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Design proposals in for NMI commemorative coin
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Posted on May 19 2008
Design proposals have been submitted for the commemorative quarters for the Northern Marianas, as well as for the four U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
Numismatic News, a publication for coin and paper money collectors, showed in its website three design choices for the Northern Marianas.
Two of the designs feature latte, birds, boats, and fauna. The other design focuses on the islands’ role in World War II, showing armed soldiers and using the date “June 15, 1944,” when the historic Battle of Saipan began.
The publication reported that the proposed designs had been sent to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts for review on May 15, 2008. It is not clear which design now awaits final approval by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. CCAC is set to meet on May 20, at 9:30am in Washington, D.C.
A committee led by the governor’s special assistant for administration, Esther Fleming, is in charge of the design for the CNMI commemorative coin. The Saipan Tribune tried to get more information from Fleming, but she was not available at press time.
“My understanding is that the CNMI provided the narratives and the U.S. Mint worked on designs based on the narratives we submitted,” said press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr.
The Northern Marianas, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia were not included in the 50 state commemorative quarter coin program initiated in 1998. State quarters began circulating in 1999 in the order they were admitted into the union. The program was slated to end this year. About 30 billion coins have been minted thus far.
In December 2007, President Bush signed a law extending the program to the nation’s capital and the insular areas.
Under the program, the local government is tasked with submitting a design for the back of the commemorative quarter, which must be approved first by the U.S. Mint.
The new quarters will be minted in 2009, starting with the District of Columbia coin.
According to the Mint, nearly half of all Americans collect the state quarters.
