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4. 50 State Quarters

50 State Quarters Program

One of the largest and most popular United States commemorative coin programs is the 50 State Quarter Program. The concept of this program was to commemorate each of the 50 US States by placing a design on the reverse that represents each State. Every 10 weeks, a new State design would be depicted on the back of the standard Washington Quarter Dollar. Starting in 1999, 5 US States would be honored on the quarter each year over the course of 10 years, up until the end of 2008 when the collection would be complete. In addition, the coins would be released in the order that each State ratified the Constitution and joined the Union of the United States. This new series would become known as the 50 States and Territories Quarters

The origin of this commemorative coin program began in December of 1993, with the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee (CCCAC), appointed by the Secretary of the US Treasury Lloyd Bentsen. The CCCAC was headed by Chairman and Director of the Mint Philip Diehl. Early on during the committee, one of it's member by the name of David Ganz suggested the 50 Statehood quarter program, which was accepted in 1995. The CCCAC then moved to gain support by the House Banking committee, who was in control of the nation's coinage and headed by Representative Michael Castle (R-Delaware). Castle had some concerns about this at first, but Diehl stated that these new coins would be released in the order that each State joined the Union. Once this was cleared up, hearings and new legislation were drafted up in order to approve the 50 State Quarter Program.

At first, the Treasury Department was not convinced that the new program was good. They were opposed to it because they thought this would lead to a "Disneyfication" of US coinage, turning them into merchandise and promotional products. Although the US Mint calculated that the new coins would bring in between $2.6 and $5.1 billion in revenue and $110 million profit from the numismatic community. The Treasury still wasn't buying it, so Mint Director Deihl continued to work with Michael Castle to continue along with the legislation, despite the Treasury's objection. The Treasury requested that Castle's department initiate a study to determine how successful the program would be, and Castle agreed. This was then put into the United States Commemorative Coin Act of 1996, which authorized the 50 State Quarter Program without congressional approval, only if the results of the study proved favorable.

That same year in 1996, the Treasury Department set up a committee to head the feasibility study for the new program. No supporters of the program and no representative from the US Mint were placed into the committee though. The Treasury consulted with Coppers and Lybrands to produce the study. Ultimately, they found that the projections stated by the US Mint, were accurate. Some results predicted that at least 98 million Americans would collect and hold on to at least one set of quarters. Even with these good results, the Treasury was still opposed to the program and would not approve it until the US Congress approved and mandated it. The very next year, The Congress did draft up a mandate for the new program, called the United States Commemorative Coin Program Act, which was then signed into law by US President Bill Clinton on December 1, 1997.

On a side note, at the conclusion of the 50 State Quarter Program, the US Mint reported at least $3 billion in revenue and also over $136 million in profit from the numismatic world. In addition, 147 million Americans actually ended up collecting these quarters. In reality, this program performed better than the studies and what anyone had expected, overall!

The obverse or front of this coin would depict the same design throughout the entire program. William Cousins designed a modified version of the bust of the old George Washington quarter that John Flanagan designed in 1932. The date of these coins was moved to the reverse and was replaced by the words "QUARTER DOLLAR" below Washington's bust. The words "IN GOD WE TRUST" were moved from the left side of the coin to the right side, being replaced by the word "LIBERTY". Lastly, the original text "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" was removed from the top of the reverse of the coin and placed to the top of the obverse of the coin, just above Washington.

After the legislation was authorized, the US States had been given a large role in determining what design would be placed on the quarter to best represent their State. The coins were to represent the State's history, symbols, traditions or landmarks. Although designs depicting State flags, living people or busts of deceased people were prohibited. Most of the States had their governor announce a design, concept and sculpting competition to citizens of their State. An advisory group within the State would manage the process and oversee the designs that the citizens submitted. In the end, the governor would typically submit the top 3, 4 or 5 designs or concepts to the Secretary of Treasury. Once the Treasury approves the designs, they are returned back to the State where the final design is selected.

There were actually two major different selection processes for deciding the final design of a State quarter. 33 of the States simply had the governor chose the final design based on recommendations by the advisory groups and citizens within the State. In the other 17 States, the final designs were chosen by the citizens themselves through online polls, telephone calls, mail and other forms of voting. It turns out that over 3.5 million people were involved in the design selection process throughout the entire program. Engravers at the US Mint would then apply all of the final design concepts which were approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. The process behind the selection of each quarter was given a lot of publicity and exposure to the media. The media firestorm greatly advertised the new 50 State Quarter Program into the mainstream, which helped make it popular and exciting for everyone.

The 50 State Quarter Program turned out to be the most successful and popular numismatic commemorative coin program in history with at least half of all Americans collecting the coins. It opened up a whole new branch of collectors and introduced many people to the field of coin collecting who were interested in building a whole new collection. 37,797,600,000 total quarters were produced throughout that 10 year period. The demand for these new quarters rose to a fever pitch when the program first began, and then slowly declined as time went on and more coins were produced. Another thing that lead to a decline in demand was that in the year 2000, the Director of the Mint left and the Treasury was still opposed to the program. The Treasury then terminated the most successful elements of the US Mint's promotional programs, regardless of the increasing revenue and very high return on investment.

The program was set to expire at the end of 2008 when the 50th State quarter was produced. Although it was so successful that a new, smaller program was added as an extension to the 50 State Quarter Program. This new program was called the 2009 District of Columbia and US Territories Program, which was authorized in 2009. This new bill authorized that 6 coins would be produced in 2009, with designs commemorating the District of Columbia (Washington DC) and 5 US Territories: Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands. After the end of the 50 Statehood Quarters program, a new series was authorized to be produced by the US Mint starting in 2010: America the Beautiful Quarters.

Below is a table chart which organizes the details of each state quarter, including large, high quality, detailed images, pictures and photos of each quarter produced in the 50 State Quarter Program. Also included is the State it represents, year it was minted in, release date of the coin, the Statehood date in which the State ratified the US Constitution and joined the Union, the mintage figures (referencing coin value and additional details) for each Mint, other details and who engraved the coins:

2009 District of Columbia and US Territories Quarters Program

After the 50th State was commemorated, the 50 State Quarter Program was extended through 2009 into a new program to commemorate the District of Columbia and other major US Territories. This smaller extension program was only produced in 2009 and released 6 quarters. Although the 2009 general circulating coins that were produced, are considerably rarer than the normal State quarters. The volume minted is typically 1/5th to 1/10th the mintage volume compared to the State quarter production. Below is another short extension table to the one above, depicting high quality, detailed, large images, pictures and photos, mintage figures and other details about the coin:

Statehood Quarters Map of the United States

Below is a great graphic and table that visualizes which US States and year that they had their coins released. Since the coins are released in order in which the States ratified the US Constitution and joined the United States, it also helps visualize how the US was built. The table below shows the states order in which their coins were released for circulation.