2009-D Zachary Taylor

Denver struck 36,680,000 Zachary Taylor dollars in 2009, the lowest Denver figure of any 2009 Presidential issue and a sharp drop from the 43,540,000 Tyler total recorded earlier the same year. Taylor closed out 2009 as the fourth and final design, released November 19 after Polk, Tyler, and William Henry Harrison had each taken a turn on roughly quarterly schedule. The cut reflected the Federal Reserve already sitting on enormous unreleased Presidential Dollar inventory from 2007 and 2008. Susan Gamble designed the obverse portrait, Don Everhart sculpted the working dies, and Everhart's Statue of Liberty reverse, used on every business-strike Presidential Dollar through 2016, completes the coin. The "D" mintmark sits on the edge alongside the date and the mottoes, applied in a third pressing after the obverse and reverse dies struck the faces.

What collectors look for on a 2009-D Taylor is straightforward. Strike is generally crisp at Denver, with cleaner detail in Taylor's hair and uniform recess relief on the Statue of Liberty than the typical Philadelphia counterpart of the same year. The recurring quality issues are the standard Presidential Dollar cluster: roller marks across the obverse fields, small bag marks on Taylor's cheek and chin, and the dull yellowish toning that develops on manganese-brass alloy when stored uncovered. Missing-edge-lettering errors exist on this issue, far scarcer than on the original 2007 Washington that generated the "Godless dollar" coverage but legitimate when authenticated through PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, or NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company. Doubled edge lettering also turns up at minor-variety prices.

For the date-and-mintmark collector, the 2009-D Taylor remains an inexpensive coin through MS66 despite the low mintage; the absolute supply is still measured in tens of millions, and the date has not generated separate condition-rarity demand. The interest sits at MS67 and above, where strike crispness and clean fields around the portrait thin populations meaningfully. Most buyers acquire the issue through original Mint-wrapped rolls or two-coin Philadelphia and Denver sets rather than slabbed singles. For program-wide context including the 2012 transition to collector-only distribution, see the Presidential Dollar series history.