By Emily Hudson
The State Quarter Program ends in 2008, however the United States Mint will issue six more quarters for the District of Columbia and United States Territories Quarter program in 2009.
'The 50 State Quarter program is a 10-year initiative commemorating each of the 50 United States,' according to the United States Mint Web site.
Beginning in January 1999, the United States quarter has changed five times every year, honoring each individual state in the order in which they were admitted into the Union.
While the obverse, or the heads, side of the quarters continue to display the familiar image of George Washington, the tails side of the quarters for each state has unique artwork.
State designs are submitted and recommended through a process determined by the governor of each state. The United States Mint then reviews the designs for coinability before each governor recommends a final design. The Secretary of the Treasury approves all final quarter designs before they are produced.
The current quarter is for Utah, which entered the Union in 1896. This quarter was the fifth and final release of 2007 and is now in circulation.
'The reverse of Utah''s quarter features two locomotives moving toward the golden spike that joined the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads, linking East to West and transforming both the Utah Territory and the Nation with the inscription ''Crossroads of the West'',' according to the United States Mint Web site.
Five final quarters will be released in 2008. Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii will be released in that order every 10 weeks, drawing the 'States' program to an end.
In 2009 the United States Mint will begin the new program, and will mint and issue six quarter-dollar coins in honor of the District of Columbia, and the five United States territories: the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
These coins will follow the same pattern as the State coins. The image of George Washington on the obverse side of the coin will stay the same, and the reverse side of each coin will have an image emblematic of the territories to be honored.
Collecting or mapping the United States Mint quarters has become a favorite past time of experienced and new coin collectors.
Regular state quarters used for commerce can be found anywhere, but they can also be purchased at local coin dealerships like Rust Rare Coin Company and Monarch Coin Corporation in Salt Lake City.
'We keep a complete stock of all the regular state coins in the store at all times, but it''s a little more expensive for us to do that, so we sell those coins for 60 cents each.' said Josh Rust, assistant night manager of Rust Rare Coin Company. 'We recommend that people just get those coins from their change.'
Collecting coins has become a popular hobby, but it can get expensive if the collector is interested in the specialty sets.
'The 1999 Silver-proofed set of coins issued by the U.S. Mint goes for $300 for the whole set,' said Debbie Larson, a saleswoman at Salt Lake City dealer Monarch Coin Corporation.
Overall, the United States Quarter program has had a positive influence on local rare coin dealers.
'The State Quarter program got a lot of new people interested in coin collecting,' Larson said.