Hawaii State Quarter

The Hawaii State Quarter is a circulating copper-nickel clad 25-cent piece issued in 2008 as the fiftieth and final release in the United States Mint's 50 State Quarters Program. Its reverse honors Hawaii, which was admitted to the Union in 1959 as the last of the fifty states, so the coin fittingly closed out the ten-year series.

The reverse depicts King Kamehameha I, the ruler who first united the Hawaiian Islands, extending his arm toward a chain of the eight main islands, with the state motto rendered in the Hawaiian language: UA MAU KE EA O KA ʻĀINA I KA PONO (“The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”). The obverse carries the familiar George Washington portrait shared by every coin in the program. On the pictured coin the reverse figure appears in royal cloak and helmet with island imagery, consistent with the standard Hawaii design.

The 50 State Quarters Program ran from 1999 through 2008, releasing five new quarter designs each year in the order the states ratified the Constitution or were admitted to the Union. Hawaii, admitted on August 21, 1959, was the last state and therefore the last quarter, issued in November 2008.

Hawaii's design was chosen through a state selection process and shows King Kamehameha I, whose conquests united the islands under a single kingdom by the early 1800s. The Hawaiian-language motto on the coin is the official state motto, adopted in 1959. Like all program quarters, the Hawaii coin was struck for circulation at the Philadelphia (P) and Denver (D) mints, and in proof versions (including a 90% silver proof) at San Francisco (S) for collector sets. The program was so popular that it was later extended into the 2009 D.C. and U.S. Territories quarters and, afterward, the America the Beautiful series.

Identify this coin first by its reverse: a standing figure of King Kamehameha I in cloak and helmet, one arm outstretched over a line of Hawaiian islands, with HAWAII and the year 2008 present and the Hawaiian motto UA MAU KE EA O KA ʻĀINA I KA PONO arcing across the design. This wording, in the Hawaiian language rather than English, is the quickest confirmation. The obverse shows the standard right-facing bust of George Washington with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and QUARTER DOLLAR.

The mint mark sits on the obverse just to the right of Washington's neck ribbon: P for Philadelphia, D for Denver, or S for San Francisco proofs. The coin is standard U.S. quarter size, about 24.3 mm in diameter and 5.67 g, struck in copper-nickel clad (a pure copper core between copper-nickel outer layers) so the edge shows a reddish-brown stripe. Silver proofs from San Francisco lack that copper stripe and have a fully bright, mirror-like edge.

As one of the most recently issued and heavily minted state quarters, the Hawaii quarter is extremely common. Worn examples pulled from pocket change are worth face value, and even crisp uncirculated business strikes typically trade for only a small premium over 25 cents. Rolls and bags exist in large numbers, so there is no scarcity to drive prices in circulated grades.

Modest premiums attach mainly to high-grade certified coins, San Francisco clad and 90% silver proofs, and any dramatic, verified mint errors. As always, condition, certification, and the specific mint mark determine where a given coin falls; consult current price guides and recent sales for date-and-grade-specific figures rather than expecting significant value from an ordinary circulated piece.