RAMBLIN': Does anyone give 2 bits about quarter program now?
Arizona Coin Collector
Check out the photo of the 1946 quarter on
the web link below.
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FROM:
http://gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090109/NEWS/701099988
RAMBLIN': Does anyone give 2 bits about
quarter program now?
By Dave Rasdal
Gazette columnist
dave....@gazettecommunications.com
SOLON - After spending the last decade checking the
quarters in my pocket for a new picture, I was
disappointed the other day to find Hawaii. That
means the 50-state commemorative quarter program
has come to an end.
Remember how it transpired? President Clinton signed
the law in 1997. Each state came up with its own
design. The Delaware quarter was issued Jan. 4, 1999.
The Iowa quarter, with Grant Wood's "Arbor Day" as
the basis for the slogan "Foundation in Education,"
debuted Sept. 3, 2004.
Then, it seems, I lost interest. I have no doubt other
Iowans did, too. My collection of the quarters
languished until late 2007. I spotted a shiny Utah
quarter in my change. The golden spike design, with
locomotives facing each other and the slogan
"Crossroads of the West," is a real winner.
I also like Alaska's quarter and had to laugh when I
spotted it about the time Gov. Sarah Palin hit the
news as Sen. John McCain's running mate. Alaska's
quarter depicts a large bear, not a pit bull or a
hockey mom with lipstick.
So, as I looked at the Hawaii quarter and its King
Kamehameha, I wondered: Does anyone give two bits
about the commemorative quarters anymore?
"I thought it was a neat idea," says Solon coin
dealer Ronald "Andy" Anderson who has operated
Andy's Coins since 1995. "When it started, I was
going to stock them, but the price ran up."
A $10 roll of commemorative quarters, Andy says,
would sell for as much as $50. He didn't want
people paying that much only to find out in a
couple of years that the roll was worth only $10.
"There are so many of them, there's no way they'll
ever be worth anything," Andy says.
By the end of the program, U.S. mints will have
made more than 35 BILLION commemorative quarters.
That includes 465 million Iowa quarters and 1.6
billion for Virginia, the largest state run.
Still, Andy says, the program has sparked interest
in coin collecting. But new and future numismatists
should be forewarned. Those TV and magazine offers
to buy sets of old coins often get you nothing but
worn-out coins that will never be worth what you
paid. Andy rejected some from an estate as we
talked.
Instead, Andy recommends collecting coins like the
Iowa Statehood Centennial half dollar issued in
1946. Today he sells that coin for $125.
Part of the fun of collecting, he adds, is the
history of the coins. He shows me a 1799 silver
dollar priced at $1,450.
"Now George Washington died in 1799, but he may
have had that in his pocket," Andy says with a
chuckle. "That's the history part of it."
History also played a role in the commemorative
quarter program. You can read about each state
and its quarter at www.usmint.gov/mint_programs
And, people like me don't need to despair quite
yet. The states were so popular, U.S. mints are
issuing six new quarters this year, commemorating
the District of Columbia and our five territories.
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