Rubin Announces States Coin Design Selection Process

Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin today wrote the state governors with details on the design selection process for the 50 states commemorative quarters.

Each governor will determine the state's design-selection process, with final approval resting with the Treasury Secretary. The coins will be issued by the U.S. Mint beginning next year.

The Fifty States Commemorative Coin Program Act (Public Law 105-124) provides for the redesign of the reverse (tails) side of the quarters with designs emblematic of each of the 50 states. The law provides for five states to be featured each year beginning in 1999, in the order in which the states ratified the U.S. Constitution or were admitted into the Union.

This is a unique opportunity for the federal and state governments to join together in honoring each state and its contributions to the Union, Secretary Rubin said.

The design selection process will be as follows:

• Each governor will provide the U.S. Mint with a minimum of three and a maximum of five design concepts or themes representative of the state. The governor will decide the process for identifying these concepts.
  
• The Mint will review the concepts for appropriateness and coinability. No head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, and no living person may be included in the design. George Washington's portrait will remain on the obverse (heads) side of the quarters. The artists at the Mint will then develop actual candidate designs based on the concepts sent by the state.
  
• The Fine Arts Commission will be consulted on the candidate designs and the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee (CCCAC) will provide its review.
  
• Candidate designs will then be sent to the Treasury Secretary for his review and approval.
  
• The Mint will then return the Treasury Secretary's approved designs to the governor for the state's final design selection.
  
• The governor will determine the state's final design selection process. Once chosen, the state will return its final design to the Treasury Department for the Treasury Secretary's approval.

The five states to have their commemorative quarters issued in 1999 are Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia and Connecticut.

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