US Gold Coins Margaret Taylor First Spouse $10 Dollars Gold Coin
First Lady of the United States 1849–1850
The Margaret Taylor Gold Coin features the portrait of the First Lady on the obverse. The inscriptions include “Margaret Taylor”, “In God We Trust”, “Liberty”, the order of the Presidency “12th”, the years of the Presidential term “1849-1850″, and the date and mint mark “2009 W”. The obverse was designed by Phebe Hemphill and sculpted by Charles Vickers.
Margaret Mackall Smith "Peggy" Taylor (September 21, 1788 – August 14,1852), wife of Zachary Taylor, was First Lady of the United States from 1849 to 1850.
Zachary Taylor once commented that Margaret "Peggy" Mackall Smith Taylor "was as much of a soldier as I was." For 30 years, she followed her husband during his military career to remote hardship outposts that stretched from Louisiana to northern Wisconsin, creating homes for her family in tents, cabins and forts.
After many years of living a nomadic Army life, Margaret Taylor was happy to finally have a permanent home in a renovated "Spanish cottage" in Baton Rouge. The Army, however, soon had other plans for Zachary Taylor, calling upon him to serve in the Mexican-American War, from which he emerged as a national hero. When he became President, Margaret turned all official White House hostess duties over to their daughter, Betty Bliss. She lived life just as she would have back in Baton Rouge, with informal family gatherings and visits by her grandchildren.
The reverse of the coin depicts a younger Margaret Taylor caring for a wounded soldier. During the Seminole War, Margaret Taylor nursed wounded soldiers returning from the battlefield and counseled the young wives of soldiers as they awaited news from the front. The coin’s reverse inscriptions read “United States of America”, “E Pluribus Unum”, the legal tender face value “$10″, and the gold content and purity “1/2 oz., .9999 Fine Gold”. Design credit of the reverse goes to Mary Beth Zeitz, with sculpting performed by Jim Licaretz.
Coin Specifications and Mintages
Date: 2009
Mint: West Point (W)
Mintage: 4,936 (proof), 3,627 (uncirculated)
Designers: Phebe Hemphill (obverse), Mary Beth Zeitz (reverse)
Composition: 0.9999 Gold
Weight: 0.5000 troy oz. (15.554 g)
Diameter: 1.041 inches (26.49 mm)
Thickness: 0.074 inches (1.88 mm)
Representing the last release of the third year for the series was the Margaret Taylor First Spouse Gold Coin. This coin honored the wife of the 12th President Zachary Taylor, although the coin was the thirteenth release of the series overall.
By this point of the series, interest had cooled significantly, but finally seemed to establish a base level of demand from dedicated collectors. After the Dolley Madison Gold Coin had failed to sell the maximum mintage, sales levels had continued to drop in the second and third years of the series. Finally signs of stabilization were seen around the 8,000 coin per issue level.
The United States Mint offered both proof and uncirculated versions of the coin for sale to the public starting on December 3, 2009. The original pricing was established at $754 and $741 for the proof and uncirculated versions, respectively. An overall limit of 40,000 coins across both options was established, with an initial household limit of ten coins per option per household.
The coins would remain available for sale at the US Mint into the following year, with the ordering limit eventually removed. Prices would fluctuate based on the prevailing price of gold. Just before the conclusion of sales on December 2, 2010, the coins were priced at $854 and $841 each.
The final mintages reached 3,627 uncirculated and 4,936 proof coins . The overall total of 8,563 was below the level of the prior issue.
US Gold Coins
First Spouse Gold Coins Program
2007 First Spouse Gold Coins
2008 First Spouse Gold Coins
2009 First Spouse Gold Coins
Anna Harrison Letitia Tyler Julia Tyler Sarah Polk Margaret Taylor
2010 First Spouse Gold Coins
2011 First Spouse Gold Coins
2012 First Spouse Gold Coins
2013 First Spouse Gold Coins
2014 First Spouse Gold Coins
2015 First Spouse Gold Coins