I know that's the case for 2009 nickels...not sure of the real reason. I've heard that all the 2009 nickels (a majority really) were shipped to the philipines or some u.s. territory. I've just not been interested enough to research it. Not sure if the Dimes followed suite or not.
people posted here about it at the time. Folks were saving any they could find. I found only 4 or 5...
The explanation holds true for both the 2009 nickel and dime. In 2008 the economy crashed, people lost their jobs, and a LOT of people were just scraping by. In order to make ends meet people started taking all their change jars back to the bank. The banks, not needing so much coinage, shipped it back to the Federal Reserve. That FLOODED the Fed with coinage. With so much on hand they told the mint that they would not be needing to order any new coins for the foreseeable future. So the Mint announced in March 2009 that they were ending production of the nickels and dimes and that they would not be making anymore that year. That meant that the 2009 nickels and dimes had the lowest mintage for the past 50 years, often by a WIDE margin. Then the next problem came along. The Fed policy is that when coins are ordered by banks the order is filled first from circulated coins on hand, then from any older uncirculated coins on hand, and then lastly from current newly struck coins. But the Fed had TONS and TONS of circulated coins on hand that had come in from all those change jars and the new 2009 nickels and dimes would not be released until that backlog of circulated coins was distributed. So month after month none of these low mintage coins could be found at the banks and demand/desire to find them kept growing. Then the first rolls finally turned up, in the Puerto Rico. Demand went crazy and the first examples of the 2009 coin put up on ebay brought crazy money. The first 2009 nickel brought $118. The first rolls brought hundreds of dollars. Prices like that increased desirability and the prices were widely reported. When the 2009 dimes and nickels finally started appearing across the country they were snatched up and hoarded which continued to keep them out of circulation. Since people still couldn't find them in circulation it has perpetuated the "these coins are rare" idea ever since. But if you look at it realistically, yes those mintage are low, but because of the hoarding most of them are still in existence in MS condition and even with their low mintages there are MILLIONS more MS coins than there are collectors. Every single collector in the country, whether they have any interest in the nickel or dime, could have multiple MS coins. Hardly something I would call rare. They are hard to find in circulation, but they are easily available, you just have to pay the price.
