The obverse of the 2000 Virginia State Quarter shows the standard Washington Quarter design with a few alterations. The Washington Quarter, that ran from 1932-1998, had the date on the obverse, as well as the word “Liberty.” This design was changed slightly with the introduction of the State Quarters, and later the Territory Quarters and National Park Quarters. The new design still shows Washington looking left, however the obverse text now reads “United States of America – Liberty – In God We Trust – Quarter Dollar.” The reverse of this coin depicts the arrival of three ships on a small island off the coast of Virginia. In May of 1607, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery landed in the New World as part of the Virginia Company’s attempt to colonize the New World. The trip took eight months to complete. The three ships were the only ones who came, and they were able to establish the first settlement in Virginia at a place called Jamestown. Above the ships are the years “1607-2007” and below we see that this coin is celebrating the quadricentennial of the founding of Jamestown. Thirteen years later, the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts. The state treasurer played the main role in establishing the design of the coin, along with help from other high ranked officials and 1,000s of submitted drawings. The design is typically accredited to Paris Ashton, a graphic design graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. This state quarter featured an interesting “controversy.” Congress complained about all of the press and advertising that went into selling the Virginia State Quarters. They often said that money was being wasted. However, it is assumed that they did not realize the large profit that the Mint would make from the sale of these quarters. Some books estimate that the Mint lost millions of dollars due to Congress snubbing the funding of advertising. This was the 10th coin released in the Statehood Quarters program. The reverse text of the coin reads “Virginia 1788 – Jamestown 1607-2007 – Quadricentennial – 2000 – E Pluribus Unum.”

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