Making money a moneymaker for U.S. Mint

I recently received my first Idaho quarter in change. Boise must be proud.

You may recall from the headlines some time back and from an earlier column here that this is the year when the U.S. Mint would release a quarter honoring Idaho, the 43rd state. This is the 43rd design in a 10-year program of minting quarters commemorating all 50 states.

The program generates a lot of money for the U. S. treasury due to hoarded coins.

I still don’t like the Idaho design any better than I did when I first saw it as a sketch almost a year ago.

The star representing Boise, the capital, on the map of Idaho looks like a defect – like a bullet hole in a roadside sign.

Oddly, the coin I received has a deep scratch across the area where the Salmon River flows at the base of the Panhandle. That’s where I long have said we should draw a state boundary between Idaho and North Idaho.

I’ll have to find some other Idaho quarters to see if mine is damaged or if the mint is making a prophecy.

As expected, the Idaho quarter is dominated by a peregrine falcon, which, to me – I’m an avid birder – looks more like a red-tailed hawk.

The quarter also has “Idaho 1890” in two lines across the top and “Esto Perpetua” in two lines on the right. The latter sounds, to me, as if it should be the scientific name of a plant.

“Esto perpetua” is our state motto, or something like that, in Latin. It means: “Mayest thou endure forever.”

My inclination is that the designer was referring to the peregrine falcon and not to the state itself, which I still believe should be divided.

Wyoming’s and Utah’s quarters will come out this year, and their designs are very cool – a bucking bronco rider and the golden spike, respectively ( www.usmint.gov/mint_ programs/?action=50_state_ quarters_program).

Next year, the last five quarters will be released. I bet that Hawaii and Alaska both will have memorable designs. I can remember their entries into statehood.

Montana’s and Washington’s quarters were the two previous ones released this year. Based on demand, more than one-half billion quarters of each design have been produced.

It will be interesting to see how the Idaho design stacks up, so to speak.

The U.S. Mint also has several other programs to make money, so to speak.

Starting this year, to replace the profitable state quarter series, the mint will issue four designs of golden-colored $1 coins each year. Each design will have the image of a U.S. president in order of succession.

This year’s dollars will include Washington, Adams, Jefferson and whoever came next. History class was a long time ago.

One president will even get two coins for two nonsuccessive presidencies.

According to the mint’s calculations, the program will run at least until 2016 – or until it runs out of dead presidents. For a president to be included in this program, you see, he – or she – must have been dead for at least two years.

As the program winds down, I’m sure there will be some tough decisions to be made regarding any living ex-presidents.

At least for this year, the Presidents Dollars series will not replace the Golden Dollars – the renamed Sacagawea dollar coins.

Remember how I said the mint is out to make money? Here’s an example: You can buy a roll of 25 2007 Golden Dollars, intended for circulation, from the mint for just $35.95. What a deal!

No wonder it is having trouble selling the idea of replacing paper dollars with dollar coins.

Furthermore, if you like to buy money at rates far above face value, the mint has some more great deals for you.

There’s a $50 coin that resembles the 1913 buffalo nickel but contains a full ounce of gold. It sells for $825.95.

To accompany the Presidents Dollar series, there will be a $10 coin for each of the corresponding first ladies – or first gentlemen. (And the mint also has a plan for whoever that unmarried president was that I don’t remember from history class.)

These coins will contain a half ounce of gold and sell for $429.95, each.

As you see, $50 and $10 coins don’t come cheap from the U.S. Mint.

Meanwhile, keep a lookout for your very own Idaho quarter. By the way, shouldn’t we have gotten some free samples or something?