American Samoa Quarters in bags and rolls went on sale Monday at noon ET and may be ordered directly from the United States Mint online store.
The two-roll set offering includes 40 commemorative quarters minted in Philadelphia with the "P" mint mark and 40 coins from Denver with the "D" mint mark. The price is $32.95. Also available are 100-coin and 1,000-coin bags from each Mint facility for $32.95 and $309.95, respectively.
2009 quarter production has plunged during the recession as the public has been feeding loose change back into the banking system, instead of the other way around. As a result, finding 2009 coins in circulation is quite challenging and has made US Mint rolls and coin bags all the more popular. For a perspective of demand for the last issued Guam quarters, the most recent US Mint sales figures show 24,848 of the 100-coin bags, 2,874 of the 1000-coin bags and 37,106 of the two-roll sets were sold.
Designed by Charles Vickers, the American Samoa reverse quarter-dollar depicts the ava bowl ("tanoa"), whisk and staff in the foreground with a coconut tree on the shore in the background. Inscriptions include AMERICAN SAMOA and SAMOA MUAMUA LE ATUA, the motto of American Samoa meaning "Samoa, God is First".
American Samoa is a group of five islands and two coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean. They are thought to be first inhabited around 1000 BC, but were not explored by European settlers until the eighteenth century.
The American Samoa quarter is the 4th coin released in the 2009 DC & US Territories Quarters Program. DC quarters were launched in late January, Puerto Rico quarters were issued in late March and Guam quarters were released in May. The final U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands quarters will follow in equal intervals, approximately every two months.
Orders may be placed by visiting http://usmint.gov, or by calling the Mint’s toll-free number 1-800-USA-MINT (872-321-MINT (6468).
The American Samoa quarter will also enter into circulation through the banking system on Monday, according to a Mint announcement issued earlier in the month.
