Hawaii State Quarter Goes on Sale
The U.S. Mint has placed the Hawaii State Quarter up for sale on its Web site as of today, although the official ceremonial launch will not take place until next Monday, November 10, in Honolulu. You can buy the Hawaii Quarter in Mint-sealed bags of 100 and 1,000 coins, and in $10 face-value rolls. The Mint charges a hefty premium for these coins when purchased from their Web site, although they do have unique packaging. If you'd like to save some money, you should be able to buy the Hawaii Quarters from your local bank at face value. Since not all banks carry them, call around first to make sure they're in stock. The one other caveat to buying locally is that most people can only get coins from one Mint in their area, either Philadelphia coins or Denver coins. Sometimes you can find someone in another part of the country who will trade a roll or two with you so that you can each have coins from both Mints. Try posting your offer to trade in my Coin Collecting forum, maybe someone will match up with you for a trade!
The launch of the Hawaii Quarter marks the end of the seminal 50 State Quarters TM Program. The program has been more successful than anybody's wildest dreams back in 1997 and '98 when it was being conceived and the first years' coins being planned. The U.S. Mint today estimates that 147 million people collect State Quarters, a figure that I think is a bit absurd, (unless they're counting every single person that ever saved a coin or two from their own state.) The reason I dispute this number is because if it was true, there wouldn't be any state quarters in circulation at all! With recent mintages averaging around 280 million State Quarters per Mint, that's about 2 coins per person (per Mint) before the supply is completely exhausted. ;) Regardless of how the Mint arrives at its collector figures, there is no doubt that the State Quarters Program has changed the face of coin collecting in the United States, and opened the door to a wide variety of new coin designs and programs.
What do you think? Are you glad it's finally over, or do you wish it would go on forever? (Or are you somewhere in between?) Tell us what you think in my State Quarters Poll!
Comments
If they do another one, I hope to see more of a thrust to get artists from each of the states involved in a design contest for their state. That would be cool! Some of the designs this time out are great, but others leave something to be desired.
I personally never saw the state quarters program as anything more than an attempt to market coin collecting, just as the post office has placed so much emphasis on stamp collecting for decades. Let’s face it, or government is desperate to make money any way that they can. Ironically, one model train manufacturer recently completed their “state cars” issues. They are already moving on to “presidential cars” with pictures of each president on the side. Like the quarters, these N Scale boxcars are released a few each year.
GUESS WHAT, IT’S NOT OVER. Beginning in 2009, they will isssue coins depicting our protectorates like US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands. And seriously SHOULD issue a coin depicticting CANADA, since it not for the USA, Canada wouldn’t be the socialist paradise is is, in no need of a military with testosterone.
As a coin collector who has been in and out of the hobby for 40 years or so, I thought it was a good idea to spark some interest!
And it brought me back as well
I’m looking forward to the next set of Washingtons as well as the new Lincolns!
I have mixed feelings about the program. It was intereting while it lasted. It did feel to me, more like a gimmick to spark interest in coin collecting. Kind of like looking for the prize in a box of cerial. It did what it was intended to do. Maybe it is time to retire the program and get back to normal for awhile.
coiny
Its time for the mint to stop forcing upon the American public portraits of old, dead men and unimpressive “collectors series” coins. Coins are art, and art should be inspiring and no US coin has been een the least bit inspiring since the 1976 bi-centennial coins. The last truely beautiful coin the US Mint issued was the Peace dollar. I would like to see more classic interpretations of American values represented on our coins. Maybe Liberty on the quarter, Freedom on the dime, Equality on the nickle or something. I’m sick unto deah of old, dead men.
I agree with Doug M. to a point. If you compare our coinage to, say, the coinage of the Bahamas (as one example) U.S. coins have long been utilitarian, historical works with very little seeming thought or attempt put into beautification. I remember one particular Bahamian piece which had a Dolphin splashing about in the waves; it was gorgeous! People were cutting the edges of the coin away and making necklaces out of it, it was so nice.
If we do have another collector’s series I’d very much like to see coins depict something other than people on them for once. Or maybe even have different shapes, such as some of the old English coins used to have.
It seems as though we the public don’t have the ear of the powers-that-be at the Mint. As I recall, popular opinion was against a dollar coin the size near the quarter-dollar, yet the Susan B. Anthony was released and flopped as a general circulation coin. Now we have yet another coin of the same approximate size, and it’s my prediction that it will also not be widely adopted into general circulation. I point these things out simply to say that I hope the authorities at the U.S. Mint actually see these events and make some changes in our coinage that the public want this time!
Loved collecting them for my grandson, HOWEVER, I thinks it’s not very fair when we get to the last quarter (Hawaii) it’s impossible to get one locally (louisiana)
Now, I have a whole collection in a nice binder but, it’s short of the last quarter.
I do think you should have made the last one just as easy to get all the others.
Johnell, you should be able to buy rolls of the Hawaii State Quarter from your local bank. They will circulate throughout the United States just like every other State quarter has, although sometimes it takes a little time before they make it around.
Try calling your bank to see if they have some rolls in stock. If not, call a couple of other banks. The Statehood quarters have been extremely popular and many banks have carried them all along. If you absolutely cannot find any at banks near your home, post a trade request in my Coins Forum here and maybe someone will trade you some for quarters you have access to where you live.
Good luck!
Susan Headley
About.com Guide to Coins
For all the naysayers out there, let me say this:Fantastic way to teach geography to my now 7 y.o. daughter. She has been so excited as we collected each quarter and placed it in her collecters map. She even brought it in to school and was allowed to show it to the entire class.
I loved the quarters. Great way to tell my kids the little bit I know about the states and encourage them to find out more. I would love to see a series on American artists, writers and musicians.
I’ve enjoyed collecting these very much. It’s been great fun for me. I have no complaints at all except that it’s been difficult finding the Philadelphia printings in California but they show up every once in awhile. I’m glad there are more coins coming from different areas so I can keep looking at my change for something new.