May 18, 2004
The Texas Quarter is coming

Get ready to see Texas quarters in your change soon.


The U.S. Mint's commemorative Texas state quarter will be distributed and officially unveiled next month.

U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White said production began May 3. The Federal Reserve will distribute the quarters, which feature a Lone Star over a relief map of Texas, to banks beginning in June.

An unveiling is scheduled for June 10 at the Bob Bullock Texas State Historical Museum in Austin.

Arlington artist Daniel Miller designed the quarter. It was selected in 2002 from 2,700 suggestions.

The center of the Lone Star is west of Waco and south of Stephenville. The five points extend to about Marshall on the northeast, Bay City to the southeast, Del Rio to the southwest, Lamesa to the northwest and into Oklahoma north of Wichita Falls.

At the bottom is the year 2004 and "E Pluribus Unum," the Latin phrase meaning "From many, one." The rim of the quarter is encircled by a lariat.

The U.S. Mint made the lariat slightly larger than Miller's original design.

The coin is the 28th in the series of state quarters. Texas was the 28th state to join the union in 1845. Millions will be minted and circulated, White said.

Texas proof coins, minted for collectors, already are for sale as part of a five-state quarters package.

The U.S. Mint began its decade-long program in 1999 to honor the 50 states.

"This program's been more popular than anyone had anticipated, and the quarters have earned about $4 billion for the general fund of the Treasury," White said. "More than 130 million Americans collect them."


OK, I admit it - I received one of those 50-state coin maps for collecting these quarters as a Christmas present a couple of years back. I've fallen a bit behind on filling it up, though, and we just took a bunch of coin rolls to the bank for deposit. Ah well, it's not like they're gonna run out any time soon.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 18, 2004 to The great state of Texas | TrackBack
Comments

They forgot to mention that the TX quarter is about 3 times as large as the rest, worth $5.67, and will spit at you if you look at it crossways!

Posted by: Kriston on May 18, 2004 9:33 AM

It's a boring and ugly design. No Alamo, no bluebonnets--just the state and a star. Pitiful.

Posted by: piegrrrl on May 18, 2004 9:34 AM

I found a Louisiana Purchase commemorative nickel in my pocket the other day. I just got back from Japan, I thought it was a 100 Yen coin I'd missed. It just doesn't look like real US money. When are we going to go back to the plain old coins we all know and love?

Posted by: Charles E on May 18, 2004 11:53 AM

The thing that fascinates me is the frequency of specific state coins I get in change; for a long time there I was getting more South Carolina quarters than any of the others. I have no idea why; I assume they're all issued in roughly the same quantity for each state.

Posted by: Linkmeister on May 18, 2004 4:49 PM

Are they going to recall the quarters from the states that seceded?

Posted by: Tek_XX on May 18, 2004 11:58 PM

piegrrrl sez: It's a boring and ugly design. No Alamo, no bluebonnets--just the state and a star. Pitiful.

Well, the Florida one's pretty weak too. They could have had, they should have, how could their souls be so dead that they didn't, an engraving depicting a white beach along a smooth blue sea, and a palm tree, and a smiling girl in a swimsuit holding a beachball aloft - several of Bunny Yeager's fifties pinups are obvious models. I just can't believe that that's not what the authorities chose; everyone knows that's what Florida is all about. Instead they got an old sailboat (Jose Gaspar's pirate ship?) and a Space Shuttle, and that beach & palm but no girl, no beachball. So sad.

Posted by: W. Kiernan on June 11, 2004 9:21 PM

W. Kiernan sez:   ... several of Bunny Yeager's fifties pinups are obvious models.

I vote for Betty Page!

Posted by: Raven on June 12, 2004 3:18 AM