Release 1 of 50 · 1999
A midnight ride turns Delaware’s independence vote into the opening scene of the 50 State Quarters program.
Official subject: Caesar Rodney on horseback · The First State
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Public Law 105-124 created five state reverses per year in constitutional-ratification or admission order. Delaware opened the program because it ratified the Constitution first. The challenge was to represent a whole state on one reverse; Delaware answered with one urgent action and one constitutional title.
U.S. Government Publishing OfficeState of Delaware
Only two state facts are needed to decode the coin: Delaware separated from Britain in June 1776, and on December 7, 1787 it became the first state to ratify the Constitution. The reverse deliberately connects those milestones without depicting the state’s geography, economy, or later history.
The coin compresses a political crisis into one image. Delaware’s Continental Congress delegation was split: Thomas McKean supported independence and George Read opposed it. Caesar Rodney, away in Delaware, was summoned to Philadelphia and arrived in time to vote. The official state archive describes him as breaking the deadlock; the U.S. Mint frames the ride as the reason Delaware joined the independence majority.
The horse and rider emphasize urgency rather than a meeting room or document. That choice makes the action immediately legible on a small circulating coin, but it also leaves McKean, Read, the wider congressional debate, and Delaware’s already completed June 15 separation from Britain outside the frame. The coin is therefore a focused emblem, not a complete account of Delaware independence.
THE FIRST STATE shifts the story forward to December 7, 1787, when Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution. The 1776 ride and the 1787 inscription describe different events. Treating the motto as a caption for Rodney’s ride collapses eleven years of history.
Governor Thomas Carper’s Executive Order 51 encouraged Delaware residents to submit concepts and assigned the Delaware Arts Council to solicit and review them. The council had to consult historians, art and design experts, the Delaware Heritage Commission, the Delaware Historical Society, coin experts, and residents, then recommend five concepts to the governor.
The surviving federal review record shows four reverse designs before the Commission of Fine Arts on April 16, 1998. The commission approved Caesar Rodney on horseback as modified by the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee, asked that FIRST STATE become THE FIRST STATE, requested a smaller CAESAR RODNEY label, questioned the horse’s leg anatomy, and warned that a quill might impair legibility.
The U.S. Mint states that each governor determined the state process, concepts went to the Mint and returned to the state for final selection, and the Treasury Secretary held final approval. The official records reviewed here establish resident participation and the five-to-four narrowing, but do not provide a complete public-submission list, vote tally, or authoritative visual inventory of every rejected design; those details remain unresolved.
State of DelawareU.S. Commission of Fine ArtsUnited States MintU.S. Government Publishing Office
Procedures varied by state and changed during the program; each researched state page must document its actual path.
Official records reviewed for this page document four designs at the federal art review but fully identify only the selected Rodney concept. A quill appears in the Commission of Fine Arts discussion, yet the record does not establish whether it was a separate finalist or an element of another composition. World Coin Book therefore does not name or illustrate additional finalists without stronger primary evidence.
Official explanation: The Mint identifies the scene as Rodney’s 1776 ride to cast Delaware’s independence vote.
Historical context: The state archive records that he was summoned to break the Delaware delegation’s deadlock.
World Coin Book interpretation: The long diagonal body and lifted legs turn political decision into visible speed and resolve.
Official explanation: The nickname refers to Delaware’s first-in-the-nation ratification of the Constitution on December 7, 1787.
Historical context: It is an 1787 constitutional reference, not the title of the 1776 ride.
World Coin Book interpretation: Placed above the rider, it makes constitutional priority the governing identity of the whole design.
Official explanation: The inscriptions identify the state, its ratification year, and the coin’s issue year.
Historical context: The two dates deliberately separate the historical state milestone from the modern commemorative program.
World Coin Book interpretation: The low horizontal date line anchors the horse’s forward motion.
Official explanation: The national motto remains on the reverse; WC is William Cousins’ artist signature.
Historical context: Cousins is officially credited as reverse designer and sculptor.
World Coin Book interpretation: The small peripheral lettering yields the visual center to the rider while preserving national authorship and program context.
1728–1784 Delaware statesman and Continental Congress delegate whose ride is pictured.
Delaware delegate whose call brought Rodney to the split independence vote.
Delaware delegate on the opposing side of the delegation’s deadlock.
The Continental Congress destination implied by the horse’s movement, though no place is pictured.
The ratification event behind THE FIRST STATE and the date 1787.
Caesar Rodney is born near Dover
Delaware declares itself independent from Britain
Rodney reaches Philadelphia and breaks Delaware’s delegation deadlock
Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution
Public Law 105-124 authorizes the 50 State Quarters program
Executive Order 51 opens Delaware’s resident concept process
Commission of Fine Arts reviews four designs and recommends refinements
The Mint releases the Delaware quarter to the Federal Reserve
John Flanagan’s Washington portrait anchors the shared obverse. The U.S. Mint credits staff medallic artist William Cousins as both reverse designer and sculptor. The official record reviewed here does not assign final coin authorship to a state submitter, so this page does not convert secondary attribution disputes into a settled credit.
| Issue | Finish | Catalog mintage |
|---|---|---|
| 1999-P | Circulation | 373,400,000 |
| 1999-D | Circulation | 401,424,000 |
| 1999-S | Clad proof | 3,713,359 |
| 1999-S | Silver proof | 804,565 |
P and D are circulation issues. Both S issues were sold in proof products; the silver proof is a distinct 90% silver composition. Mintages are established catalog figures retained with an explicit source-audit note.
Identify the reverse first: a single horse and rider, THE FIRST STATE above, DELAWARE and the two dates below. The P, D, or S mint mark is on the obverse to the right of Washington’s hair ribbon. P and D are circulation strikes; S coins are proofs. A copper-nickel clad proof shows a copper-colored core at the reeded edge, while the 90% silver proof lacks that copper stripe and weighs about 6.25 g rather than 5.67 g.
On circulated pieces, inspect the rider’s head and torso, the horse’s shoulder and flank, and the highest parts of the legs for the first smoothing. On uncirculated coins, separate friction from flat strike by checking whether luster is broken. The open field around the horse readily shows contact marks; proof fields show hairlines, haze, spots, fingerprints, and loss of mirror contrast.
Strike sharpness can vary at the horse’s legs and fine rider details. Weakly defined relief without displaced metal is not automatically wear or an error. Grading remains an assessment of the individual coin, not a conclusion from these general checkpoints.
Worn P and D examples are normally collected as face-value program coins; original mint luster, unusually clean fields, strong strike, proof contrast, and intact government packaging can create collector premiums. Silver proofs also carry metal value. World Coin Book publishes no live Delaware price promise here: use the issue records as identification context, then compare recent dated references for the exact mint, finish, grade, and surface quality.
One Delaware reverse, any circulation mint.
Both circulation facilities.
P, D, clad proof, and silver proof.
Official law and U.S. Mint records establish program facts and image identity. World Coin Book separates official explanation, historical analysis, and editorial interpretation.
Official descriptions, historical context, and World Coin Book interpretation are labeled separately. No live prices are asserted. Last verified: