One is the US Mint. As with any consumer provider, the Mint has been hoping to create new ideas that will sell. Though they’ve officially been in business since 1792, they didn’t really begin marketing to the public until 1892.
That year, the World’s Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage. It was slated to be a grand affair. For it, the Mint created the first US commemorative coin – a half dollar. It featured a portrait of Columbus on the front and one of his ships and the globe on the reverse. The selling price for the half-dollar was one dollar.
At the time, many people thought the Mint was crazy. After all, who would be loony enough to spend double the face value of a coin just because it commemorated something? Apparently, quite a few. All two-and-a-half million silver Columbian half-dollar coins minted were sold. Many remain in collections today. Most show substantial wear and are worth about $10 to $20 apiece. The very few in pristine, gleaming uncirculated condition can have a value upwards of $4,000 each. Loads of other commemorative half dollars, dollars and gold coins followed over the next century.
Commemoratives aside, our regular circulating pocket change coins have mostly had the same tired designs year after year. That is until the nation’s bi-centennial in 1976 when the reverse design on the quarter changed from an eagle to a colonial drummer. Such a shift was unheard of. After all, since 1796, an eagle had always been featured on the reverse of quarters.
People were so thrilled to see a new design they began hoarding the 1976 quarters. Of course, the next year the familiar eagle returned.
Fast forward to 1999. Some unknown but influential individual at the Mint convinced the powers-that-be to change the quarter’s reverse design to a 10-year series saluting each of our 50 states plus territories. No numismatic program has ever proved so successful. Everyone from school children to business executives looked for and collected them.
That series ended in 2008. The Mint knew it had a winner so, beginning in 2009, it began a new 11-year release – this one called the, “America The Beautiful” quarter series. Those coins have featured historic sights and special destinations throughout the US and territories.
Proving that time not only flies but is on a rocket sled, the final coin in the America The Beautiful quarter series will be issued next month. OK, so now what is a Mint to do?
One proposal was to extend the current America The Beautiful series for another 10 years. I suppose when you have a winner, it’s hard to let go. Of course, even the Mint has to remember the admonition about “too much of a good thing.” But, that point is moot. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly didn’t act on that option by the 2018 deadline so it’s dead.
For now, a new quarter featuring George Washington’s surprise crossing of the Delaware in 1776 will be the replacement image on our quarter later this year. 2021 is the 245th anniversary of that event. What will appear on quarters after that is anyone’s guess.
Several proposals are pending including a new decade-long initiative starting in 2022. Three years of quarters would feature a variety of animals. In 2026, a special quarter would celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. After that, quarters through 2030 would depict a variety of youth sports.
One or two of those ideas may hold a little water but, honestly, a whole new series of quarters featuring hamsters or kids playing tetherball is pretty much a disconnect collectors won’t buy into.
Here’s hoping 2021 is filled with health, happiness, vaccines and better ideas for our upcoming collectible quarters. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as soon as decisions in D.C. are firmed up.
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