United States Coin/Quarter

The quarter is 1/4th of a dollar or 25 cents.

It is also refered to as two bits because two bits of a divided Spanish silver piece ("pieces of eight") made up 1/4th of that coin.

The current coin is the Washington Quarter (showing George Washington), replacing the Standing Liberty Type, minted from 1916-1930. The present coin, designed by John Flannagan, has been issued since 1932.

It is Cupro-Nickel (8.33% Ni and the balance Cu), weighs 5.670 g, diameter 24.26 mm, width 1.75 mm with a reeded edge. It costs 4.29 cents to produce each coin. Before 1965, quarters contained 90% silver, 10% copper.

The quarter has been in use since 1796.

Approximately every 10 weeks, since 1999, a new state quarter has been released by the US Mint. Each quarter's reverse celebrates one of the 50 states with a design honoring its unique history, traditions, and symbols. The quarters are released in the same order that the states joined the union.

As of this writing, the following states' quarters have been issued:

Release Date State Statehood Date Number of coins minted

January 01, 1999 Delaware December 07, 1787 774,824,000

March 08, 1999 Pennsylvania December 12, 1787 707,332,000

May 17, 1999 New Jersey December 18, 1787 662,228,000

July 19, 1999 Georgia January 02, 1788 939,932,000

October 12, 1999 Connecticut January 09, 1788 1,346,624,000

January 03, 2000 Massachusetts February 06, 1788 1,163,784,000

March 13, 2000 Maryland April 28, 1788 1,234,732,000

May 22, 2000 South Carolina May 23, 1788 1,308,784,000

August 07, 2000 New Hampshire June 21, 1788 1,169,016,000

October 16, 2000 Virginia June 25, 1788 1,594,616,000

January 02, 2001 New York July 26, 1788 1,275,040,000

March 12, 2001 North Carolina November 21, 1789 1,055,476,000

May 21, 2001 Rhode Island May 29, 1790 870,100,000

August 06, 2001 Vermont March 04, 1791 882,804,000