1999 Delaware State Quarter

Coins featuring Caesar Rodney

The 50 State Quarters Program

In 1992, the Canadian Mint introduced a commemorative coin program to celebrate Canada’s 125th anniversary. It featured every province on a quarter, 12 at the time, and they were released once a month. It was a huge success. American coin collectors took notice and lobbied Congress to create a similar program. They found support from the House Banking Subcommittee chairman, Delaware Representative Mike Castle. Rep. Castle. He introduced a bill in 1996 called the “50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act,” which passed in the House but stalled in the Senate. He tried again in 1997. This time, it was merged with the “United States $1 Coin Act of 1997,” which authorized a new dollar coin to be “golden in color” which became the Sacagawea dollar in 2000. The legislation that authorized the state quarter program was signed into law by President Clinton in December 1997. That legislation stated that five states would be honored each year, for ten years, and released in the order they joined the Union.

By featuring motifs familiar to both casual collectors and non-collectors, quarters found easily in circulation have brought more people into the hobby. It encouraged people to pay attention to the coins in their pockets, something they may not have done otherwise. Remember, until the State Quarters series, nearly all commemorative coins minted were never meant to be circulated. The exception, of course, are the bicentennial coins minted between 1975 - 1976.

According to the US Mint, the 50 State Quarters Series was one of the most popular coin programs in US history. The United States Mint generated $470.1 million in revenue and $136.2 million in earnings and seigniorage from the sale of 50 State Quarters numismatic products between 1998 - 2008. Seigniorage is the profit made by issuing currency.

The first coin of the series, released on Jan. 4, 1999, was Rep. Castle’s home state of Delaware.

The First State Quarter

Each state’s governor was responsible for submitting concepts for their state’s quarter to the mint, but they had leeway on how they came to those selections. Unlike the 1936 Delaware Tercentenary half dollar, the coin's design was not pre-defined. Delaware Governor Tom Carper asked residents to submit their ideas to the Delaware Division of the Arts for review. They then made recommendations to the governor, who forwarded his recommendations to the Mint. In total, 340 designs were submitted for consideration.

The US Mint took those recommendations and created three designs for the reverse. Gov. Carper shared them publicly and asked Delawareans to vote on their favorite. Not only did this democratize the selection, it also increased the visibility of the new State Quarters program to people who may not have collected coins. These coins were meant for everyone. The News Journal article below, printed June 6, 1998, provided details on the designs and the voting process. One design, created by the Mint and not based on the governor’s selections, featured a depiction of Lady Liberty embracing Delaware like a baby while lighting the way toward unity. It was likely an attempt to recreate the beauty seen in earlier 20th-century American coins. A second design featured a quill pen and parchment to signify the state’s ratification of the Constitution. The third was the Caesar Rodney design that we know today.

Of the 1,519 votes cast the Caesar Rodney reverse, designed by Mint sculptor/engraver William Cousins and based on artist Eddy Seger’s submission, received 948. At the time, Mr. Seger taught art at Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, DE. When he learned that Delawareans were being asked to submit ideas for the new quarter, he turned it into an opportunity to teach bas-relief sculpture to his students. Of the 340 submissions to the Arts Council, 39 came from his students.

Caesar Rodney is celebrated for riding his horse 80 miles through the rain to break a stalemate between the two other Delaware delegates of the Continental Congress, George Read and Thomas McKean. This made his vote the deciding vote for American Independence on July 2, 1776. A lot has been written about Paul Revere’s famous midnight horse ride in 1775, but Caesar Rodney’s had a greater impact on American independence. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the newly created Constitution of the United States. Both events are highlighted on the quarter’s elegantly simple reverse. Unlike many state quarters that would come later, the Delaware State Quarter was uncluttered and it presented an image many Delaweareans could identify.

The original quarter design submission and the final design were both based on James Edward Kelly’s sculpture of Caesar Rodney that stood in Wilmington’s Rodney Square between 1923 and 2020. Mr. Kelly is best known as a sculptor of war memorials. His work can be found in places like Gettysburg Battlefield, Arlington National Cemetery, and Valley Forge National Historical Park.

The ceremonial first strike of the new series took place at the Philadelphia Mint on Dec. 7, 1998, the anniversary of the state’s ratification of the Constitution. The coins entered circulation on Jan. 4th, 1999. In Delaware, Rep. Castle, with a bit of flair, arrived in an armored car to deliver the first bags of the new quarters to the Wilmington Trust Center on Rodney Square.

The 1999-S Silver Delaware Quarter is ranked #15 in Whitman’s 5th editions of their 100 Greatest United States Modern Coins book series. This is because the packaging for the proof silver quarters was a less-than-ideal environment for the coins. Finding one in Proof 70 Deep Cameo condition is difficult. Between PCGS and NGC, out of a combined 28,372 examples graded only 1,585, or 5.5%, have received a PR-70 DCAM label. When you find one, it may cost between $400 - $800, which is the most of any other silver state quarter in the series.

A Redesigned Obverse

To make room for each state’s design, the obverse was changed to accommodate the text previously found on the reverse. This also required some changes to John Flanagan’s engraving of George Washington. Mint engraver William Cousins, the designer of the Delaware quarter’s reverse, carried out these changes. Washington’s neck was shortened and the details in his wig were enhanced further. The wig modifications continued a trend that had started in the 1992 and it earned the nickname “spaghetti hair.” Similar edits to add definition to Lincoln’s hair and beard were made to the Lincoln Cent and the details in Jefferson’s wig on the nickel.

The changes were not well received.

Cornelius Vermeule, in the second edition of his book “Numismatic Art in America,” criticized that the “hair had been worked over by a child wielding a rusty nail.” Robert Shippee, in his book “Pleasure & Profit”, simply stated that the portrait was “less noble” after the changes. Personally, I think the edits create an exaggerated pop art-like quality to Washington’s wig that’s inconsistent with the rest of the design. But I also know others that prefer the enhanced details. Like any artwork, it’s subject to a viewer’s opinion. To be fair to William Cousins, he was tasked with the impossible: Make changes to a beloved and classic design while attempting to maintain that design AND the “spaghetti hair” enhancements. It was destined to be unpopular by a lot of collectors no matter how well it was executed. His initials were added next to John Flanagan’s and the obverse was used throughout the rest of the series.

Complaining about modern US coins is a long tradition within the coin-collecting community. A June 1876 article featured in a magazine named “The Galaxy,” a complaint that modern coins were “poor, commonplace, tasteless, characterless” and that the depiction of Liberty was inartistic. The focus of the writer’s ire was the Seated Liberty design featured on US coins at the time, which many people love. So if you don’t love a coin’s design (or if others don’t love a modern coin that you love), wait a few years. People’s taste may change.

notable errors and varieties:

• The “Spitting Horse” die crack on Philadelphia-struck quarters is a personal favorite. The name comes from the fact that the crack extends from the horse’s mouth to the edge. Though this generated a lot of excitement when it was first discovered, it was more common than initially thought. It’s an affordable error and a wonderful addition to a collection of coins focusing on Delaware. I acquired mine for about $30.

• The new manganese alloy planchets for the upcoming Sacagawea dollar coins were tested with the State Quarter dies before the new dollar’s dies were ready. Examples exist for all five of the state quarters minted in 1999. A beautiful Delaware example sold at Heritage Auctions in 2020 for $2,640. A collection of these would be an impressive thing to see.

Availability

These can still be found in circulation, meaning you can acquire one for as little as twenty-five cents. Most of these can be found graded for less than $80. An MS-68 example of a business strike example is scarce and can cost as much as $300. The silver proof in PR-70 DCAM is scarce and can cost between $400 - $800, but an example in PR-69 DCAM is closer to $40 and very affordable. The 1999 clad proof sets are available for between $5 (for the State Quarter-only set) to $15 for the full proof set of nearly every 1999 circulating coin.  An uncirculated Mint set will cost less than $10. The 1999 Susan B. Anthony Dollar, the coin’s final year, was not included in any of the sets and was sold separately.

Mintages and Coin information - State Quarters:

• 1999-P Quarter: 373,400,000   (NGC ID: 249D, PCGS Number: 5944, Greysheet ID: 5772)

• 1999-D Quarter: 401,424,000   (NGC: 249E, PCGS: 5945, GSID: 5767)

• 1999-S Clad Proof Quarter: 3,713,359   (NGC: 27M7, PCGS: 96042, GSID 6045)

• 1999-S Silver Proof Quarter: 804,565   (NGC: 27M8, PCGS: 96043, GSID: 6046)

  Circulation coins: weight 5.67 grams; composition, outer layers of copper-nickel (.750 copper, .250 nickel) bonded to an inner core of pure copper.
  Silver proof coins: weight 6.25 grams; composition .900 silver, .100 copper

  Diameter 24.3 mm; reeded edge; mints - Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco

The Australian Kookaburra

Australia’s Perth Mint celebrated the new state quarter program by adding a privy mark of each of the first five state quarters on the 1999 silver Kookaburra. For such a small reproduction of another coin on the coin, it’s done quite well. The reverse, in addition to the Delaware privy mark, features two kookaburras balanced on a thin branch of a eucalyptus tree. Kookaburras mate for life and both adult birds help raise their young. "THE AUSTRALIAN KOOKABURRA" appears on the reverse, followed by the coin's weight, purity, and the year 1999. This coin is the same size and weight as an American Silver Eagle bullion coin.

The Perth Mint is owned by the Western Australian government and produces collector and investment coins. It was established in 1899 to mint gold sovereigns for the British Empire. The P100 mint mark on the reverse (below the kookaburras) celebrates the mint’s 100th anniversary.

The obverse features the now familiar fourth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley. The "fouth portrait” name identified that it’s the the fourth official portrait of the queen to be used on coinage. It was first used on British coins in 1998 and continued until 2015. His portrait can be found on coins from the United Kingdom, Canada, Bermuda, and other Commonwealth countries. The artist's design was chosen as part of a 1997 Royal Mint competition to replace the previous portrait by Raphael Maklouf.

Ian Rank-Broadley says that he took inspiration for his coinage portrait from Benedetto Pistrucci's effigy of King George III. The portraits are similar in their realism, the attention paid to the hair, the truncated bust, and the way in which the portrait fills the available space. The larger proportional size made the portrait more easily seen on smaller coins.

The State Quarters privy-mark Kookaburra series ended in 2001 after only 15 state quarters were featured.

Availability

These can be found for less than $100, But, keep in mind, with a set max mintage of 10,000 with each privy mark (1,000 reserved for Australia), this may require patience if you’d like to add one to your collection. The exact distribution of this variety is unknown, but the total distribution of all 1999 Kookaburras is 109,364. Because this was minted specifically to be collected and with modern minting techniques, finding one in high grade will be easy. It was packaged with an uncirculated Delaware quarter, but I wouldn’t anticipate that being high grade.

The Perth Mint also issued a 2 oz silver Kookaburra and a 1-kilo silver Kookaburra that displayed all five of the 1999 state quarters. But since those two other coins don’t exclusively feature Delaware, I didn’t include them in my collection.

Mintages and Coin information - Australian Kookaburra:

• 1999 Kookaburra - Delaware Quarter Honor Mark mintage: 10,000 (1,000 reserved for Australian collectors)

• KM-604

• PCGS Number: 163212

  Weight 31.1035 g; composition, .999 silver; diameter 40.6 mm; 4.00mm thickness; reeded edge; mint - Perth Mint, Australia

The Quartergate Controversy & The Tribute Coin

In 2002, some artists who had submitted designs for other states began complaining about the design process. This became known as Quartergate. The complaints ranged from:

• Attribution, since only the official US Mint engravers’ initials appeared on the coins.

• The final designs didn’t always match the submitted artwork.

• The grading service ICG encapsulated some engravers’ signatures, who were paid for their signatures.

• Some artists felt like their work was only being used as research while others, specifically the engravers and their deal with ICG, profited.

After reading the complaints from the artist whose work inspired the Missouri State Quarter, I believe most of the controversy was sparked by the same things that cause most disputes: miscommunication, misunderstanding, and egos. But having an artist roll giant quarters around Washington, DC, or affix “spite” stickers on circulating coins likely didn’t do anybody any favors on either side of the disagreement.

The National Collector’s Mint, a private company focused on collectibles, capitalized on this controversy by selling over-priced silver-plated tribute coins featuring some of the original artists’ submissions, like the one by Eddy Seger. Though not high quality or valuable, it provides insight into what the Delaware quarter could have looked like had the original submission not been edited and refined by one of the mint’s professional engravers.

The most notable difference between the proposed design and the final is that it depicts Caesar Rodney from his right instead of his left side. It honored the fact that he had a cancerous growth on his left cheek and would often try to hide it from people. There are few portraits of him because of this. It also features an outline of the state of Delaware, Holly (the state tree), a diamond (a reference to Delaware’s nickname “The Diamond State”), and a ladybug, which is the state insect.

In my opinion, William Cousins’ simplified version made the Delaware quarter one of the most visually appealing and elegant of the entire series. He also removed the state outline, an unnecessary design feature that plagued many other state quarters in the series. Mr. Seger's one criticism of the quarter when it was released was that Caesar Rodney faced the wrong direction.

The US Mint changed the guidelines for future coin submissions in 2003, asking only for written ideas instead of visual design concepts. It also created the Artistic Infusion Program in 2004. The program pairs artists with mint engravers to create new coins. It also eventually removed the reference to “an art and drama teacher, fittingly employed at Caesar Rodney High School, submitted the selected design concept” from the official webpage for the quarter. The controversy was never officially cited as the reason for these changes.

Before the changes to the submission process were made, the mint asked for feedback from everyone who had participated. Eddy Seger, on his website, responded that the proposal would “eliminate a whole body of talent that could make the coins truly representational.” I couldn’t agree more. While the Mint’s new program has helped avoid controversy and improve the artistic quality of America’s coins and medals, the changes prevent outside artists with no experience designing coins, or classes of excited high school students led by passionate art teachers, from participating in future coin designs.