Coins

The 50 States Quarters

So, the first question: When were all the coins released?

It took 10 years for the U.S. Mint to produce hundreds of millions of pieces for each of the 50 designs in the 50 State Quarters program.

Here are the 50 different designs, in order of when they were released each year:

1999: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut

2000: Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Virginia

2001: New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Kentucky

2002: Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi

2003: Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri, and Arkansas

2004: Michigan, Florida, Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin

2005: California, Minnesota, Oregon, Kansas, and West Virginia

2006: Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and South Carolina

2007: Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah

2008: Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii
 

One Or Two Quarters For Each Design?

You may be wondering, should you collect both Philadelphia and Denver quarters for each design, or just one example of each design?

The answer is really a matter of deciding what is right for you.

Collecting a specimen of each Philadelphia and Denver design gives you examples of all the circulating 50 State Quarters.

But, because the designs are the same on the Philadelphia and Denver quarters (except for the mint mark, which is a "P" for Philadelphia coins and a "D" for Denver), it suits a lot of people, like myself, to simply collect one nice example of each design, regardless of mint mark.

Such a collection of 50 State Quarters is typically called a "date set." These are easier to collect by basic virtue of the fact there are fewer coins to find or purchase in order to complete a collection. Date sets are also less expensive to complete, too.

 

How Should You Store The Quarters?

Coin folders are the least expensive way to store your coins. These cardboard folders can be easily found at most bookstores and coin dealers and generally cost less than $10 each.

Here are some of the coin folders available online.

If you would like to store your complete 50 State Quarters set in an even fancier way, be sure to look around for coin map boards, displays, and albums that are available. These can be found at many coin dealers' stores.

 

What Will It Cost To Build A Complete 50 State Quarters Set?

If you are building a complete 50 State Quarters set from the coins you find in circulation, it will cost you only face value to finish the set. That would amount to $12.50 for one example of each design, or $25.00 for both Philadelphia and Denver quarters.

If you want to buy uncirculated examples of the quarters from a coin dealer, expect to spend at least $30 to $35 for a complete set consisting of one example of each quarter, and $60 and up for collections including 2 examples of each design -- which includes 50 Philadelphia mint coins and 50 Denver mint coins.

To learn more about the 50 State Quarters, be sure to check out the U.S. Mint's entertaining and informative web page on the 10-year State Quarters program.