Do YOU have them all? Statehood coin series rolls to the end

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20081122/GPG0101/811220605/1207/GPG01
Statehood coin series rolls to the end

Sorting through a week's worth of pocket change has been a decade-long ritual for Rick Steeber and his daughters Ariel and Libby. Their prey: new 50-state quarters.
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That tradition is ending with the U.S. Mint's release of the 50th quarter in the series — Hawaii. The Steebers, of De Pere, only need Alaska — released in August — and the new Hawaii quarter to complete their collection.

"We've been working on it since it started in 1999," Steeber said. "I come home and put the quarters in my pocket into the box that the (coin holder) map came in and once a week or so we sit down and see what we've got. If we have a new one, we put it in the board a certain way."

Ariel, now 19, misses the sessions while off at college. Libby, 15, reaps the reward of the extra quarters, Steeber said.

The 50 state quarters are far too common to be worth more than 25 cents, said Mike Schiller, owner of Allouez Rare Coin Gallery, 2221 S. Webster Ave.

The U.S. Mint pressed more than 400 million of each state coin; some state mintages surpassed 1.5 billion coins. Wisconsin's quarter, released in October 2004, has images of a cow, a cheese round and an ear of corn along with the state motto "Forward."

The Mint made 453 million Wisconsin coins.

The state quarter program has sparked a renaissance in coin collecting, Schiller said.

"In 1999, I made more money selling albums and the plastic containers for the coins than I did selling gold and silver that year," Schiller said. He still sells 40 or 50 rolls of 50 state quarters — one or two at a time — after they are issued.

"A lot of people came in and started collecting quarters and have moved on to bigger and greater things," Schiller said. "We have dozens and dozens of new customers because of it."

The program has been a success because it is a cheap way to start a collection — $12.50 for a complete set, said Roger Bohn, president of the Nicolet Coin Club.

"I think it excited a whole nation … it's educational," said Bohn, of Ashwaubenon. "Just the other day I saw a gal at the golf course with her two children there looking for quarters to put in their books."

For the Steebers, treasure sometimes came in unexpected places.

"I got my Wisconsin coins in Indiana on the way back from Florida," he said. "It's really been fun tradition … a family project."