Hawaii quarter jumps ahead

Is it the volcano design? Is it the state of Hawaii theme? Is it a second wind for the program?

Whatever it is, sales of bags and rolls of the uncirculated 2012 clad San Francisco Mint Hawaii Volcanoes National Park quarter now exceed those of the Acadia National Park “S” quarters, which have been on sale longer.

I have been a fan of the “S” quarters since they were introduced with the El Yunque National Forest design June 21. It is great to see the “S” mintmark on coins that aren’t sealed inside plastic holders.

They aren’t quite coins for circulation, but they are as close as we have gotten in many years.

Hawaii S-mint quarter sales now stand at 980,460, passing the prior Acadia design’s 959,840.

These numbers break the pattern where each of the newer releases is a little lower than the one issued prior to it and so could simply be an odd happenstance that will eventually pass away. It’s either that or collectors perhaps are starting to get picky instead of just buying every design available.

We will have to wait and see.

In the meantime, the El Yunque sales total stands at 1,512,120 sold since June 21.

The Chaco Culture National Historical Park comes in at 1,132,080 sold since sales started July 12. Acadia sales began Aug. 9 and Hawaii coins started Aug. 27.

We also will have to wait until Nov. 5 to see how Alaska’s Denali National Park fits in.

The Mint’s initial projections for this program set mintages at 1.4 million each. It is nice to see that we collectors have surprised to the upside in our demand for at least one of the coins.

If you are purchasing bags or rolls of “S” quarters, are you buying every one of them, or are you being selective and buying just the ones you like?

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."