

The reason for some of the renewed interest in the series might be the design of the coin, which is taken from Christian Gobrecht’s Liberty Seated Dime. Even though, arguably less creative than brand new designs, these classic designs often strike a chord with many collectors. Previous First Spouse Gold coins that have re-used classic designs also include Thomas Jefferson’s Liberty and the recent Andrew Jackson’s Liberty.

These “Liberty” series coins might one day be viewed as an interesting subset of the First Spouse Gold coin series. For President’s who served their terms in office without a spouse, the obverse designs are taken from circulating coins of their era. The next coin which will re-use a classic design will be James Buchanan’s Liberty, slated for 2010 release.

A second reason for the renewed interest in the series might be the lower pricing. The US Mint recently repriced all 2008 First Spouse Gold coins to levels more appropriate for the current price of gold. The latest coins were released at the same price levels.

It will be interesting to continue monitoring First Spouse Gold releases to see if the latest coin does in fact represent a shift in collector perspective and a renewed interest in the series.