Buy a National Park for the bargain price of one new state quarter
Filed under: Bargains, Extracurriculars, Economizer
Now that they've gone through all the states, the US Mint is gearing up to release 56 new commemorative quarters called the "America the Beautiful" series starting in 2010 and running through 2021. The coins will go in date order of when the various parks, memorials and destinations were established, which means the first one up is Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas (which was actually designated before Yellowstone).
No doubt collectors will abound and you'll soon find collector's boards on As Seen on TV commercials. The AP reports that U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy has said 147 million people collected state quarters ranging from Delaware in 1999 to Hawaii in 2008, making the program very popular. But Vance the Coin Specialist from Marblehead, Mass. says it's going to be "a very, very long time" before any of these commemorative quarters are worth anything more than 25 cents. "Think about it as if you were living in 1850, and it's going to take until now before your coin is considered rare," he says.
The mint has yet to release the designs of the quarters (there will no doubt be much fanfare for that...), but in the meantime, we offer you photos of the first ten locations to be honored, to spark your imaginations. Send us your suggestions for designs (either your flowery prose or attach a sketch). And we'll see if we can influence the government for you!
No doubt collectors will abound and you'll soon find collector's boards on As Seen on TV commercials. The AP reports that U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy has said 147 million people collected state quarters ranging from Delaware in 1999 to Hawaii in 2008, making the program very popular. But Vance the Coin Specialist from Marblehead, Mass. says it's going to be "a very, very long time" before any of these commemorative quarters are worth anything more than 25 cents. "Think about it as if you were living in 1850, and it's going to take until now before your coin is considered rare," he says.
The mint has yet to release the designs of the quarters (there will no doubt be much fanfare for that...), but in the meantime, we offer you photos of the first ten locations to be honored, to spark your imaginations. Send us your suggestions for designs (either your flowery prose or attach a sketch). And we'll see if we can influence the government for you!
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National Park Quarters
In the US Mint's new set of 56 commemorative quarters honoring National Parks, Arkansas' Hot Springs will go first, in 2010. That will cause history trivia buffs some consternation. Click through our gallery to see the order of the first quarters to be released, and send us your thoughts on what the quarters should look like!
Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register / MCT
U.S. Mint
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
9-10-2009 @ 2:38PM
Three Quarters said...
Oh great... here we go with the quarters again. After spending years collecting the state quarters, I don't give a damn about them anymore. Do you..??
Reply
9-10-2009 @ 9:07PM
Tammy said...
I agree, I dont care. Did the states but thats enough!
9-10-2009 @ 11:01PM
donna said...
no
9-11-2009 @ 2:42AM
Cynthia said...
I remember when I was in kindergarten. We studied the different coins in our currency. We learned what the front looked like, we learned about the person on the coin, we learned what the back looked like, and we learned how much each coin was worth. Well, after this is finished, we'll have 108 different quarters! (1 normal design, 1 design from the 1976 quarter, 50 state designs and 56 park designs). That's RIDICULOUS! How the heck do you teach THAT to your kids? Do we really need 108 DIFFERENT quarters? It's dumb. Let's move on, people!!!
9-17-2009 @ 10:10PM
Karen O'Bannon said...
I know I'm over it.
9-10-2009 @ 2:56PM
ED said...
Banks carried state quarters by the roll.
D.C. and others the banks didn't carry rolls.
To much trouble and the Mint wanted $18 a roll.
Will the banks carry the parks I think not.
So may not go over without available.
Reply
9-10-2009 @ 3:37PM
Ricky said...
this is SOOOO stupid,,,did we NOT spend Billions on the NEW STATE quarters and NOW they want to SPEND BILLIONS more on a set of NEW QUARTERS featuring state parks???....I think that this a FLEECING OF AMERICA, so i guess that the state quarters are n...o longer any good that we need to put out NEW ONES!!! WHO just WHO is in CHARGE of this ONE??? WHAT A F**CK-UP!!!Read More
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9-10-2009 @ 5:32PM
jay said...
You need to understand that these quarters didn't cost us billions. The mint MADE millions since they were never put in circulation and just stored and collected by folks, so a quarter that costs one nickel to make sells for 25 cents. A pretty nice profit if you ask me.
9-10-2009 @ 9:16PM
scott said...
you do know that they change currency designes every 4 to 5 years anyway to make it harder to make counterfit money....... right?
9-10-2009 @ 11:56PM
Mel said...
So... What's another Billion? Hell, let's just make it an even Trillion. After healthcare and cap and trade a Billion is nothing.
9-11-2009 @ 3:32AM
dan said...
and they wonder why the U.S.A is in so much dept cause America keeps spening money on stupid sh*t like the i agree with you Ricky
9-10-2009 @ 4:17PM
Wooden Nickle said...
These quarters and the States quarters will be collectible in the year 4510, maybe. There is nothing and never will be anything collectible about them. My pet rock will be worth more. Marketing works!
Reply
9-10-2009 @ 9:18PM
CoinCollector said...
wow, you sure do know your coins! considering a silver Delaware quarter that is graded a PF70 is worth around $6-9K. do some research before you post your irrelevance to others.
9-10-2009 @ 5:12PM
Joe said...
hey wooden nickle I'll still be around in 4510. To see if these crazy
quarters that they keep making LOL.Will be collectibles.I really think its
a waste of money to make more quarters that won't be worth crap
except maybe a quarter. If that the way the dollar is going.
Reply
9-10-2009 @ 6:33PM
michael said...
The U. S. Mint is about as pathetic as the U. S. Post Office.
Reply
9-10-2009 @ 7:41PM
tom said...
There were billions of these quarters minted. Can you name anything that there are billions of that are worth anything as a collection? But a few mil people will think they are really collecting something. I'm going to spend mine.
Reply
9-11-2009 @ 12:17AM
kim said...
But people aren't really collecting them as an investment, it is just a cool little bit of americana from the past several years. Almost like a collection of music or dvd series, just a fun thing.
9-10-2009 @ 9:23PM
malaluken said...
Oh, goodie...more hours outside in the van while my wife goes in the bank trading coins with tellers!
Reply
9-10-2009 @ 9:27PM
pat said...
another problem was some vending machines couldnt take certain state quarters or slot machines and had to be reconfiged,, Its not really worth it,, Plus it will devalue our state quarters as well.
Reply
9-10-2009 @ 9:35PM
Quicksilver said...
Why do people care so much about quarters and who collects them? But I do agree with the statement that the last thing we need is to spend more money on something that we don't need in the first place.
Reply