The American Samoa people submitted 55 design ideas for their new U.S. commemorative quarter, according to Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Sunia of the American Samoa government.

With the conclusion of the successful 50 State Quarters® Program in 2008, the quarter design "baton" has changed hands from the states and moved to the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories for their six new quarters in 2009.

The quarter design narratives already given to the United States Mint by Guam and the District of Columbia were publicly more specific than American Samoa’s, but the end result will be the same. The narratives are used as templates of sorts for the creation of artistic quarter renderings by the U.S. Mint, which are then used to narrow down and select the final quarter design for minting.

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The bimetallic Golden Eagle commemorative coin is now available from the Federal Mint Swissmint. The Golden Eagle coin is the second of four commemoratives released within the 4-year "Swiss National Park" commemorative series.

The design of the new coin portrays an eagle with wings spread, claws extended and body powerfully positioned to land. While the design by scientific illustrator Niklaus Heeb is majestic, the bimetallic composition of the coin is also intriguing.

The outer ring of the coin is made of aluminum-bronze and the inner core from copper-nickel. The eagles wings spreads through both outer ring and inner core, highlighting its landing approach.

The Mints selection of the golden eagle design is aptly understood by reading their description of the bird of prey.

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The Britannia image has been on British coins for centuries. But no longer. For the first time in more than 300 years, the figure of Britannia will not appear on new British coins.

The image first appeared on the copper farthing back in 1672. And like Lady Liberty is for the US, the Britannia image is filled with history and is symbolic of British democracy, patriotism and liberties.

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Guam has taken the first steps needed to begin the design phase of their new commemorative quarter.

Governor Felix Camacho has appointed his executive assistant, Shawn Gumataotao, as the Guam liaison to the U.S. Mint for the District of Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter Dollar Program. 

Gumataotao will lead the local design program and seek ideas from the public for the new Guam quarter that was authorized when President Bush signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008.

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New Mexico lawmakers introduced new legislation that would create coins commemorating the 400th anniversary of Santa Fe.

Santa Fe, New Mexico, the site of native occupation centuries before European incursions, was officially elevated from a plaza established in 1608 to a villa and capital city in 1610. It’s also the home to the oldest and continuously inhabited indigenous communities in North America.

Two bills were concurrently introduced into the House and Senate and each has been referred to committee. If a reconciled bill passes and is signed into law, a commemorative $5 gold piece and a $1 silver dollar would be minted for coin collectors in 2010.

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Striking of the first Oklahoma state commemorative quarters began in the U.S. Mint’s Denver facility this week with a single ceremonial push of a button.

Oklahoma’s First Family was on hand to receive the very first shiny minted quarters. In a NewsOK.com article, Oklahoma’s image is in mint condition, Governor Brad Henry was quoted at the event saying:

“I think there’s tremendous Oklahoma pride here today,” Henry said after the ceremony. “Coming on the heels of the state centennial, I think it’s appropriate that the Oklahoma quarter is the first one in 2008, and it gives Oklahoma a chance to shine throughout the land.”

While the quarter is now going through its production paces, it won’t enter public circulation quite yet. Hundreds of millions will be minted and then placed into circulation later this month. The video article by KTEN.com is currently the best source to see an actual photo or image of the Oklahoma quarter.

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The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) has their next public meeting Jan. 15. CCAC’s main responsibility is to review themes and design proposals for circulating coinage, commemorative coins, bullion coinage, Congressional Gold Medals and other medals.

It’s for this purpose they’ll next meet. According to the announcement, their main objectives in the meeting will be to:

• Review design candidates for the reverse (tails) of the fourth one-cent circulating coin in the 2009 Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial One-Cent Coin series

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The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) was created to help in the recommendation and selection of new United States Minted coins and medals.

For anyone who loves art, designing, collecting or history, becoming a member of the CCAC could be a dream come true. And for two people, that dream could turn into reality as soon as February of 2008.

What does the CCAC do? Whether it’s:

• Circulating coins, like the 2008 state quarter designs recently announced
• Commemorative collector coinage, like the 2008 American Bald Eagle coins
• Or medals - even Congressional Gold Medals, like this year’s medals for the Dalai Lama

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Readers of CoinNews have already noticed several significant changes and improvements to the site. Our goal is to make everything quicker and even easier to read while adding more content and free collector tools.

Any change - even when it’s much improved - requires some adjustments and relearning. We’d like to thank you for your patience during this time. We’ll continue to make the major design and tweak adjustments late in the night (early AM would be more accurate) so your daily reading is not affected.

Most of the significant additions are expected to be completed within the next 10 days. We’ll do our best to keep you updated.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know.

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There’s no reason you need to feel like a million dollars if you can wear it - literally. But the burning question has to be… why?

Well, for the sake of fashion. Naturally!

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