The final quarter run

By LISA SIMPSON STRANGE
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW December 02, 2008 11:45 am

— It took nearly 10 years and 50 separate designs, but each state in the country now has its own quarter.
Hawaii became the 50th and final state coin issued by the United States Mint on Nov. 10.
The 50 State Quarters Program began in January 1999 with the release of the Delaware quarter, the first state to be admitted into the Union. Five quarters were issued in each of the 10 years of the program according to their state’s date of admission to the U.S.
Quarter designs were submitted and recommended by a process determined by each state’s governor. The U.S. Mint reviewed each submission and the Secretary of the Treasury approved all final designs.
The program represented the first time the quarter’s design had been changed since the Bicentennial quarter in 1975-76.
The Kentucky quarter, the 15th state, was released on Oct. 15, 2001.
Eddie Bruner, president of Glasgow Coin & Jewelry, said many local people have collected the state quarters. He said he knows between 50 and 60 people who are collectors and that he had half a dozen customers in his shop on Monday looking for the “D” version of the Hawaii quarter.
The “D” or Denver editions of the coins are harder to find east of the Mississippi River, according to Bruner. The largest shipments delivered to local banks are “P” quarters and come from the mint in Philadelphia. He said he usually gets about 100 each of the “D” quarters at his business for sale.
The program has had positive effects, he said.
“The quarters have sparked interest in coin collecting in general,” Bruner said. “Over the last 10 years, a whole new generation has come to the hobby of numismatics. They started with the quarters and many collect rare coins now.”
He said the quarters program has also been a good moneymaker for the U.S. Mint because people buy the coins and save them, which takes them out of circulation.
A new coin program will be launched in 2009 when the mint issues six new quarters honoring the District of Columbia and the five United States Territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.
If collectors have missed previous releases of state quarters and are having trouble finding them, they can visit the official U.S. Mint Web site at www.usmint. gov/mint_programs.

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