Official Arizona Quarter Commemorative Folio

You can own the Official Arizona Quarter Commemorative Folio celebrating the Arizona’s Quarter from the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program. This gorgeous limited edition collectible includes an uncirculated-quality Arizona Quarter protected by a crystal clear case to ensure your piece of historical art remains in pristine condition.



The actual image of the Grand Canyon and saguaro cactus from the Arizona Quarter’s reverse design is embossed on the front in luxurious copper foil. The inside tells the story of Arizona’s quarter with beautiful images and an educational description of the design.

Made possible by the generous underwriting of Wells Fargo and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and designed by PRfect Media, this commemorative folio is a perfect gift or collectible for all Arizonans of any age.


The commemorative can be purchased online at the University of Arizona Bookstore and in person at the Arizona Capitol Museum Gift Shop for $10. The gift shop is also the exclusive dealer of 2012 individually numbered folios priced at $20 that feature the Arizona Quarter produced at the Philadelphia Mint with the distinctive "P" mint mark on the front of the quarter. The Arizona market is served by the Denver Mint. All new quarters sent to Arizona are from Denver and have the "D" mint mark on the front of the quarter. Non-numbered folios contain the Denver quarter.

UPDATE: To purchase the numbered folios, contact the Arizona Capitol Museum Gift Shop directly. I'm not sure if sell through their site (probably not) but I'm sure they'll take an order over the phone with a credit card.

The Official Arizona Quarter Commemorative Folio was released to the public on June 2, 2008 at the Official Arizona Quarter Launch Ceremony at the State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona and quantities are strictly limited to a single press run of 25,000 with 2012 of these numbered 1 through 2012. Once we are sold out, these will no longer be available.

100% of the proceeds from this commemorative will benefit the official celebration of Arizona’s Centennial through the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission.

US Mint releases Arizona quarter with Grand Canyon, Saguaro cactus featured in design

By Paul Davenport Associated Press

PHOENIX – The U.S. Mint has released the Arizona state quarter, with Mint and state officials staging a ceremony at the State Capitol that drew thousands of people to get some of the first coins publicly available.

“It’s awesome. It represents Arizona, definitely,” said Chandler barber Douglas Morales.

Gov. Janet Napolitano and Mint Director Ed Moy gave free quarters to children, while many adults purchased rolls of quarters and special commemorative packages, some of which Wells Fargo transported to the Capitol via stagecoach.

“It’s a big day with the issuance of the new quarter and we do collect them. We’ve got to add to our collection,” said Ed Phillips, a meteorologist who was at the Capitol with his wife and two sons.

The Arizona quarter is the 48th in the 10-year series featuring all 50 states. The coins are issued in order of statehood, and quarters for Alaska and Hawaii will complete the series later this year.

Moy said the design of the tail’s side featuring the Grand Canyon and a Saguaro cactus should be instantly recognizable as representing Arizona and popular with collectors and others because of the nature features.

“It’s beautiful,” said Julie Collums, a high school history teacher from Mesa. “I like that it captures the whole essence of Arizona and not just a part of it.”

Collums, waiting to purchase quarters for friends of her mother, was near the head of a line that grew to include more than 1,000 people.

Capitol Police estimated that 5,000 people attended the event, with 2,500 or so there at any one time, said Sgt. Hollis Korey.

“It’s a great endorsement of the design that we have,” said public relations consultant Farrell Quinlan, a former Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry official who served on the state’s quarter commission.

Napolitano picked the design from among five finalists recommended by the commission, which sifted through 4,200 of written ideas submitted by state residents. Mint artists converted the ideas into visual representa­tions, and Moy on Monday presented Napolitano with the artwork for the chosen design.

The combination design was the overall favorite on 112,830 entries submitted to an online poll conducted by Napolitano’s office.

Moy said 500,000 Arizona quarters will be produced. Production for previous quarters have ranged from 416,000 (Oklahoma) to nearly 1.6 million (Virginia), according to the Mint’s Web site.

The other designs considered for the Arizona quarter showed just the Grand Canyon, 19th Century explorer John Wesley Powell boating down the Colorado River through the canyon, a Saguaro-dominated desert scene and Navajo Indian “codetalkers” serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.

Officials said rolls of quarters would be available at Wells Fargo banks - the bank was a sponsor for the quarter’s launch - starting Monday and at other locations in coming weeks.

If John McCain Steps Down... Could It Be Sen. Jan Brewer?

There has been some speculation about Sen. John McCain vacating his U.S. Senate seat once he secures the GOP presidential nomination in order to concentrate all his effort on winning the White House and remove the inevitable gamesmanship by the Democratic majority in the Senate (pointing out missed votes, etc.) Sort of replaying Bob Dole's decision in 1996!

Regardless of this rumor's accuracy, if he does win in November, Sen. McCain would need to resign his seat before inauguration day. Either way, Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano would have to appoint a Republican to fill the remaining two-years of his term.

Napolitano has long eyed that Senate seat for herself. Speculation has assumed that John McCain would not run for another term in 2010, especially after he achieves one of his remaining two goals: the first, securing the GOP nomination for president seems assured; the second, winning the presidency is to be decided.

What to do, what to do? Napolitano must be asking herself.

She’s a very smart political operative. She’ll think about all the angles before making her decision on any senatorial opening.

Does she go for an ideological match in order to impact policy? Does she place a chair-warmer in the seat who would not or could not pose a significant challenge to her likely 2010 run for the seat?

There are many ways to go but I suspect that Gov. Napolitano’s best political play for her own career would be appointing Arizona’s highest ranking Republican statewide officeholder. That’s right, Secretary of State Jan Brewer for replacement senator, especially if the move necessitates a 2008 special election.

Here's my reasoning... in sending Jan Brewer to DC as senator, it in no way disabuses the half-dozen-plus Republicans that have been eying that seat for more than a decade from running in a contested primary. They will be running hard (and dirty?) for the GOP nomination regardless of Sen. Jan Brewer keeping the seat warm. This serves Napolitano’s interests by weakening the eventual nominee and exposing huge riffs within the Arizona Republican Party.

The real beauty of this scenario for Napolitano is that it necessitates at least one other appointment, Jan Brewer’s replacement for the big office on the 7th Floor. This person too would have to be a Republican but he or she would be removed from the succession because of their appointment rather than election to the office. Remember, then-Attorney General Bruce Babbitt became governor when Governor and former-Secretary of State Wesley Bolin died in office and his appointed successor at State (Rose Mofford) couldn’t take the big chair (in that instance, she would a decade later).

Appointing Brewer to the U.S. Senate puts current Democrat Attorney General Terry Goddard one heartbeat away from the big office on the 9th Floor.

If McCain resigns early and loses the presidency, this scenario continues to serve Napolitano’s interests. If it’s Barack Obama winning over McCain, there is a good chance the new president-elect takes her to Washington with him as Attorney General, Secretary of Homeland Security, etc. The gubernatorial succession issue (handing over the office to a Republican) is gone as the office falls to the elected Attorney General rather than the appointed Secretary of State.

Come 2010, incumbent Gov. Terry Goddard runs for re-election… er… election for a full term in his own right!

Moreover, Gov. Goddard will most likely have appointed a strong candidate to succeed him (say, Napolitano's Chief of Staff Dennis Burke) and the Democratic ascendancy in Arizona politics continues.

Think about it.

It could happen.

I’m an elected Republican precinct committeeman, state committeeman, and 2nd Vice Chairman of the Legislative District 20 Republican Party. I don’t relish the prospect of a continued strong Democratic Party effort up and down the Arizona ballot. But we Arizona Republicans have to come to terms with the fact that the days of pushover contests are over.