The Mint US held a forum of collectors on April 1, 2009 to coincide with the launch of the territorial district of Puerto Rico. The Forum was hosted by U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy. The forum of collectors are designed to be informative sessions, where the Mint US provides updates to the collector Community as regards its future plans, and where the Mint could get feedback from the audience on its products and services.
Participants to the Forum of collectors Puerto Rico brought some interesting topics, which are reflected in question 20 and responding in the following sections. All the questions were posed by participants and a response from Moy and worded in the form are provided (and rather than textual) courtesy of the u.s. Mint. My comments and explanations are in italtics preceded by "And" (Editor) for nominators. I have also rearranged the order of questions to group similar topics together to provide a clearer reading experience.
(1) according to my calculations, the District of Puerto Rico has the lowest mintage of the programme. Is correct? Yes, as well as the California quarter due to lower economic activity. We are in the lowest production cycle in approximately 25 years. Minting bottom will make the quarter of Puerto Rico even more popular because of rarity.
(2) how many Ps and d were produced for the District of Puerto Rico? 139 million euros, almost equally divided. (Ed: Ps and DS are the mintmark coins. P stands for the Philadelphia Mint and d stands for the Denver Mint).
(3) Normally in the United States, both Ps and DS circular. In Puerto Rico, we get only PS. We'll see DS on the island? Yes, Yes, but it could take a while. (Director then briefly explained the distribution of Philadelphia and Denver coinage.) (Ed: coins from every two leading mints are distributed to banks through the Federal Reserve System. In General, Western banks get Denver coins and coins to banks in East Philadelphia, with the Mississippi River, being a rough, split point. Second mintages from each Mint and economic factors (e.g. how many new coins are needed in every area), this demarcation line varies. Coins come in Commerce, with the people who carry them from here to there and finally coins has affected in Denver will be in circulation in Puerto Rico. But probably not many.)
(4) because it is inclusion, E Pluribus Unum, compared to quarter? By law, we are obliged to include some inscriptions on legal tender currencies.
(5) How many neighborhoods of Porto Rico did you bring to the island? I don't know – we make the application on the basis of requests from the Federal Reserve and normally been Gets a number slightly higher in the distribution.
(6) have you discovered any errors the quarters of Puerto Rico? Our aim is to maintain the highest quality of coins produced. Are not aware of any, but I'm sure we will notify collectors if they find any.
(7) this first usa bi-lingual coin ever released? I'm not sure it will get back to you on this. (Note, since it was confirmed that this is the first time that Spanish appeared on a United States circulating coins!) (Ed: Interesting as everyone seems to have overlooked this first notable! Advanced coins collectors know that Spanish coins were circulating coins primaries in America until about the period of civil war. Because of this, our system of values approximately relies on Spanish "Pillar dollar" worth 8 Reals, even if we choose wisely a decimal system, rather than system octal (base 8) used by Spain and its colonies in the new world. In light of this history, it is noteworthy that the District of Puerto Rico brings the first Spanish inscription on a circulating coin Mint US.)
(8) we will be able to buy coins and die sets for that quarter Puerto Rico? You can purchase the first day Coin Cover but not die sets. We re-evaluated our portfolio of products and decided to prune the products that don't sell well. This allows you to focus on the most popular products for our customers and do not tie the machine in production.
(9) you will sell collector spoon with the District of Puerto Rico? We stopped the spoons, when finished 50 state quarters ® program. We are concentrating on millions of production proof Setup that are so popular with the public.
(10) When is silver Puerto Rico quarter coming out? Furthermore, you produce coins covered with gold and Platinum? The District of Puerto Rico silver is already available in a set of six coins. Let's not be coated with precious metals coins, however, some of our competitors do not. The metal content of our bullion coins is inscribed on the real currency. (Ed: I find it fascinating that the Mint USA believes that commercial companies that use the real U.S., spurious coins to produce crap plated microns to be "competitors".)
(11) That chose the design of the quarter to Puerto Rico? The design was determined through a democratic process. The Governor has worked with a Committee and proposed themes, and then the designs were developed by artists of Mint. The designs were then reviewed by the Governor so there was local input. The sentry box speaks to the strength and history of Puerto Rico with the flower that represents the natural beauty. These districts serve as educational tools for all Americans.
(12) did the designer of Puerto Rico District receive an award? The design is very proud to produce a design so important and historically significant. Please note the initials of JFM on currency. (Ed: JFM stand for Joseph f. Menna, the US Mint sculptor/Engraver who designed and sculpted the Puerto Rico inverse ("Code" side) die currency.)
(13) it is the flower of the quarter the "flor amaga" (the official flower of Puerto Rican hibiscus) or "amapola" (subspecies of the Hibiscus family)? This is a generic hibiscus. Differences in colour and other details are difficult to represent such a small coin. (Ed: especially since currencies of the United States have only one color.)
