Baby Boomer Pocket Change

A Quick Look at the Reverse of the Northern Mariana Islands Quarter

Take time to look at the artistic design of your money. Okay, lets peek at the last of the quarters in the quarter series. It is the Northern Mariana Quarter.  Each quarter tells a historical story but there is also a work of art.

The Reverse of the coin is the side opposite the Obverse. I call the obverse side the “Head” because that is usually where you see the picture of someone famous.

The Northern Mariana Islands  Quarter was released in November, 2009. Now the mintage was very low for this quarter.  There were 37,600,000 coins minted in Denver. And there were 35,200.00 made in Philadelphia. So when you look at your coins and you see D that means Denver and the P means Philadelphia.

It was sculpted by  Phebe Hemphill and designed by Richard Masters. You really want to see some of the other designs done by the sculpter and engraver at the US Mint. Perhaps later I will do a series for those interested in the engaging artistic side of coins.

The Northern Mariana Islands quarter reverse design represents the wealth of the islands in its natural resources of land, air and sea. A large limestone Latte (an architectural structure from ancient Chamorro times) stands near the shore. A canoe is present to represents the people’s excellent seafaring skills. Two white fairy tern birds fly overhead while a Carolinian mwar (head lei) borders the bottom of the design near the inscription, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. The mwar is present as a symbol of the virtues of honor and respect.

Now isn’t that interesting?

Tags: Coin Design, mariana Islands Quarter