The US Mint has now unveiled the designs for the upcoming 2009 First Spouse Gold Coins. Next year will feature five different coins instead of the usual four since one of the Presidents had a first and second wife.

Next years coins will honor: Anna Harrison, Letitia Tyler, Julia Tyler, Sarah Polk, and Margaret Taylor. The artists versions of the designs are included below.

Anna Harrison First Spouse Gold - She was the wife of President William Henry Harrison. He was only President for 30 days. Notably Mrs. Harrison never made the journey to Washington DC due to an illness. The reverse depicts the First Lady sharing her joy of teaching with children.

Letitia Tyler First Spouse Gold - She was the first wife of President John Tyler. She also served as the Second Lady briefly during Willaim Henry Harrion’s presidency. The served as First Lady until her death in 1842. The reverse depicts her with her two children at Cedar Grove Plantation.

Julia Tyler First Spouse Gold - She was the second wife of President John Tyler. They were married on June 26, 1844. She served as the First Lady for the final eight months of his presidency. The reverse depicts her dancing with her husband.

Sarah Polk First Spouse Gold - She was the wife of President James K. Polk. Mrs. Polk served as her husband’s private secretary during his Presidency. The reverse design portrays her working in this capacity next to her husband.

Margaret Taylor First Spouse Gold - She was the wife of President Zachary Taylor. She spent 30 years following her husband during his military career. The reverse design shows her nursing a wounded soldier returning from the battlefield.

The latest coin in the First Spouse Gold Coin series went on sale August 28, 2008 at the US Mint.

The coin is known as Andrew Jackson’s Liberty First Spouse Gold Coin. Since Andrew Jackson did not have a spouse while serving as President, the obverse design of the coin bears an image of a circulating coin from his era.

The obverse design features a reproductoin of the Capped Bust, Lettered Edge Half Dollar. This coin was minted from 1807 to 1836 and originally design by John Reich. The reverse design features Andrew Jackson known as “Old Hickory” on horseback.

Each coin contains one-half ounce of 24 karat gold. Coins will be offered in both proof and uncirculated versions. There is a maximum authorized mintage of 40,000 across both proof and uncirculated coins.

The proof version of the coin is priced at $619.95 and the unicirculated version is priced at $599.95. Even though this represents a significant premium above the precious metal value, it is in line with pricing of other recent releases.

The First Spouse Gold Coin series launched in 2007 with much fanfare.  The first two coins released sold out within the first day of sales at the US Mint.  This built up anticipation for the third coin of the series, which also sold out on the first day.  However, by the fourth coin of the series, enthusiasm had clearly diminished.

This post will take a look at the mintage figures (or sales figures to date) for the all of the coins released so far in the First Spouse Gold Coin series.

The table below is accurate as of May 22, 2008. The figures come from those reported by Numismaster.

2007 & 2008 First Spouse Gold Mintages

There were numerous factors that have caused the decline in popularity of the series.  I think that the primary reason is the increase in prices.  When the coins were first offered fro sale, they were priced at $410.95 and $429.95 for uncirculated and proof coins respectively.  The price for the latest release was $599.95 and $619.95, an increase of nearly $200.

Further exacerbating the increasing price was a recent sharp decrease in the price of gold.  Even though the price of gold dropped by almost $200 per ounce the Mint did not readjust prices to lower levels.  This definitely had a negative impact on sales.

Other reasons for the declining sales statistics may include: the tendency for a series to lose interest as it moves on, the appearance of other popular series such as the Bald Eagle Commemorative, and the diminishing premiums paid for the prior sold out First Spouse Gold Coins.

At the end of the day, the decreased mintages may actually present an opportunity.  Everyone will recall one of the modern rarities is the 1997-W Jackie Robinson Gold Coin.  This coin had a mintage of only 5,174 and is considered quite scarce today.  Something to keep in mind as we watch the First Spouse Gold Series continue.