2009-D William Henry Harrison

Denver struck 55,160,000 William Henry Harrison dollars in 2009, the ninth design of the Presidential series and the first issue of the new calendar year, released February 19, 2009. The mintage was the smaller of the two 2009 Harrison figures and continued the steep falloff in Federal Reserve orders that began in 2008, as commercial banks still held large unmoved inventories of the 2007 and 2008 issues. Joseph Menna designed and sculpted the obverse portrait of the ninth president, paired with Don Everhart's Statue of Liberty reverse that ran across the entire program. The date, mintmark, mottoes, and E PLURIBUS UNUM remained on the incused edge rather than either face.

Strike quality on the Denver Harrison is generally crisp through the central portrait, with the high collar and tightly cropped hair holding well on early-die examples; the first wear shows up along the upper hair and on the torch flame on the reverse. The Plain Edge errors that produced the famous 2007 Washington missing-edge varieties had been largely engineered out by 2009, so genuine no-edge-lettering 2009 Harrison examples are scarce and command meaningful premiums when authenticated. They are also far more often faked through post-mint tooling than discovered legitimately, so confirmation through PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, or NGC is the only safe path for any apparent edge anomaly. The manganese-brass alloy tones aggressively to honey or olive within a few years of striking; bright yellow surfaces years after issue almost always indicate cleaning.

The 2009-D Harrison is a common date through Mint State 67, with rolls and Mint sets available at modest premiums over face. Mint State 68 carries the usual condition-rarity premium driven by surface scarcity rather than absolute rarity. Cherry-picking original rolls for upper-end pieces still works on this date for collectors willing to do the work. For broader background see the Presidential Dollar series history.