$1.50 — Six more quarters

The 50 state quarter program is due to be completed at the end of this year. Congress recently passed a bill to add six more quarters for 2009. This bill is intended to provide for a circulating quarter dollar coin program to commemorate the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Comments from the congressional records by Congressman Michael Castle:

As Members are aware, the 50-State quarter program that began in 1999 has been a truly successful effort. I had the privilege of serving as the Chairman of the then-Domestic and International Monetary Policy Subcommittee at the time the 50-State Quarter bill was signed into law. The program calls for the production over 10 years of quarter dollar coins with the reverse, or back, of the coins depicting scenes representing each of the 50 States. Five are produced each year.

That program has been wildly successful. It is not uncommon for people to stop and examine the change in their pocket before making a transaction, perhaps saving a new quarter out of a pocketful. The result has been as much as a five-fold increase in the demand for quarters. But the bottom line is that every time someone looks at the back of a quarter, they learn something about the State represented.

At the time the bill was moving through Congress, not everyone was convinced that it would be a great success. This skepticism kept us from including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories in the program. Because the program has been a wild success, it is appropriate for us to create a sister program for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories.

The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories are not States, but they are certainly part of the United States' history. In the case of the territories, particularly, I know we could all stand to learn a little more about them. Therefore, I think it is self-evident that this program is a good idea. It creates an entirely separate program from the State quarters program, so there is no confusion that inclusion somehow confers statehood.

The program would run for 1 year when the other program finished, issuing all six quarters in that year, 2009. And if the history of the State quarters program is any guide, the D.C. and territories' quarters taken out of circulation permanently by collectors would total as much as $1 billion which would accrue to the U.S. Treasury in the form of money deposited into the general fund.

The design on the reverse side of each quarter dollar issued during 2009 shall be emblematic of one of the following: The District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Okay, now a geography question: Where in the world is the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands? (Other than the obvious — just north of the Commonwealth of the Southern Mariana Islands.)