2010-P Abraham Lincoln

Philadelphia struck 49,000,000 Abraham Lincoln dollars in 2010, the highest Philadelphia mintage of the year and roughly a million pieces above the Denver figure for the same design. The numbers stand out against the rest of the 2010 lineup (Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan all came in lower at both mints) and the gap is not accidental: Lincoln has appeared on more circulating United States coins than any other president, and bag-and-roll buyers told the United States Mint to plan accordingly. The coin entered general distribution on November 18, 2010, the fourth and final issue of the year, and shares calendar 2010 with the four Lincoln Bicentennial cent reverses (Birth Cabin, Indiana Childhood, Illinois Statehood, Capitol). The mintmark and date are incused on the edge in a third strike rather than the obverse, applied after the design dies pressed the faces. Don Everhart sculpted both the Lincoln obverse portrait and the Statue of Liberty reverse.

Two specific issues matter at the cherry-picking level. Plain-edge errors, where a planchet bypassed the edge-lettering press entirely, surface on 2010 dollars but at far lower rates than the 2007 Washington issue that triggered the original "Godless dollar" coverage; authenticated examples certified by PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, or NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, command three- and four-figure premiums depending on grade. Doubled edge lettering also exists. On the strike side, Lincoln's beard and the high points of his hair are the first details to soften, so MS66 and MS67 examples with full sharpness in those areas are scarcer than the population reports might suggest. A new collector should examine the portrait's high relief first; that is where strike judgment is made.

The Philadelphia Lincoln is a common date best acquired in original Mint-wrapped rolls and bags from the Mint's product run, with the highest-grade examples cherry-picked from that source. Slabbed MS67 coins are inexpensive enough that buying one outright often costs less than searching ten rolls hoping for a match. For program-wide context, including why circulation distribution ended in December 2011, see the Presidential Dollar series history.