The 2001 New York State Quarter

The 2001 New York Quarter is easily one of the most popular of all the 50 State Quarters, which were issued from 1999 through 2008. All the state quarters are still widely collected to this day, but the New York Quarter has a fanbase all its own, perhaps most notably because of an eerie coincidence that led it to become a somber reminder of one of the nation’s most tragic days.

The timing of the New York Quarter being scheduled for release in 2001 was based on mere math. After all, the 50 State Quarters were released in the order that each state was admitted to the Union, and with five quarters being struck each year, beginning in 1999, the quarter for the eleventh state would come out in 2001. The eleventh quarter in the series, as many would surmise by this point, was the one honoring New York.

When the New York Quarter was released on January 2, 2001, the usual fanfare followed. U.S. Treasurer Mary Ellen Withrow and New York Governor George E. Pataki were on hand for a ceremony in the state capital of Albany. The reverse of the New York Quarter, anchored by the usual obverse portrait of George Washington, shows an outline of New York state with lines indicating the Hudson River and Erie Canal, a foreground device of the Statue of Liberty, and the inscription “GATEWAY TO FREEDOM.”

U.S. Mint Director Jay W. Johnson remarked, “I am pleased that the 50 State Quarters Program has allowed us to capture and honor this important symbol in our nation’s history. This design celebrates New York’s historic importance for those courageous people who came to America seeking the opportunities of a free society.”

Much tragically changed for the state of New York over the course of the months that followed. The attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, were part of a larger coordinated strike that also saw an attack at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the deaths of dozens on a plane bound for the nation’s capital. Nearly 3,000 were killed in the 9/11 attacks, and the 2001 New York Quarter, with its soaring depiction of the Statue of Liberty, became a patriotic memento of hope and endurance. The coin, by mere coincidence struck during the year of the 9/11 attacks, was sold by the millions in mass-promotion advertisements seen on television, in magazine ads, and early ecommerce websites.

The 2001 New York Quarter isn’t rare, with nearly 1.3 billion examples produced between circulation and proof strikes as well as clad and a collector-only 90% silver proof issue. Higher-end examples are scarcer and worth significant premiums above face value, and they are all easily collected on the PCGS Set Registry, which offers a multitude of set categories for the 50 State Quarters.