My coin dealer said that Congress has approved the minting of quarters for the US territories. Is that true? I never saw anything in print. When are they supposed to be minted, if at all?
Territory Quarters These should have been announced before so that the many coin albums out there would have included spaces for the 12 additional coins. My coin album only has spaces for the 50 states.
They couldn't have been announced before, the law creating them was just passed on Dec 19th 2007 and signed on either December 26th or 29th. So they have only been authorized for three months. Most of those albums were made years ago. But look at it this way, these are NOT state quarters. They are part of a different one year only US Territories quarters program. The legislation even reads that way and they are treated that way by the government. But it is confusing and is the reason why I would have liked to have seen a year or two between the two programs.
This will prove to be a big boost to some of the obsolete coinage from these areas since it ties them so firmly to US numismatics. I'm especially thinking of the Puerto Rican coinage and the Danish West Indies (American Virgin Islands). Maybe food stamps change tokens will get a little boost from the DC quarter.
I believe couple of the pacific islands have places that still use "Tribal Currencies" and such, that are part of their culture that still get used. They will -really- have to make a concerted effort to get the quarters out to such places. I bet some of these territories don't get new money often.
Large population territories like Puerto Rico need coin shipments almost every year. Like all areas they go through economic upturns and downturns a little differently than other areas. Their economy is based more on agricultural products, fishing, and light manufacturing than most so they are in an upturn now and probably needing more coin. My understanding is that coins circulate here with a much higher velocity and turnover than on the mainland and that older coins are extremely worn. The Virgin Islands would need coin less often. Washington DC is serviced by Baltimore. The other territories would need coin sporatically.
