With a mintage of 634 million, the new 2009 Lincoln cents have been surprisingly difficult to find so far.

The new 2009 Log Cabin Lincoln cents were first introduced on February 12, 2009 to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birth. However, many financial institutions failed to order the new cents, since some of them weren't aware of the new coins being released. Other financial institutions just did not bother to order the new cents, as they had more than enough pre-2009 cents to meet the public's demand. As a result, many coin dealers and collectors are struggling to obtain the new cents, even in circulation. Some of the coin rolls issued from the banks are selling anywhere from $3 to $5 for each roll and sometimes much more.

Some of the boxes containing 50 rolls (or $25 worth) of 2009 Lincoln cents are fetching $200 or more. Individual coins are also being sold for 50 cents to a dollar each in some places.

While a mintage of 634 million cents may not seem scarce, the coins do have a much smaller mintage compared to previous years. The mintage for 2007 cents was over six billion, and previous years had about the same mintages or sometimes higher. Therefore, compared to the production of previous years, the 2009 cents may in fact hold the current market prices they have been realizing.

The U.S. Mint did indicate that the Federal Reserve has coins in its inventory and those coins are still being distributed to financial institutions. Only time will tell if the 2009 cents will hold the current premiums they have been bringing in the market.

On May 14, 2009, the Mint will release the second Lincoln cent design, depicting young Abraham Lincoln educating himself while taking a break from working as a rail splitter in Indiana. To order the coins, visit the U.S. Mint website.