The 50 State Quarters program () is the release of a series of commemorative coins by the United States Mint. Between 1999 and 2008, it featured each of the 50 individual U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter.

In 2009, the U.S. Mint started issuing quarters under the 2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Program, authorized by the passage of . This program features the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. Although commonly mistaken as part of the 50 State Quarters Program, it is a separate program recognized by the U.S. Mint.

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, either in casual manner or as a serious pursuit. 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 was released by the United States Mint every quintile, or 1/5th of a year (73 days, or ten weeks), meaning that five designs were released each year. Each quarter's reverse celebrated 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.

By the end of 2008, all of the original 50 states quarters had been minted and released. The official total, according to the U.S. Mint, was 34,797,600,000 coins. The average per state design was 695,952,000 coins, but ranged all the way from Virginia's 1,594,616,000 to Oklahoma's 416,600,000, a difference by a factor of about 3.83. The average was skewed higher by a few states with very large mintage numbers, while the median state had a total of 580,500,000 coins. Only two states had a very close number of minted coins, Missouri and Wisconsin each with about 453,200,000 coins.

Mintage quantities

List of designs

Image:2003 AL Proof.png|Alabama
Image:2008 AK Proof.png|Alaska
Image:2008 AZ Proof.png|Arizona
Image:2003 AR Proof.png|Arkansas
Image:2005 CA Proof.png|California
Image:2006 CO Proof.png|Colorado
Image:1999 CT Proof.png|Connecticut
Image:1999 DE Proof.png|Delaware
Image:2004 FL Proof.png|Florida
Image:1999 GA Proof.png|Georgia
Image:2008 HI Proof.png|Hawaii
Image:2007 ID Proof Rev.png|Idaho
Image:2003 IL Proof.png|Illinois
Image:2002 IN Proof.png|Indiana
Image:2004 IA Proof.png|Iowa
Image:2005 KS Proof.png|Kansas
Image:2001 KY Proof.png|Kentucky
Image:2002 LA Proof.png|Louisiana
Image:2003 ME Proof.png|Maine
Image:2000 MD Proof.png|Maryland
Image:2000 MA Proof.png|Massachusetts
Image:2004 MI Proof.png|Michigan
Image:2005 MN Proof.png|Minnesota
Image:2002 MS Proof.png|Mississippi
Image:2003 MO Proof.png|Missouri
Image:Montana quarter, reverse side, 2007.png|Montana
Image:2006 NE Proof.png|Nebraska
Image:2006 NV Proof.png|Nevada
Image:2000 NH Proof.png|New Hampshire
Image:1999 NJ Proof.png|New Jersey
Image:2008 NM Proof.png|New Mexico
Image:2001 NY Proof.png|New York
Image:2001 NC Proof.png|North Carolina
Image:2006 ND Proof.png|North Dakota
Image:2002 OH Proof.png|Ohio
Image:2008 OK Proof.png|Oklahoma
Image:2005 OR Proof.png|Oregon
Image:1999 PA Proof.png|Pennsylvania
Image:2001 RI Proof.png|Rhode Island
Image:2000 SC Proof.png|South Carolina
Image:2006 SD Proof.png|South Dakota
Image:2002 TN Proof.png|Tennessee
Image:2004 TX Proof.png|Texas
Image:2007 UT Proof Rev.png|Utah
Image:2001 VT Proof.png|Vermont
Image:2000 VA Proof.png|Virginia
Image:2007 WA Proof.png|Washington
Image:2005 WV Proof.png|West Virginia
Image:2004 WI Proof.png|Wisconsin
Image:2007 WY Proof Rev.png|Wyoming


Image:2009 DC Proof.png|District of Columbia
Image:2009 PR Proof.png|Puerto Rico
Image:2009 GU Proof.png|Guam
Image:2009 AS Proof.png|American Samoa
Image:2009 USVI Proof.png|U.S. Virgin Islands
Image:2009 NMI Proof.png|Northern Mariana Islands

Year map

Collectible value

In 1997, Congress passed the 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."

Coin with erroneous "In God We Rust" motto

While mintage totals of the various designs vary widely – Virginia quarters are almost four times more abundant than Maine quarters — none of the regular circulating issues is rare enough to become a valuable investment. Since, on average, 16% fewer coins will be minted for each territory and district 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 state 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, and the number of quarters minted so far for DC, PR and GU has been lower than those minted for any state of the Union (see table).

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.