The Brandywine Collection
Delaware State Quarter, Business Strike

Owner Comments:

This was the first coin of the US Mint’s new 50 State Quarters Series, released on Jan. 4, 1999. The legislation that authorized the state quarter program in 1997 was introduced by Delaware Representative Mike Castle. Each state’s governor was responsible for submitting concepts to the mint, but they had leeway on how they came to those selections. Delaware’s Governor asked residents to submit ideas to the Delaware Arts Council for review.

Once the US Mint finalized three potential designs for the reverse, Delawareans were asked to vote on their favorites. Of the 1,519 votes cast, the Caesar Rodney reverse, engraved by William Cousins and based on artist Eddy Seger’s submission, received 948. Both the final design and the original submission were based on James Edward Kelly’s sculpture of Caesar Rodney that stood in Wilmington’s Rodney Square between 1923 until 2020.