50 States Quarters Program
The 50 State Quarters® Program was a U.S. Mint series of quarter dollar coins that honored each of the 50 United States. The program began issuing five coins a year starting in 1999 and ending with the final coin, Hawaii, released in November 2008. The coins were produced in the order in which the states joined the union. Each quarter contains a significant image relating to the state. Delaware, for instance, has Caesar Rodney riding a horse, in memory of his 80-mile horseback ride from Delaware to Philadelphia to cast his vote for independence from Great Britain.
The 50 State Quarters® Program is the most successful coin collecting series in history, given that approximately 147 million people were collecting State Quarters when the program ended in 2008. The 50 State Quarters® Program has not only drawn a great deal of attention to coin collecting in general, it provided the impetus for millions of new collectors to enter the hobby during the span of the program. During the State Quarter production years, all coin values trended strongly upward. Due to the wild success of the State Quarters, many new coin programs have been open to success. The presidential quarter’s program is just one example of the coin collecting boom that happened from the 50 State Quarters® Program.
