Illinois State Quarters are the 21st variety in a series of fifty design changes over a ten year period from 1999 to 2008. This Quarter was released into circulation on January 2, 2003. The reverse of the Illinois quarter features an outline of the state along with a portrait of a young Abraham Lincoln. A farm scene is to the left of the state and the Chicago skyline is to the right. Twenty-one stars surround the entire design of the coin indicating its admittance into the union.
The obverse of the coin is identical on all coins in this series. It features a portrait of George Washington with the inscriptions "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA", "QUARTER DOLLAR", "LIBERTY" and "IN GOD WE TRUST" arranged around the portrait.
The reverse of the coin bears the inscriptions "ILLINOIS 1818", "LAND OF LINCOLN", "21st STATE-CENTURY" and "E PLURIBUS UNUM" along with the date of 2003.
State: Illinois
Nickname: The Prairie State
Ratified on: December 3, 1818
Motto: State Sovereignty, National Union
Capital: Springfield
Area: 55,593 square miles
Bird: Cardinal
Flower: Native Violet
Tree: White Oak
Designer: Donna Weaver
Launch Date: January 2, 2003
Mintages:
Philadelphia - 225,800,000
Denver - 237,400,000
San Francisco (clad proof) - 3,408,516
San Francisco (silver proof) - 1,125,755