Maryland Quarters In Production Now

The 2000 Maryland quarter dollar, seventh in a series of 50 State Quarters being released at a rate of five per year through the year 2008, will soon be in circulation.

The U.S. Mint announced March 1 that it has begun production of the Maryland coin and will begin shipping it to the Federal Reserve Banks beginning March 13. The production of the Maryland coin also signals the end of production of the 2000 Massachusetts quarter after 10 weeks of manufacture.

U.S. Mint Director Philip N. Diehl said, “As the public looks forward to the new Maryland quarter, it is important to remember that there are six `retired’ quarter designs. The quarter designs for Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut and Massachusetts are currently circulating in pocket change and available in collectors editions, but they are no longer being produced.”

The reverse of the 2000 Maryland quarter depicts the Maryland State House dome in Annapolis. The nickname “The Old Line State” accompanies the design. According to the Mint, Maryland quarters should be in circulation by late spring. South Carolina, New Hampshire and Virginia will be represented on the reverse of three more quarter dollar coins to be released later during 2000.

Collectors have kept a watchful eye on mintage figures after it was learned from experience that the production level for the first two coins in 1999 was insufficient to meet demand.

According to Diehl, “Due to increased consumer demand for the 50 State Quarters Program coins, we will be striking more than 1 billion quarters to satisfy the 10-week period when Maryland is honored with a quarter design. This quantity represents more than a 50 percent increase over the number of quarters we produced for Delaware, the first design in the 50 State Quarters series.”

The total number of Massachusetts quarters struck has not yet been officially released. Each new issue appears to be produced in ever-increasing numbers as demand continues to grow for the coins. Premium values are being placed on individual, rolled and bagged quantities of many of the issues, partially fueled by telemarketer orders in order to fill the demand of their customers.

Legislation signed by the president in late 1997 authorized the Mint to honor the 50 states in the order they entered the Union or ratified the Constitution by producing five quarters each year between 1999 and 2008, with reverse designs celebrating the heritage of each state.

The design process for each quarter is determined within the state being represented by the state governor before design concepts are sent to the Mint, then returned to the state for final selection. The governor of the individual state has the right to establish his own method of selecting a design, but the final approval of all coin designs remains with the Secretary of the Treasury, as it does with all other coins of the United States.

There has been some speculation whether the series will end in 2008 with a coin having been issued for each of the 50 states, or if the series will be continued by another act of Congress to ensure inclusion of the districts and territories of the United States. If such legislation should become law, places such as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico might be represented on further quarters.

Richard Giedroyc is a numismatic writer, researcher, auction cataloger and coin dealer. He has been in the hobby and business most of his life, now having more than three decades experience in this fascinating hobby field. During this time Giedroyc has been the owner of Paris Bergman Galleries, owner of Classical Coin Newsletter, international editor of Coin World and owner of Giedroyc-Anderson Interesting World Coins. He is currently a numismatic consultant. He has written more than 2,000 byline numismatic stories and contributed to several coin catalogs.