2009 Kennedy Half Dollar Bags and Rolls Approaching Sell Out?

The 2009 Kennedy Half Dollar bags and rolls originally went on sale at the US Mint on January 22, 2009. Now is a good time to revisit the offering since the number of coins sold by the US Mint is approaching the total number of coins they have produced to date.

Since 2002, the US Mint has not minted the Kennedy Half Dollar for circulation, but instead produced a limited number of coins for collectors. "Circulation strike" coins have been sold in various bags and rolls offerings at a premium to face value. Sales have generally fallen over time, prompting the US Mint to produce fewer coins each year.

Last year, the US Mint produced 3.4 million 2008 Kennedy Halves, divided evenly between the Philadelphia and Denver Mint. They ultimately sold 9,701 200-coin bags and 33,413 Two Roll Sets. If you multiply out to individual coins, this represented 3.27 million coins sold.

So far this year, the US Mint has produced 3.4 million 2009 Kennedy Halves, also divided evenly between the Philadelphia and Denver Mint facilities. Figures from this week's Mint Stats show 8,463 200-coin bags sold and 34,934 Two Roll Sets sold. This represents a total of nearly 3.09 million coins sold in bags and rolls.

The current pace of sales indicates that the remaining 300,000 or so coins will not last much longer. Over the past two weeks, the US Mint sold 489 200-coin bags and 1,359 Two Roll Sets. This comes out to 152,160 coins. If sales of the coins continue at this pace, the US Mint's current supply would be exhausted within about a month.

The US Mint will have two options. They can produce more 2009 Kennedy Half Dollars and continue selling them to collectors in bags and rolls, or they can simply end the offering. I think the second option is the more likely.

This year the US Mint seems to be making a concerted effort to avoid over producing products. They have shown a preference to slightly under produce a product and have it sell out early, rather than over to over produce a product and leave it lingering within their product catalog. If the US Mint continues this preference, it seems likely that the 2009 Kennedy Half Dollars will sell out soon.

Thanks to a few anonymous readers who left comments about the 2009 Kennedy Half Dollars, which prompted this post.