Pennsylvania State Quarter

Release date of Pennsylvania State Quarter: March 08, 1999.

The Pennsylvania quarter, the second coin in the 50 State Quarters® Program, depicts the statue "Commonwealth," an outline of the state, the state motto, and a keystone. This design was chosen to further help educate people about the origins of our second state, founded on December 12, 1787.

The statue "Commonwealth," designed by New York sculptor Roland Hinton Perry, is a bronze-gilded 14' 6" high female form that has topped Pennsylvania's state capitol dome in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania since May 25, 1905. Her right arm extends in kindness and her left arm grasps a ribbon mace to symbolize justice. The image of the keystone honors the states nickname, "The Keystone State." At a Jefferson Republican victory rally in October 1802, Pennsylvania was toasted as "the keystone in the federal union." The modern persistence of this designation is justified in view of the key position of Pennsylvania in the economic, social, and political development of the United States.

The Pennsylvania quarter depicts the statue "Commonwealth," an outline of the state, the state motto, and a keystone. United States Mint image.

Selections for the Pennsylvania circulating quarter began on January 30, 1998. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge issued a proclamation establishing a Commemorative Quarter Committee to review possible designs. The 14-member committee included representatives from major cultural, conservation, travel, and tourism organizations; a teacher; a high school student; the president of the state Numismatic Society; and the state treasurer. The governor invited all Pennsylvanians to submit design concepts to the committee - and received more than 5,300 ideas.

The committee reached consensus on their recommendations, and the governor forwarded five preferred concepts to the United States Mint. Four of the designs were recommended by the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee and the Fine Arts Commission and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. From these final four candidates, the governor chose the current design to represent Pennsylvania in the 50 State Quarters® Program.

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