(NEXSTAR) – There are a lot of changes to U.S. money rolling out (or, in the case of the penny, not rolling out) this year, including the addition of President Donald Trump’s signature on paper currency and redesigned coinage to honor America’s 250th anniversary.
While the coins in the latter group are focused on the nation’s major achievements, coins to honor each state have already been in circulation for more than two decades – some of which may be worth more than their minted value.
Those are, of course, the 50 State Quarters produced during a 10-year program at the turn of the century.
What was the 50 State Quarters program?
Just as the name implies, a separate quarter was minted for every state during the program, which ran from 1999 to 2008, according to the U.S. Mint. Every year, five new states were honored, in order of when they ratified the Constitution or were admitted into the Union. On the reverse of each is a unique design of state features or iconic moments in history.
Forts Pond Elementary School second-grade teacher Natalie Spence points out the Kentucky quarter on her state coin map of the United States, October 29, 2008, in Pelion, South Carolina. Spence encourages students to bring in state coins to fill the slot for each state. (Photo by Jeff Blake/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
At least 400 million of each quarter was minted, Mint records show. For some, especially along the East Coast, more than 1 billion were minted. There were more quarters released early on, fueled by Y2K-related concerns in the late 1990s, followed by a slowing economy in 2001 due to production differences.
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In total, the Mint produced and shipped 34.3 billion quarters, with the average annual mintage reaching 3.5 billion quarters – 135% more than usual to meet the “rising demand.”
How rare is my state quarter?
It largely depends on where in the country your state is located.
More than 1 billion quarters each were produced for eight Eastern states: Virginia, Connecticut, South Carolina, New York, Maryland, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and North Carolina.
Virginia may be the easiest of the state quarters to find, considering 1.6 billion were put into circulation – roughly 5% of the total program production.
Meanwhile, 12 states, primarily in the Midwest and South, saw less than half a billion of their quarters minted. The five that may be the hardest to find include Oklahoma, Maine, Wisconsin, Missouri and Alabama – all of which had less than 460 million of their quarters produced.
Other state quarters with less than half a billion minted include Arkansas, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Florida, Minnesota and New Mexico.
How valuable is my state quarter?
Some of the quarter designs may be worth more than the 25 cents they were meant to be worth.
That includes quarters that are in mint condition, likely meaning they’ve never been in a change drawer or stuck in a couch. Depending on where they were minted – Philadelphia, Denver, or San Francisco, denoted with a P, D or S, respectively – these state quarters could fetch between $1 and $15, according to Coin Trackers. If they’re from the silver proof sets that were sold as part of the program, they may be worth a few hundred dollars, Greysheet reports.
With the penny gone, should you start stocking up on nickels?
State quarters with errors, however, could be worth more.
Some Wisconsin state quarters were found to have an extra leaf sprouting from the corn cob on the coin’s reverse. While the error was quickly fixed, these error coins have sold for well over $100 in online auctions. One sold for $6,000 in early 2020.
An extra leaf can be seen on the lower left side of the cob of corn, just above the wheel of cheese, on the reverse of the Wisconsin state quarter. (Photo by James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Several Minnesota quarters were minted with an extra tree, but the error was far more common than Wisconsin’s extra leaf, according to Ned Ludd Coins. A few District of Columbia quarters had extra lines on Duke Ellington’s sleeve, while some state quarters were accidentally struck on other coins, or vice versa.
How can you tell if your quarter or any money you’ve been collecting is worth more than its minted value?
“The answer is not always obvious,” Dustin Johnson, Vice President of Numismatics (the study or collection of coins, paper money, and medals) at Heritage Auctions, previously explained to Nexstar. “Odd items are always set aside, but that doesn’t make them rare or terribly valuable.”
