The coin in one paragraph
The New Mexico quarter is the forty seventh design in the 50 State Quarters Program, matching New Mexico's place as the forty seventh state, admitted on 6 January 1912. The United States Mint released it on 7 April 2008. The reverse shows the outline of the state in relief with the Zia sun symbol taken from the state flag, and the caption "Land of Enchantment". The engraver credited for the design is Don Everhart (50 State quarters, design table).
The programme it belongs to
The series ran from 1999 through 2008, with five designs released each year, one roughly every ten weeks. It was authorised by the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act, which began as S. 1228 and was signed into law on 1 December 1997 as Public Law 105-124, 111 Stat. 2534. Ten years of five coins a year is why the full set runs to fifty pieces per mint, and why collectors who started in 1999 were still filling folders in 2008.
That structure matters for anyone who inherited a folder. A complete set from circulation is a common object, assembled by millions of households during the programme. It is a pleasant thing to own and it is not a rarity.
How many were made
| Issue | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Philadelphia, circulation | 244,200,000 |
| Denver, circulation | 244,400,000 |
| San Francisco, proof | 2,078,112 |
| San Francisco, silver proof | 1,192,908 |
Figures from the mintage table in 50 State quarters. Just under 489 million circulation pieces is an enormous number by collector standards, and it settles the main question people ask: a worn New Mexico quarter found in change is worth twenty five cents, and will stay that way.
What is actually collectable
Three versions are worth separating from the pile.
- Uncirculated circulation strikes. A coin that never entered circulation, with full original surfaces, is a different object from a worn one. The quantity is still large, so the premium is modest, but it is real.
- The San Francisco proof. Struck for collectors, sold in sets, with mirrored fields and frosted devices. At 2,078,112 pieces it is a hundred times scarcer than the circulation issue.
- The San Francisco silver proof. The scarcest of the four at 1,192,908 pieces, and the only one of the four with intrinsic metal value, since the silver proof quarters of this programme were struck in 90 per cent silver and weigh 6.25 grams against 5.67 grams for the clad coin.
Telling the versions apart
Start with the mint mark next to the date: P, D or S. An S means a collector coin, since San Francisco did not strike these for circulation. A proof is immediately obvious once you have seen one, because the field behaves like a mirror and the raised design looks frosted.
Distinguishing the silver proof from the clad proof takes a scale. The clad quarter is 91.67 per cent copper and 8.33 per cent nickel and weighs 5.67 grams; the silver proof is 90 per cent silver and 10 per cent copper and weighs 6.25 grams. Both are 24.26 millimetres across and 1.75 millimetres thick, so size will not tell you anything. The edge will: the clad coin shows a copper coloured stripe between two grey layers, and the silver coin does not.
The Zia sun, and why it is on the coin
The symbol at the centre of the design is the Zia sun from the flag of New Mexico. On the coin it sits over the relief outline of the state, with the state name, the statehood year 1912 and the motto of the series. It is the design element most people recognise and the reason the coin reads as unmistakably local even at arm's length.
For a school or club exercise this coin is unusually good material: one object carries a date, a mint mark, a state symbol, a statehood year and a specific act of Congress, and all five can be checked against published sources in a single lesson.
Buying one
Circulation examples cost nothing: ask at any bank for a roll of quarters or check your change, since 2008 coins are still circulating. For an uncirculated or proof example, a local dealer is the straightforward route, and the dealers page covers how to choose one. Proof sets from 2008 appear regularly at local shows, usually complete with all five designs of that year rather than as single coins.
One caution for sellers. A complete album of state quarters pulled from circulation is worth close to its face value, which is $12.50 per fifty coin set of a single mint. Offers that treat such an album as a rarity are worth a second opinion, and the auctions section explains how to get one.
