A bill recently introduced by Rep. Melvin Watt [D-NC] proposes a 40-coin, eight-year series of circulating quarters to commemorate and be emblematic of "prominent civil rights leaders and important events that have advanced civil rights in America."

H.R. 6701, "Civil Rights Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008," was introduced July 31, and has an already large cosponsor list of 99 representatives.

Most collectors are now familiar with the H.R. 6184, "America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008," which the House passed July 9 and would continue circulating quarters commemorating national parks and sites for at least 11 years. Like it, H.R. 6701 would authorize a large silver version of the coin measuring 3 inches in diameter and weighing a 5 ounces.

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Governor Sarah Palin’s office announced as late as last night that she would be spending today at the Alaska State Fair to introduce the newest state quarter into circulation.

Governor Palin had a more important ceremony to attend, however, as she took her place beside Sen. John McCain’s Friday and was selected as his vice presidential candidate.

While Alaska found itself in the national spotlight during the historic political announcement, the ceremonial release of the Alaska commemorative quarter continued as planned.

Standing in for Governor Palin at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer was Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, who was joined by United States Mint Deputy Director Andrew Brunhart.

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The United States Mint pulled out all the stops in the final week of August with the launch of several new coin products and the resumption of American Eagle gold coin sales to authorized dealers. The active week concludes with the Mint’s ceremonial release of the newest state quarter at the Alaska State Fair on Friday.

The scope of the Mint’s releases are best seen through a summarization of published articles that were released toward the end of August.

2008 U.S. Mint Silver Proof Sets Arrive August 26

The 2008 United States Silver Proof Set™ will be offered by the U.S. Mint Tuesday, August 26 at noon (ET). The 14 coin proof set carries the same $44.95 price tag as the 2007 sets, and no order limits are in place.

Each coin in the set bears the “S” mint mark, denoting they were manufactured at the United States Mint at San Francisco.

This year’s set includes the final five commemorative quarters to be issued in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program…

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Alaska State Quarters in Bags and Rolls

The newest state quarters honor Alaska with bags and rolls of the coins available Monday from the United States Mint.

Collectors can order 100- and 1,000-coin quarter bags or two-roll sets with 40 coins each from the U.S. Mint facility at Denver and Philadelphia.

The Alaska state quarter is the 49th, and second to last coin released in the United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program. The popular program began in 1999…

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Andrew Jackson Individual Proof $1 Coins

The Andrew Jackson Individual Proof $1 Coin will be available through the United States Mint Thursday, August 28, at 12 noon (ET).

Andrew Jackson was was the seventh President of the United States and the special individual proof coins honoring his presidency are priced at $5.95 each.

There is a $4.95 standard shipping and handling charge, which makes the total cost…

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US Mint Resumes Limited American Eagle Gold Coin Sales

Overwhelming demand forced the United States Mint to suspend one-ounce American Eagle gold coin sales to their network of Authorized Purchasers on August 17.

The suspension of the investment gold coins has been lifted — at least on a limited basis, according to a U.S. Mint memo to its authorized dealers on August 22.

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Alaska State Quarter to Roll Out at State Fair, Public Coin Forum

The ceremonial launch of the commemorative Alaska state quarter will occur at the Alaska State Fair, the United States Mint announced Thursday.

The Alaska state quarter is the 49th coin in the popular United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program.

The reverse or tails side of the coin features a grizzly bear emerging from the water clutching a salmon in its jaws.  The North Star is depicted above the inscription “The Great Land.” 

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Jackson Liberty First Spouse Gold Coins Arrive Aug. 28

Jackson Liberty First Spouse gold coins will be available from the United States Mint on Thursday, August 28.

The 1/2-ounce proof and uncirculated versions are priced at $619.95 and $599.95, respectively. Both versions have a face value of $10, are composed of 24-karat gold, and have a total mintage of 40,000.

The current prices are the same as the Louisa Adams and Elizabeth Monroe spouse gold coins, even though gold has come down in price recently.

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The newest state quarters honor Alaska with bags and rolls of the coins available Monday from the United States Mint.

Collectors can order 100- and 1,000-coin quarter bags or two-roll sets with 40 coins each from the U.S. Mint facility at Denver and Philadelphia.

The Alaska state quarter is the 49th, and second to last coin released in the United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program. The popular program began in 1999 and ends with the Hawaii commemorative quarter set for release in November. To date, over 33.7 billion state quarters have been struck.

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The ceremonial launch of the commemorative Alaska state quarter will occur at the Alaska State Fair, the United States Mint announced Thursday.

The Alaska state quarter is the 49th coin in the popular United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program.

The reverse or tails side of the coin features a grizzly bear emerging from the water clutching a salmon in its jaws.  The North Star is depicted above the inscription “The Great Land.” 

Additional inscriptions are “Alaska” and “1959,” which is the year the state was admitted into the Union.

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The latest congressional National Parks Quarter proposal calls for a massive three-inch, eight ounce silver collector coin.

An amazing size that would quite easily dwarf current US bullion coinage — as a comparison, the popular American Eagle silver coin is an already large 1.598 inches with a single ounce of silver.

The House of Representatives introduced the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act, which proposes a minimum 11 year series of circulating quarter dollar coins to feature one national park or site in each state, the District of Columbia, and each U.S. Territory starting in 2010. It would also mandate silver coins for collectors.

The House-introduced legislation passed easily on July 9, 2008. That bill, however, had provisions only for a three-inch, five ounce silver collector coin. "Only" is perhaps the wrong word to use. A coin that size and issued by the US Mint would be history making.

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Legislation for circulated, uncirculated, proof and silver dollar coins commemorating national parks and sites flew through the House of Representatives in five weeks and ended with a unanimous "yes" vote July 9.

The House has been ablaze with coin talk this year, handling nearly 20 coin bills. Is their coin fervor resulting from the will/desires of people? And, will it carry over to the slower Senate?

For America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act at least, it would appear so.

When the national park quarter legislation (H.R. 6184) was introduced in the House on June 4, 2008, the Senate didn’t wait for it to pass the House like it could have. Instead, Senator John Barrasso [R-WY] introduced an identical version of the bill (S. 3214) on June 26.

It’s not completely uncharacteristic to introduce similar bills in both houses and so close together, but it does hint at something stronger in play.

The day after H.R. 6184 passed the House, Senator Barrasso released a statement saying,

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America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 (H.R. 6184) sailed through the House easily yesterday with 419 members voting "Yes", and 0 voting "No".

H.R. 6184 would authorize the United States Mint to make changes to the design of the quarter-dollar coin to feature one national park or other national site in each state, the District of Columbia, and each territory beginning in 2010.

During this period, designs for each national park or other national site would replace the eagle design on the reverse side of the George Washington quarter that is scheduled to be used again in 2010 (after the conclusion of the D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarter Program).

Collector proof, uncirculated and silver park quarter coins are also authorized under the measure.

With a rate of issuance set to five quarter-dollars each year, and a clause granting the Treasury Secretary — the ultimate authority over the United States Mint — the discretion to mint a "second round," the American public may see rotating quarter designs for 20 years, or until almost 2030.

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The call for national park quarters grew louder with progress in the House and introduction in the Senate.

The joint quarter-dollar legislation seeks to:

"provide for a program for circulating quarter dollar coins that are emblematic of a national park or other national site in each State, the District of Columbia, and each territory of the United States."

Senate bill, S. 3214, is nearly identical to House version, H.R. 6184. They both, in fact, bear the same name: America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008.

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Gov. Benigno R. Fitial revealed the selected Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) quarter design and has forwarded the decision to the United States Mint.

Unlike the quarter selection process for the District of Columbia and other U.S. Territories which involved public voting, the CNMI design was chosen by a three-member commission set up by the governor — attorney Teresa Kim, the governor’s special assistant for administration Esther Fleming, and Catherine Perry Anderson.

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