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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 intended to feature each of the 50 individual U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter.

Originally designed to raise geographic and historical awareness, the 50 State Quarters program became the most successful numismatic program in history, with roughly half of the U.S. population collecting the coins.^[1] The U.S. federal government made a profit of 3.8 billion dollars from collectors taking the coins out of circulation.^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 The state quarter program 2.1 Applicability to non-states 2.2 List of designs 3 Year map 4 Collectible value 5 Seigniorage 6 Designs 6.1 Design issues and trivia 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

The program was first introduced by Representative Michael Castle in 1997.^[2] President Bill Clinton signed the "50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act" into law on December 1, 1997.^[3] The first state quarter, which featured Delaware, was released into circulation in 1999.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[3]

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 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. H.R. 3885,^[4] 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, H.R. 392,^[5] was introduced on January 10, 2007 by the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuno and was passed by the House of Representatives on January 23, 2007 where it awaits a Senate vote.

On December 10, 2007, Puerto Rico-born Rep. José Serrano, D-NY, attached H.R. 392's language to the Omnibus Spending Bill (H.R. 2764^[6]) that the House passed ^{[7] [8]}. If approved by the Senate and the President, the applicability of the State Quarters program to DC and the 5 territories would become law about a year before the DC quarter would be minted. If extended to DC and the territories, the additional six coins to be minted in 2009 would 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.

The 1997 act that authorized the statehood quarter program^[9] provided that if the federal district, or any of the territories or commonwealths, became states before 2009, that new state would get a quarter.

Main article: 50 State Quarters designs

Alabama	Alaska	Arizona	Arkansas
California	Colorado	Connecticut	Delaware
Florida	Georgia	Hawaii	Idaho
Illinois	Indiana	Iowa	Kansas
Kentucky	Louisiana	Maine	Maryland
Massachusetts	Michigan	Minnesota	Mississippi
Missouri	Montana	Nebraska	Nevada
New Hampshire	New Jersey	New Mexico	New York
North Carolina	North Dakota	Ohio	Oklahoma
Oregon	Pennsylvania	Rhode Island	South Carolina
South Dakota	Tennessee	Texas	Utah
Vermont	Virginia	Washington	West Virginia
Wisconsin	Wyoming

The following map shows the years each state is released as a State Quarter.

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

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 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.^[4] 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.^[10] Relatively more common are Kansas quarters sporting the motto "IN GOD WE RUST".^[11]

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.)

The Franklin Mint altered 40,000 California quarters by putting the comic book superhero the Silver Surfer on the back. This was done to promote the film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.^{[12][dead link]}

Main article: 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.^[13]

For a complete table of the fifty quarter designs, see 50 State Quarters designs.

• On May 4, 2005, The Onion ran a satirical news story titled "U.S. Mint Gears Up To Issue Commemorative County Pennies".^[14]

• Occasionally, the Late Night with Conan O'Brien television show will air a segment about fictional satirical designs for new state quarters.

• 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 either ratified the Constitution (New Hampshire and New York) or was admitted as a state (Indiana and Illinois). 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, and Alaska has a star representing the North Star, a symbol of "the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the union".

• United States Mint
• United States Commemorative Coin
• Westward Journey Nickel Series
• Presidential $1 Coin Program
• Quarter (U.S. coin)

• The 50 State Quarters Program of the United States Mint Official Website
• 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act
• State Quarter Designs
• Trade State Quarters
• http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/15/pf/banking/quarter_curse/

v • d • e United States currency and coinage
Topics	Federal Reserve System · Federal Reserve Note · U.S. dollar · U.S. Mint
Current coinage	Cent (penny) · Nickel (5¢) · Dime (10¢) · Quarter dollar · Half dollar · Dollar
Paper money	$1 · $2 · $5 · $10 · $20 · $50 · $100 · Larger denominations
See also	Bicentennial coinage · Commemoratives · Confederate dollar · Fake denominations · Obsolete denominations · Coin production · In God We Trust