WASHINGTON — The United States Mint today announced that the limited edition of 75,000 Illinois Official First Day Coin Covers will be available online at www.usmint.gov beginning 12:00 noon (E.S.T.) on January 27, 2003. The Illinois Official First Day Coin Cover, which also is available through the United States Mint’s subscription program, features two Illinois quarters from December 9, 2002, the first day of mintage.
Priced at $19.95, the Illinois Official First Day Coin Cover includes quarters from both the Philadelphia and Denver Mint facilities on a handsome display card with a 37–cent United States Flag postage stamp.
The postmark of “January 2, 2003, Lincoln Station, Lincoln, IL 62656” indicates the day Illinois quarters were released to the Federal Reserve Bank and the public. The Illinois quarter is the 21st in the 50 State Quarters Program, which honors each of the states in the order that it ratified the Constitution or was admitted into the Union. Five state designs will be issued each year through 2008 at approximately 10–week intervals.
The Illinois quarter’s reverse design depicts a young Abraham Lincoln within the outline of the state. A farm scene appears on the left of the outline of the state and the Chicago skyline is on the right of the outline. Twenty–one stars border the coin, signifying Illinois as the 21st state to be admitted into the Union on December 3, 1818.
Customers can purchase the Illinois Official First Day Coin Covers by using the United States Mint’s secure website, www.usmint.gov, or by calling 1–800–USA–MINT (872–6468). As an added convenience, customers can participate in a subscription–ordering program in which specific products, such as Official First Day Coin Covers, are charged and shipped to the customer automatically as each new state quarter is released. A shipping and handling fee of $3.95 per order will be added to all orders. Hearing and speech–impaired customers may order by calling 1–888–321–MINT (6468) (TTY). Please allow approximately 3 to 4 weeks for delivery.