Updated at 8:20 a.m., Friday, December 21, 2007
Pacific Ocean territories to be featured on quarters
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Pacific Ocean territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are getting a place on the quarter's flip side.After nearly 10 years of lobbying, a measure tucked into a massive federal spending bill passed by Congress will extend the popular state quarter program to the three Pacific territories, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
"We have been working for years to have the territories and the District of Columbia included in the commemorative quarter program," said Madeleine Bordallo, Guam's nonvoting delegate to Congress. "The Guam quarter will be a great way to showcase our island."
The new quarters will be minted in 2009, with designs yet to be determined.
"There are many ways to depict Guam's unique culture and history," Bordallo said. "The most interesting question during the holidays might be, 'What would you put on the back of the Guam quarter?"'
Washington and the territories were left out when a law establishing the nationwide quarters program was passed in 1998. The U.S. Mint began issuing the coins the following year, issuing them in the order that states were admitted to the union. The program was to wind up next year. So far, about 30 billion coins have been minted.
