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The 50 State Quarters Program () was the release of a series of circulating commemorative coins by the United States Mint. From 1999 through 2008, it featured each of the 50 U.S. states on unique designs for the reverse of the quarter. The 50 State Quarters Program was started to support a new generation of coin collectors,〔Muoio, Anna. (1999-11-30) ("Mint Condition" ), Fast Company. Retrieved 2011-01-16.〕〔David L. Ganz, "The Official Guidebook to America's State Quarters", Random House, 2000.〕 and it became the most successful numismatic program in history, with roughly half of the U.S. population collecting the coins, either in a casual manner or as a serious pursuit. The U.S. federal government so far has made additional profits of $3.0 billion from collectors taking the coins out of circulation.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/mint_programs/50sqReport.pdf )〕 In 2009, the U.S. Mint began issuing quarters under the 2009 District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Program. The Territories Quarter Program was authorized by the passage of a newer legislative act, . This program features the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.〔Noles, Jim. ''A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America – One State Quarter at a Time'' (Boston: Da Capo Press, 2009).〕 == Treasury opposition and congressional enactment == The program's origins lie with the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee (CCCAC), which was appointed by Secretary of Treasury Lloyd Bentsen in December 1993 and chaired by Mint Director Philip N. Diehl. From the first days of the CCCAC, one of its members, David Ganz, urged the committee to endorse the 50 States Quarters program, and in 1995, the CCCAC did so. The committee then sought the support of Representative Michael Castle (R-Delaware), chairman of the House Banking subcommittee with jurisdiction over the nation's coinage. Castle's initial caution was resolved when Diehl suggested the coins be issued in the order the states entered the Union. (Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution). Castle subsequently held hearings and filed legislation to authorize the program.〔Hearing on the U.S. Mint's Commemorative Coin Program before the Subcomm. On Domestic & International Monetary Policy of the House Committee on Banking & Financial Services, 104th. Cong., 1st session (Serial 104–25)(July 12, 1995)〕 Despite the support of the director of the mint and the treasury secretary-appointed CCCAC, the Treasury Department opposed the 50 States Quarters program, as commemorative coinage had come to be identified with abuses and excesses. The mint's economic models estimated the program would earn the government between $2.6 billion and $5.1 billion in additional seignorage and $110 million in additional numismatic profits. Diehl and Castle used these profit projections to urge the Treasury's support, but Treasury officials found the projections to lack credibility (at the program's conclusion, the Mint estimated the program had earned $3.0 billion in additional seigniorage and $136.2 million in additional numismatic profits).〔 Diehl worked with Castle behind the scenes to move legislation forward despite the Treasury's opposition to the program.〔〔Hildebrand, Carol. (1999-04-24) ("The New Realm of the Coin" ), CIO magazine. Retrieved 2011-01-16〕 However, the Treasury suggested to Castle that the department should conduct a study to determine the feasibility of the program. With Diehl's advice, Castle accepted the Treasury's offer, and the agreement was codified in the United States Commemorative Coin Act of 1996.〔50-State Quarters: Credit Where Credit Is Due, COINage magazine, December 2005 ()〕 The act also authorized the secretary to proceed with the 50 States Quarters program without further congressional action if the results of the feasibility study were favorable. The Treasury Department engaged the consulting firm Coopers and Lybrand to conduct the study in 1997, which confirmed the Mint's demand, seigniorage and numismatic profit projections for the program.〔 Among other conclusions, the study found that 98 million Americans were likely to save one or more full sets of the quarters (at the program's conclusion, the Mint estimated that 147 million Americans collected the 50 state quarters). Nevertheless, the Treasury Department continued to oppose the program and declined to proceed with it without a congressional mandate to do so.〔 In 1997, Congress issued that mandate in the form of , the "United States Commemorative Coin Program Act", which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 1, 1997. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「50 State Quarters」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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