I was looking at an article on Modern commems and how they started up in 1982, being a young adult at the time, I remember why it happened and how completely ironic the reason was considering what happened later... 1982 was the quarter millennium of George Washington's birth, and sometime in early 1981, the writer for the NY Times numismatic column in the arts and lesure section (they no longer have one) said that if fifty years was enough for a coin design, as it was with the wheat cent, then we should have a new design for the washington quarter. This got people talking. After fifty years you didn't need a law to change a design, but the mint wanted to avoid this at all costs. Apparently it was too controversial a subject, even with the popularity of the bicentennial circulating commems. So Congress decided to issue the first collectors-only commemorative coin since 1954, a sliver half dollar. It was very popular. Now think about that. Since 1999, there have been a total of 57 quarter design changes with over 56 more in the offing. All because the mint didn't want to change the design back in 1981. Ain't kharma fun?
