Quarters Quarters Quarters!

I don't see it as a big deal, as they actually are released for circulation. Yes, I know the mint is just doing it to make money, and I would like to think there are educational aspects to it, but I think this is lost on most people, anyway.

Sigh, once again, the US Mint has nothing to do with the State Quarter/Territory Programs or the upcoming National Parks Program other than minting and marketing the coins. The Mint cannot just decide to make coins when they feel like it, new designs are dictated to them. Place the blame where it lies- Congress. They are the ones who prodigiously write and pass coinage legislation and they have figured out that the Mint is a cash cow and the only entity in government that actually creates a profit(other than the BEP, they are more than likely profitable as well) instead of pillaging the taxpayer.

Same with me.


Me too.
I stopped collecting quarters after the last State ones and that is that with those. Same with all the many, many commemoratives. I recently gave away all the commemoratives I had. I really think that the government is dedicated to ruin this hobby as they did with Stamps.

Not to mention, the "Rare" nickels and dimes.

I of course agree with everything said..... this "cash cow" is exciting for "newbies"......but sooner or later ....... all coin collectors come to the same realization with Ultra Modern coins.
As I've said before, "new & different" or "special" should be an anomoly or rare thing.....not just another Thursday at the Mint !
It's a shame Congress can't realize (or care) that this is watering down the hobby.
But as long as it "sells"......it will not change.....we can all be certain of that !
JB has the best theory with this really.....in that it doesn't matter how many coins or what they actually mint.....I don't "have" to buy them.....just the ones I "do" like (if any).
But this still doesn't make us feel comfortable with the overall health of our sport, and the different levels of harm that this is/could be doing to it.

I don't like the new quarter program on principle because of how long it's going to drag out and the blatant transparency of the mint's money-making schemes, but it could have been a lot easier to bear if the subject matter were different. Considering what most national parks are like, we're going to be getting a decade of trees and rocks. And somehow, they're going to have to get each new tree and rock to look different than past trees and rocks. By the mid 2010s we're going to be reduced to looking forward to seeing whether the next quarter's tree is going to be in the foreground or the background, on the right or the left, up close or far away. This will be the extent in variance between the designs. The fifty State Quarter program was already going downhill once we reached the western states. The designs couldn't have been less creative. This, however, is going to be ten times worse.

I would have much rather that there had been a quarter theme that could balance celebrating nature in America with something that actually can provide some sort of interesting variance from quarter to quarter. They really should have dropped the park theme and gone with something that could still retain some of those elements, like American flora and/or fauna.

I think I'm probably going to give up collecting quarters, too, proof sets included. Modern ones only go down in value, anyway.

Thats why I stopped collecting stamps, when I was a kid!!