My heart pounded. Was that a shiny new quarter on the ground? I picked it up, examining George Washington’s face. Slowly, I turned it over, and my heart dropped — the back was another eagle. Useless.
Every decade, the United States Mint releases a commemorative quarter collection. Five new coins of five states are released yearly, ultimately making up 50 at the decade’s end. For example, one collection is called America’s National Park Commemorative Quarter Series, which releases five coins yearly to honor American national sights and celebrate their historical and cultural significance.
I first discovered quarter collecting when I was 7 after I found a small leather booklet with an eagle on the cover in my mom’s work drawer. Upon opening it, I saw a beige felt page with little circle-shaped ridges for coins. When I flipped the page, I found a near-complete collection of gleaming quarters. There were a couple more booklets in the drawer, and I found most of them incomplete. Noticing my fascination, my mom told me to fill the pages with more quarters, saying it would be a good activity for me to partake in over the years.
In the following years, I would go out of my way to search for quarters on the streets or when receiving change. Once I noticed a new pattern on the back, I would squeal with delight and go home to match the designs with the names of each coin in the collection. I treasured those booklets.
As the years passed, I forgot about my beloved quarter collection, leaving it to collect dust on my bookshelf. Some pages had been nearly filled, while others only had a few quarters scattered about. Only recently, I began thinking about it again when I reached into the vending machine change dispenser and discovered a perfectly shiny 2020 quarter with a bat design. It read, “National Park, American Samoa.”
All of a sudden, my childhood memories came flooding back. I remembered scouring the sidewalk for any sign of a George Washington coin. I remembered mulling over a rusty quarter and its design. I remembered meticulously filling in each slot in my booklet.
Upon rechecking my quarter collection, I noticed that the 2010 National Park set was missing 19 quarters out of 56 since I stopped collecting quarters. My heart dropped — what if all the quarters I carelessly gave the vending machine were the ones I was searching for back then? I vowed to rekindle my hobby until I got my hands on those quarters — and maybe start the new 2022 collection while I was at it.
I’m still mourning over those missing quarters. Until I fill the National Park collection with the last 19 quarters, I will be especially careful about what I deposit in the vending machine again. And even though I’m older now, I know the sight of a new quarter has the power to evoke the same joy it did when I was a child.