50 State Quarters
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Image:2005 Obverse Proof.png The 50 State Quarters program is the release of a series of commemorative coins by the United States Mint. Between 1999 and 2008 (the anticipated completion date), it features each of the United States' 50 individual U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter.
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The state quarter program
During the program, a new statehood quarter is released by the United States Mint every "quintile," or 1/5th of a year (73 days); five designs are released each year. Each quarter's reverse celebrates one of the 50 states with a design honoring its unique history, traditions and symbols, usually designed by a resident of that state and chosen by the state government.
The quarters are released in the same order that the states joined the Union. The obverse of each quarter is the same, but is a redesign of the previous design of the quarter.
The statehood quarters program has become one of the most popular commemorative coin programs in United States history; the United States Mint has estimated that over one hundred million individuals have collected state quarters, either formally or informally.
Although the statehood program is, by legislation, intended to include only the 50 states, legislation has twice been introduced in Congress to extend the program an additional year to include the District of Columbia, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. As of June 2005, this legislation had not reached a floor vote.
However, the 1997 act that authorized the statehood quarter program provided that if the federal district, or any of the territories or commonwealths, became states before 2009, that new state would get a quarter.
Quarter details
Quarter-dollar coin images from the United States Mint.
Year map
The following map shows the years each state is released as a State Quarter. Image:State Quarters Year Map.png
The following table has states grouped by year.
| Color | Year | 1st State | 2nd State | 3rd State | 4th State | 5th State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Delaware | Pennsylvania | New Jersey | Georgia | Connecticut | |
| 2000 | Massachusetts | Maryland | South Carolina | New Hampshire | Virginia | |
| 2001 | New York | North Carolina | Rhode Island | Vermont | Kentucky | |
| 2002 | Tennessee | Ohio | Louisiana | Indiana | Mississippi | |
| 2003 | Illinois | Alabama | Maine | Missouri | Arkansas | |
| 2004 | Michigan | Florida | Texas | Iowa | Wisconsin | |
| 2005 | California | Minnesota | Oregon | Kansas | West Virginia | |
| 2006 | Nevada | Nebraska | Colorado | North Dakota | South Dakota | |
| 2007 | Montana | Washington | Idaho | Wyoming | Utah | |
| 2008 | Oklahoma | New Mexico | Arizona | Alaska | Hawaii |
Collectible value
The U.S. Mint designed the state quarters series, not as a potentially valuable collectible, but as a way of spurring interest in U.S. coinage - which had seen relatively few changes in design in the past 50 years - and in U.S. history. While mintage totals of the various designs vary widely – Virginia quarters are almost four times more abundant than Maine issues — none of the regular circulating issues are sufficiently rare enough to become valuable investments.
There was, however, a measure of collector interest and controversy over die errors in the Wisconsin quarter. Some designs feature corn without a smaller leaf, others feature a small leaf pointing upwards, and still others have the leaf bending down. [1] A set of all three quarters from the Philadelphia mint sold on eBay in February 2005 for $300.
No other variations on any other state quarter issues have been noted as of 2005.
Design issues
A design contest winner for the Missouri quarter, Paul Jackson, has claimed that the Mint engraver's interpretation of the design was "dumbed down". The Mint stated that Jackson's design was not coinable. [2]
Shortly after the Georgia quarter was released, there was an article in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press about an apparent mistake in the quarter. The outline of the state of Georgia on the quarter appears to have accidentally left out Dade County, which is the county in the extreme northwestern part of the state.
There has also been some controversy over the Tennessee quarter. Some sources claim that the details on the instruments depicted on the quarter are inaccurate, such as the number of strings on the guitar and the location of the tubing on the trumpet.
One of the final concepts for the Tennessee quarter was based on the Native American leader Sequoyah, who created the Cherokee alphabet.
One of the final concepts for the Nebraska quarter was based on the Ponca leader Standing Bear, who, in a suit brought against the federal government, successfully argued that Native Americans were citizens entitled to rights under the U.S. Constitution.
The Charter Oak on the back of the Connecticut quarter fell during a storm on August 21, 1856.
The Old Man of the Mountain, featured on the back of the New Hampshire quarter, collapsed in 2003.
During the submission process for the design of the West Virginia quarter, there was an apparent movement to put the famous Mothman on the final design.
Several quarters have stars as part of their design. On the designs for New Hampshire, New York, Indiana, and Illinois, the stars represent the order in which the state ratified the Constitution. For example, New Hampshire has nine stars, as it is the ninth state. The three stars in the background of Tennessee's design symbolize the three grand divisions of the state; East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee, and not the state's entry number as Tennessee was the sixteenth state to be admitted to the Union. Texas has a star representing its title as the Lone Star State.
The Alabama state quarter is the first coin circulated in the U.S. that features Braille.
On May 4, 2005, The Onion ran a satirical news story titled "U.S. Mint Gears Up To Issue Commemorative County Pennies" [3].
See also
- United States Mint
- United States Commemorative Coin
- Westward Journey Nickel Series
- Quarter (U.S. coin)