Statehood Quarters

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50 State Quarters

The 50 State Quarters program is the release of a series of commemorative coins by the United States Mint. Between 1999 and 2008, it is featuring each of the 50 individual U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter and, by the passage of , 2009 will feature the District of Columbia and the nation's five territories.

The program was conceived as a means of creating a new generation of coin collectors, and in that it succeeded. The 50 State Quarters program became the most successful numismatic program in history, with roughly half of the U.S. population collecting the coins. The U.S. federal government so far has made a profit of $4.6 billion from collectors taking the coins out of circulation.

History

The program's origins are with the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee, which was appointed by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen in December 1993. By 1995, the committee had already endorsed a circulating commemorative coin when Congressman Michael Castle called for hearings. Mint director Philip Diehl picks up the commentary: "The idea of a circulating commemorative has been around the hobby for decades, but frankly, good ideas are a dime a dozen. Far more rare is the ability to move an idea to reality, especially in the rough and tumble environment of Washington, D.C. From my vantage point, the lion's share of the credit for making the 50 States program a reality goes to David Ganz, for his persistence as an advocate, and Congressman Michael Castle for championing the proposal through Congress. David gradually persuaded me of the merits of the proposal, and we at the Mint, in turn, convinced Treasury and the Hill that it was doable. There are other claimants, to be sure, but the hobby owes a debt of gratitude to Congressman Castle and Mr. Ganz. The program was first introduced by Rep. Michael Castle in 1997 as but only passed in the House. Sen. John Chafee introduced three days after HR 2414 passed the House. S. 1228 passed in the Senate on November 9, 1997 and the House on November 13, 1997. President Bill Clinton signed the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act into law on December 1, 1997. The first state quarter, which featured Delaware, was released into circulation in 1999.

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, or ten weeks), meaning that 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 a slight 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.

Applicability to non-states

Although the statehood program was, by legislation, originally intended to include only the 50 states, legislation was signed into law in late 2007 to include the remaining jurisdictions of the nation. A bill had been introduced five times in the United States Congress to extend the program an additional year to include the District of Columbia, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. During the 106th, 107th, 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses, these bills had passed through the House of Representatives, and even had 34 Senate sponsors for the Senate bill during the 108th; however, none of these bills were passed by the Senate. , the version in the 109th Congress, passed the House by voice vote in the early hours of December 9, 2006, just before it adjourned sine die; but the Senate adjourned sine die shortly thereafter without considering the bill. The 110th Congress version of the bill, was introduced on January 10, 2007 by the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño and was passed by the House of Representatives on January 23, 2007.

On December 10, 2007, Puerto Rico-born Rep. José Serrano, D-NY, attached HR 392's language to the Omnibus Spending Bill that the House passed. The bill passed in the US Senate on September 6; President Bush signed the bill on December 26. The additional six coins to be minted in 2009 are expected to generate renewed interest in the series, generate over $400 million in additional revenue to the Treasury, and lead many publishers to produce new products to accommodate the additional six coins. HR 2764 also moves the "In God We Trust" from the edge to the obverse or reverse of the Presidential $1 Coin Program.

The 1997 act that authorized the statehood quarter program had originally provided that if the federal district, or any of the territories or commonwealths, became states before 2009, that new state would get a quarter.

List of designs

Year map

The following map shows the years each state, federal district, or territory is released as a State Quarter.

The following table has the quarters grouped by year.
Year	1st release	2nd release	3rd release	4th release	5th release	6th release
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
2009	District of Columbia	Puerto Rico	Guam	American Samoa	U.S. Virgin Islands	Northern Mariana Islands

District of Columbia and territories

District of Columbia

The District of Columbia submitted three different designs to the United States Mint for its quarter: one with the District's flag, one depicting Benjamin Banneker, and one depicting Duke Ellington. The District suggested that each of the three designs include either the words "Taxation Without Representation" or "No Taxation Without Representation", both of which refer to the District's efforts to obtain full representation in Congress. The Mint rejected both messages, because of its prohibition against printing controversial inscriptions on coins. The Mint said that, while it takes no stance on the voting rights of the District, it considers the messages controversial because there is currently "no national consensus" on the issue. In response, the District revised its designs for the quarter, replacing the text with "Justice for All", which is the District's motto. The District also changed the design with the District's flag to a design depicting Frederick Douglass. Following a vote by District residents, Mayor Adrian Fenty recommended that the Mint select the design that depicts Duke Ellington, while expressing the District's "disappointment" that the Mint had disallowed the phrase "Taxation Without Representation".

Puerto Rico

The Senate of Puerto Rico approved a resolution in June 2008, co-sponsored by Senate President Kenneth McClintock and Minority Leader José Luis Dalmau urging the United States Mint to select an image of the Arecibo Observatory for Puerto Rico's commemorative quarter.

Collectible value

In 1997, Congress passed 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act, which ordered the creation of the state quarters series to "honor the unique Federal Republic of 50 States that comprise the United States; and to promote the diffusion of knowledge among the youth of the United States about the individual states, their history and geography, and the rich diversity of the national heritage...", and to encourage "young people and their families to collect memorable tokens of all of the States for the face value of the coins.

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 rare enough to become valuable investments. Since, on the average, 16% fewer coins will be minted for each territory and DC than for each state (6 different coins in a year instead of five), the last six coins of the series are expected to be slightly more valuable as collectibles than the states quarters.

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. A set of all three quarters from the Philadelphia mint sold on eBay in February 2005 for $300, and have since seen significant increases.

A 2005 Minnesota double die quarter, as well as a 2005 Minnesota quarter with extra trees (another die error), have both triggered numismatic interest. An unusual die break on some 2005 Kansas quarters created a humpback bison. Relatively more common are Kansas quarters sporting the motto "IN GOD WE RUST".

The 1999 silver proof coinage set is valuable, being the first year of the series and with a relatively small mintage. (The set in base metal is worth only a fraction as much.)

Seigniorage

Seigniorage is the profit gained by a government when it issues currency. The U.S. government discovered at the launch of the State Quarters series that a large number of people were collecting each new quarter as it rolled out of the U.S. Mint, taking the pieces out of circulation. Since it costs the Mint less than five cents for each 25-cent piece it produces, the government made a profit whenever someone bought a coin and chose not to spend it. The U.S. Treasury estimates that it has earned about $4.6 billion in seigniorage revenue from the quarters so far. The addition of six new designs in 2009 to recognize the nation's capital and its five territories is expected to boost seigniorage revenue even further, especially since fewer coins will be minted of each design, because six different coins will be issued that year, instead of the usual five.

Satire

On May 4, 2005, The Onion ran a satirical news story titled "U.S. Mint Gears Up To Issue Commemorative County Pennies".

The Late Night with Conan O'Brien television show has aired several segments about fictional satirical designs for new state quarters.

Sculptor Daniel Carr, whose designs were used for the New York and Rhode Island state quarters and whose concept was adapted for the Maine state quarter, has created a series of parody quarters making light of the state quarter concept.