50 State Quarters Program - Fun Facts

Between finishing a coloring page for each of the 50 state quarters and then grading the design of each quarter, I learned a lot about the 50 State Quarters Program. I found out about inspiration, innovations, and clever design decisions, as well as errors, omissions, and seriously disgruntled artists. Read on for the most interesting of the fun facts I discovered. 

Fun Facts About the 50 State Quarters Program

• Each of the 50 state quarters was minted for only 10 weeks.

• More than 34 billion coins were minted during the 50 State Quarters Program, but the amount produced for each state varied greatly. Virginia had the greatest number of quarters produced (1.59 billion) and Oklahoma had the fewest (416.6 million). 

• The inspiration for the 50 State Quarters Program came from Canada. Canada issued commemorative quarters featuring each of the 12 provinces and territories in 1992 to honor their 125th anniversary.

• The Onion produced two articles spoofing the 50 State Quarters Program: Collecting All 50 State Quarters Senior's Only Reason To Remain Alive and U.S. Mint Gears Up To Issue Commemorative County Pennies. 

• The Alabama state quarter is the first US coin featuring Braille writing.

• The Hawaii state quarter honors King Kamehameha, making it the first circulating US coin to feature royalty. 

• New Jersey's quarter was the first coin in history to show George Washington on both the front and the back.

• Kermit the Frog was named the Spokesfrog for the 50 State Quarters Program. He appeared in commercials and print ads.  

• The most significant minting errors in the state quarter series include the Wisconsin "Extra Leaf" quarters. There are two versions of the mistake: one with a "low leaf" and one with a "high leaf" next to the cornstalk.   

• The state outline on the Georgia quarter leaves out Dade County, in the northwestern part of the state. It wasn't a minting error, but rather a design problem. While that was presumably an accident, in 1860 the county seceded from both the US and the state of Georgia. That was never legally recognized and the county "rejoined" the state and the nation in 1945. Indiana's outline is also missing part of its northwestern corner. 

• On Tennessee's state quarter, there are only five strings on the 6-string guitar (which shows 6 tuning pegs). 

• The design contest winner for Missouri, artist Paul Jackson, claimed that the Mint needlessly "dumbed down" his design because they claimed, falsely, that it was "uncoinable." There's a lot to this story: read all about Quartergate. Then read about other artists who felt they were not given the credit they deserved for their designs.

• The 50 State Quarters Program was hugely successful. Roughly half the population collected state quarters, making it the most successful numismatic program in US history. The government has made approximately $3 billion from collectors taking coins out of circulation. 

The 50 State Quarters Program ended in 2008, but that was not the end to commemorative quarters. Three additional programs have led to quarters honoring US territories, national parks and forests, and American women. These programs include: 

• District of Columbia & U.S. Territories Quarters (2009)
• America the Beautiful Quarters (2010-2021)
• American Women Quarters (2022-2025)

There are some gorgeous designs. I have no plans to color them all, but I may end up coloring a few of my favorite quarters in the future, after I've forgotten how much work it was coloring the 50 I did!