Northern Mariana Islands Quarter Bags and Rolls

The US Mint will begin sales of the Northern Mariana Islands Quarters bags and rolls on Monday, November 30, 2009 at 12:00 Noon ET. This will represent the final release for the 2009 District of Columbia and United States Territories Quarters Program.

The reverse design of the 2009 Northern Mariana Islands Quarter depicts the natural resources of the islands in the land, air, and sea. Design elements include a Latte stone, coconut trees, wild plants, nature birds, and a sailing vessel. A head lei composed of native plants and flowers borders the bottom. The reverse was designed by Richard Masters and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill.

The US Mint will offer 1000-coin bags from either the Philadelphia or Denver Mint priced at $309.95 each, and 100-coin bags from either mint priced at $32.95 each. A Two Roll Set containing one 40-coin roll from the Philadelphia and one 40-coin roll from the Denver Mint will also be available priced at $32.95.

Sales of this year's quarter bags and rolls started off slow for the first release, but then jumped for the second release. This was probably motivated by the jump in secondary market prices for the sold out District of Columbia Quarter bags and rolls. Sales have trailed off since then, as subsequent releases failed to show similar price appreciation.

The last reported sales figures for all of the 2009 Quarter bags and rolls are shown below. The U.S. Virgin Islands Quarter bags and rolls still remain available for sale at the US Mint.

	1000 (P)	1000 (D)	100 (P)	100 (D)	2 Roll Set
D.C.	653	704	8,304	10,394	31,021
Puerto Rico	1,047	953	20,000	17,295	41,669
Guam	1,487	1,334	13,012	12,337	38,231
American Samoa	1,499	1,434	7,325	7,185	33,865
U.S. Virgin Islands	1,206	1,168	7,019	6,856	31,234