WASHINGTON — The United States Mint today announced that the limited edition of 75,000 Maine Official First Day Coin Covers will be available online at www.usmint.gov beginning 12:00 noon (E.D.T.) on June 30, 2003.
Priced at $19.95, the Maine Official First Day Coin Cover, which is also available through the United States Mint’s Subscription Program, features two Maine quarters — one each bearing a Philadelphia and Denver mint mark — from May 5, 2003, the first day of mintage, on a handsome display card with a 37–cent United States Flag postage stamp.
The postmark of “June 2, 2003, Bristol, Maine” indicates the day the quarters were released to the Federal Reserve Bank and the public. The Maine quarter is the 23rd in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters Program, which honors the states in the order that they ratified the Constitution or were admitted into the Union. Five state designs will be issued each year through 2008 at approximately 10–week intervals.
Maine became the 23rd state to be admitted into the Union, as part of the Missouri Compromise, on March 15, 1820. The Maine quarter design incorporates a rendition of the Pemaquid Point Light atop a granite coast and of a schooner at sea. Pemaquid Point Light is located in New Harbor, and marks the entrance to Muscongus Bay and Johns Bay. The light is still a beacon for ships and remains one of Maine’s most popular tourist attractions. The schooner resembles “Victory Chimes,” the last three–masted schooner of the Windjammer Fleet.
Customers can purchase the Maine Official First Day Coin Covers online through the United States Mint’s secure website at www.usmint.gov, or by calling toll–free 1–800–USA–MINT (872–6468) 8:00 a.m. to midnight (E.D.T.), seven days a week. Hearing– and speech–impaired customers may order by calling 1–888–321–MINT (6468) 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (E.D.T.), Monday through Friday.
As an added convenience, customers can participate in a Subscription Program in which specific products, such as Official First Day Coin Covers, are charged and shipped to the customer automatically as each new state quarter is released. A shipping and handling fee of $3.95 per order will be added to all orders. Please allow approximately three to four weeks for delivery.