The 2004 Texas State Quarter: Design, Mintages and Specs
Short on time? The essentials
- The 2004 Texas quarter is the 28th coin in the United States Mint 50 State Quarters Program, released for circulation on June 1, 2004.
- Texas was chosen for the 28th slot because it was the 28th state admitted to the Union, on December 29, 1845.
- The reverse design shows the outline of the state, a single five-pointed star inside the outline, a lariat encircling the design, and the caption "The Lone Star State."
- Sculptor-engraver Norman E. Nemeth of the United States Mint executed the final design that appears on the coin.
- The obverse is the standard 50 State Quarters obverse: a portrait of George Washington by John Flanagan (1932), modified for the program by William Cousins.
- Circulating strikes are 91.67 percent copper and 8.33 percent nickel, at a mass of 5.67 grams and a diameter of 24.26 millimeters. Silver proof strikes are 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, at 6.25 grams.
- Philadelphia struck 278,800,000 circulating quarters and Denver struck 263,000,000, for a combined circulation figure of 541,800,000 pieces.
- San Francisco struck 2,740,684 clad proofs and 1,769,786 silver proofs, both for collector sets only, per statequarterguide.com mintage tables reproduced in the Wikipedia entry.
On this page
- The Texas quarter at a glance
- Place in the 50 State Quarters Program
- How Texas chose the design
- Sculptor-engraver Norman E. Nemeth
- The obverse: Washington portrait
- The reverse: outline, star, lariat
- Verified physical specifications
- Mintage figures by mint and finish
- Mintage chart
- Circulation strikes vs proof strikes
- Qualitative value tiers for collectors
- Errors and varieties on the record
- Where to see one today
- When collecting this one makes less sense
- What the record does not show
- Texas quarter FAQ
The Texas quarter at a glance
The 2004 Texas quarter is a 25 cent circulating commemorative struck by the United States Mint under the 50 State Quarters Program. It is the 28th coin in the series, released on June 1, 2004, the year Texas would have celebrated its 158th year of statehood.
Texas received the 28th slot because it was the 28th state admitted to the Union. Congress passed a joint resolution accepting the annexation offer on December 29, 1845, the date cited on the United States Mint release schedule for this issue.
The reverse design keeps to a simple palette. It shows the outline of the state, a single five-pointed star inside the outline, a lariat encircling the design, and the caption "The Lone Star State." Sculptor-engraver Norman E. Nemeth of the United States Mint executed the finished dies.
Place in the 50 State Quarters Program
The 50 State Quarters Program was created by the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act, Public Law 105-124, signed by President Bill Clinton on December 1, 1997. The act directed the United States Mint to issue five new circulating quarter designs per year for ten years, one per state, in the order the states ratified the Constitution or joined the Union.
Delaware led the series on January 1, 1999. Texas came in year six, in the second slot of 2004, between the Florida quarter released on March 29, 2004 and the Iowa quarter released on August 30, 2004. The program closed in 2008 with Hawaii.
The United States Mint later reported that roughly 147 million Americans saved at least one coin from the series, making it the most collected numismatic issue in the country's history. Total struck across all fifty state designs came to 34,797,600,000 coins, an average of 695,952,000 per state.
The Texas mintage of 541,800,000 circulation pieces sits below that program-wide average. It falls between Michigan (459,600,000, released January 26, 2004) and Iowa (465,200,000, released August 30, 2004) in the 2004 cohort.
How Texas chose the design
The authorizing act and Mint procedures gave each state a substantial role in the design process. In most states the governor solicited citizen concept submissions, appointed an advisory group to review them, and forwarded three to five finalist concepts to the Secretary of the Treasury for approval.
Texas followed that pattern. Governor Rick Perry's office invited concept submissions in 2002 and appointed a Texas Quarter Dollar Coin Design Advisory Committee to shortlist them. The committee forwarded five finalist concepts to the Mint, and the Secretary of the Treasury approved the "Lone Star State" design featuring the state outline, star, and lariat.
Under the program rules, no state design could show a state flag, a living person, or a head-and-shoulder portrait of a deceased person. That is why the Texas reverse relies on the state outline and a single star rather than the state flag itself, which uses the same star arrangement in a specific field of colors.
Once a concept was approved, United States Mint engravers converted it into finished coin dies. The engraver's initials appear discreetly on the reverse of most state quarters. On the Texas issue, the initials "NEN" for Norman E. Nemeth sit at the base of the reverse design.
Sculptor-engraver Norman E. Nemeth
Norman E. Nemeth was a sculptor-engraver on the United States Mint staff at the Philadelphia Mint during the 50 State Quarters Program. He executed the finished dies for several state quarter reverses in the series, including Louisiana in 2002, Michigan and Texas in 2004, and later state quarters after 2004.
Nemeth's role on Texas was to translate the approved "Lone Star State" concept into a coin-scale relief that could be struck at production speed on a copper-nickel planchet. That work includes proportioning the state outline, the star, the lariat, and the caption so that each element remains legible after die wear.
The engraver credit "NEN" on the Texas reverse is standard United States Mint practice for the series. Program credits list the design as executed by Norman E. Nemeth, working under the Artistic Infusion Program framework the Mint established in 2003 to broaden the pool of state quarter designers.
The obverse: Washington portrait
All 50 State Quarters share a common obverse. The portrait is a bust of George Washington first designed by John Flanagan for the 1932 Washington quarter, based in turn on a 1786 bust of Washington by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon.
For the 50 State Quarters Program, Mint sculptor-engraver William Cousins modified Flanagan's original portrait to move the mint mark from the reverse to the obverse and to accommodate the new state design on the reverse. The modified obverse first appeared in 1999 on the Delaware quarter.
On the Texas quarter, the obverse legends read "United States of America" above the portrait, "Liberty" to the left of the bust, "In God We Trust" to the right, and "Quarter Dollar" below. The mint mark, P for Philadelphia, D for Denver, or S for San Francisco, sits to the right of the ribbon in Washington's queue.
The reverse: outline, star, lariat
The Texas reverse is deliberately spare. The outline of the state fills most of the field. A single five-pointed star sits inside the outline, placed roughly where the state's geographic center lies between Austin and San Angelo. A lariat, a working cowboy's throwing rope, encircles the outline in a single loop.
The caption "The Lone Star State" runs along the lower edge of the coin. The word "Texas" appears above the state outline. The year "2004" is placed below the outline, and the mandatory legends "E Pluribus Unum" and "Quarter Dollar" appear on the obverse per program layout.
The lariat is the design element that carries the most Texas-specific weight. It references the state's ranching economy and the working cowboy culture documented in Texas cattle-industry history. The star and the caption gesture at the flag and the state's Republic-era history, without reproducing the flag itself, which program rules disallowed.
The engraver initials "NEN" appear at the base of the design, on the reverse, below the caption. The lack of any additional lettering, animal figure, or landscape element makes the Texas reverse one of the cleaner designs in the 2004 cohort.
Verified physical specifications
The table below sets out the specifications of the 2004 Texas quarter as recorded in the United States Mint circulating coin specifications and reproduced in the Wikipedia infobox for the 50 State quarters series. Circulating strikes are copper-nickel clad. Silver proof strikes struck at San Francisco are 90 percent silver.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Face value | 25 cents (0.25 US dollars) |
| Composition (circulating and clad proof) | 91.67 percent copper, 8.33 percent nickel; outer layers of cupronickel bonded to a pure copper core |
| Composition (silver proof) | 90.0 percent silver, 10.0 percent copper |
| Mass (circulating and clad proof) | 5.67 grams |
| Mass (silver proof) | 6.25 grams |
| Diameter | 24.26 millimeters (0.955 inches) |
| Thickness | 1.75 millimeters (0.069 inches) |
| Edge | Reeded, 119 reeds |
| Silver content per silver proof coin | 0.180791 troy ounces of pure silver |
| Year of issue | 2004 |
| Mints | Philadelphia (P), Denver (D), San Francisco (S, proof only) |
| Mint mark location | Obverse, right of the ribbon in Washington's queue |
| Obverse designer | John Flanagan (1932), modified for the program by William Cousins (1999) |
| Reverse engraver | Norman E. Nemeth (initials "NEN" on the reverse) |
Sources: United States Mint 50 State Quarters Program circulating coin specifications; Wikipedia entry 50 State quarters, infobox and Texas row of the "Designs" table. Checked August 2026.
Mintage figures by mint and finish
Three United States Mint facilities produced the 2004 Texas quarter. Philadelphia and Denver struck circulation coins for general use. San Francisco struck two proof finishes intended for collector sets only. The table below reproduces the standard mintage figures compiled by statequarterguide.com and cited in the Wikipedia 50 State quarters entry.
| Mint | Mint mark | Finish | Mintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | P | Circulating clad | 278,800,000 |
| Denver | D | Circulating clad | 263,000,000 |
| San Francisco | S | Clad proof (in the clad proof set) | 2,740,684 |
| San Francisco | S | Silver proof (in the silver proof set) | 1,769,786 |
| All mints and finishes | - | Combined total | 546,310,470 |
Sources: statequarterguide.com mintage tables and proof mintage tables, cited in the Wikipedia entry 50 State quarters, Texas row of the "Designs" table. Checked August 2026.
The combined Philadelphia and Denver circulating figure of 541,800,000 pieces is the mintage number that matters for finding one in change. The two proof figures cover collector sets only. Proofs left San Francisco packaged in United States Mint annual sets and rarely circulate.
Circulation Texas quarters can still be found in bank rolls and in general change today. The 50 State Quarters Program overall pulled roughly 3.5 billion dollars in additional seignorage into the Treasury by encouraging saving, so a large share of the original mintage was pulled from circulation by collectors.
Mintage chart
The chart below plots the four production figures for the 2004 Texas quarter side by side. It shows the scale gap between the two circulating mints and the two San Francisco proof finishes, which are two orders of magnitude smaller.
Circulation strikes vs proof strikes
A circulation-strike Texas quarter is the one you might already have in a coin jar. It is copper-nickel clad, weighs 5.67 grams, and carries a P or D mint mark. Business-strike dies are polished for production speed, not visual finish, so surfaces show typical die-wear marks and cartwheel luster.
A clad proof was struck at San Francisco on specially prepared planchets using polished dies, then packaged in the 2004 United States Mint annual proof set. The 2004 clad proof set retailed for 22.95 dollars and contained the five 2004 state quarter designs plus the Lincoln cent, Jefferson nickel, Roosevelt dime, and Kennedy half dollar.
A silver proof was struck at San Francisco to the same finish standard, on 90 percent silver planchets. It was packaged in the 2004 United States Mint silver proof set, which contained the five state quarter designs in silver plus the Kennedy half dollar and Roosevelt dime in silver. The silver proof set retailed for 37.95 dollars in 2004.
The two San Francisco proof mintages (2,740,684 clad and 1,769,786 silver) are five to six percent of the Denver circulation number, and less than one percent of the total struck. Every silver proof that survives today was originally sold as part of a boxed collector set.
Qualitative value tiers for collectors
The 2004 Texas quarter is one of the most common state quarters, and the market reflects that. Circulating pieces are typically worth face value in worn grades, with premiums appearing only for high-grade certified pieces, complete rolls, proof issues, or documented errors.
The tiers below describe what a collector encounters in the current market. Actual prices vary with silver spot, auction cycle, and the specific coin. Consult live auction records and certified population reports before pricing a specific piece.
| Tier | What it usually covers | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Face-value tier | Any Philadelphia or Denver circulating strike in a circulated grade | Effectively worth 25 cents. Common in change; still found in bank rolls of quarters today. |
| Original bank roll tier | Original mint-sealed 40-coin rolls from Philadelphia or Denver | Rolls in original mint packaging command a small premium over face value. Broken rolls collapse to near face-value pricing. |
| High-grade certified tier | Circulating strikes certified in high mint-state grades by an established grading service | Premiums grow sharply above MS-66. Very high-grade certified examples exist because the series was widely saved from release. |
| Clad proof tier | 2004-S clad proof, typically inside the 2004 United States Mint annual proof set | Traded as part of the boxed set. Broken-out singles trade for a modest premium over face. |
| Silver proof tier | 2004-S silver proof, typically inside the 2004 United States Mint silver proof set | Trades at silver melt floor plus a collector premium. High-grade certified silver proofs carry larger premiums. |
| Error and variety tier | Documented mint errors on 2004 Texas quarters (off-center strikes, planchet errors, die cracks) | Priced case by case. Certified errors from established grading services carry the largest premiums. |
Sources: mintage figures from statequarterguide.com via the Wikipedia entry 50 State quarters; general market context from the United States Mint 50 State Quarters Program report. Checked August 2026.
Errors and varieties on the record
Because the Texas quarter is one of the most heavily struck coins in the series, it produced a small run of documented mint errors. These are pieces that left the Mint with a manufacturing defect and are collected for that defect.
Common categories include off-center strikes (where the planchet was struck outside the collar), broadstrikes (struck without a collar, producing a wider than normal coin), clipped planchets, and die cracks. None of these is unique to the Texas issue, but all appear in certified populations for 2004-P and 2004-D Texas quarters.
No major doubled-die reverse or extra-metal variety on the Texas quarter has entered standard reference literature at the scale of the well-known 2004-D Wisconsin "Extra Leaf" varieties. Grading service population reports remain the most reliable place to check for documented Texas quarter error attributions.
Any piece offered as a "rare Texas quarter error" outside a certified holder from an established grading service should be treated with caution. Damage after minting is common; genuine mint errors are rare and typically already encapsulated by a third-party grading service.
Where to see one today
The Texas quarter is not a museum-rare coin. It circulates today in ordinary change and appears in every state quarter album, folder, and map produced during the program's run. Original 2004 United States Mint proof and silver proof sets remain in dealer inventories at accessible prices.
For curated museum context on Texas state symbolism, the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin holds standing exhibits. These cover statehood, the flag, the star, and the ranching economy that the coin's lariat gestures toward. The museum's core exhibit on Texas identity is the closest institutional treatment of the same iconography the coin uses.
For the coin itself in a numismatic context, the Smithsonian National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History in Washington, District of Columbia, holds examples of each 50 State Quarters Program design. The collection catalog is publicly searchable.
For photographic references and certified population reports, PCGS CoinFacts and NGC maintain online entries for the 2004-P, 2004-D, 2004-S clad proof, and 2004-S silver proof Texas quarters. Those entries are the practical starting point for identifying a specific piece.
When collecting this one makes less sense
Where the 2004 Texas quarter is not the right pick.
If you are looking for a scarce coin that appreciates over time based on rarity, the 2004 Texas quarter is not that piece. Over 541 million circulating strikes exist. Circulated singles will remain face-value coins for the foreseeable future.
If you are looking for a silver bullion coin, a silver proof Texas quarter is inefficient. You pay a collector premium on top of the silver content. Buying silver by the ounce (through an American Silver Eagle or a plain silver round) is more direct.
If you are chasing a specific error or high-grade certified example, do the certified-population research first. Prices at the top of the grade scale are set by census counts that vary widely across the series and the finish.
If you are trying to build a Republic of Texas coin collection, the 2004 Texas quarter is not eligible. It is a United States federal issue struck 158 years after Texas statehood and 160 years after the Republic ended in 1846.
What the record does not show
The documentary record on the 2004 Texas quarter is public and complete for the standard specifications and mintage figures. A few things it does not settle deserve honest mention on this page.
It does not preserve a full public list of the citizen-submitted concepts that the Texas Quarter Dollar Coin Design Advisory Committee reviewed before forwarding five finalists to the Secretary of the Treasury. Individual finalists are referenced in state and mint releases from 2003, but not every submitted concept was archived.
It does not support a specific future price prediction for any grade or finish of the coin. Historical auction results and grading service population reports give a range at a given moment in time. What a specific coin sells for on a given day depends on live silver spot, live census counts, and the appetite of buyers in that sale.
It does not support claims that any 2004 Texas quarter was struck at West Point, at the Old Mint in New Orleans, or at any facility other than Philadelphia, Denver, or San Francisco. Only those three United States Mint facilities produced the issue.
2004 Texas state quarter FAQ
When was the 2004 Texas quarter released?
The United States Mint released the 2004 Texas quarter for circulation on June 1, 2004. It was the second of five state quarters issued in 2004, following Michigan on January 26 and Florida on March 29, and preceding Iowa on August 30 and Wisconsin on October 25. Texas was the 28th coin in the ten-year 50 State Quarters Program.
Who designed the Texas quarter?
The final design was executed by sculptor-engraver Norman E. Nemeth of the United States Mint in Philadelphia, whose initials "NEN" appear at the base of the reverse. The design concept was chosen from finalists proposed by a Texas Quarter Dollar Coin Design Advisory Committee under Governor Rick Perry. The obverse portrait of Washington is the John Flanagan design from 1932, modified for the program by William Cousins.
What does the Texas quarter reverse show?
The reverse shows the outline of the state, a single five-pointed star inside the outline, and a lariat encircling the design. The caption "The Lone Star State" runs along the lower edge. The word "Texas" appears above the outline and the year "2004" below it. Program rules disallowed a direct reproduction of the state flag on the coin.
How many 2004 Texas quarters were made?
The United States Mint struck 278,800,000 circulating clad quarters at Philadelphia and 263,000,000 at Denver, for a combined circulation total of 541,800,000. San Francisco struck 2,740,684 clad proofs and 1,769,786 silver proofs for collector sets. The all-mints total is 546,310,470 coins, per the statequarterguide.com tables reproduced in the Wikipedia entry.
What is a 2004 Texas quarter worth in circulated condition?
A circulating 2004-P or 2004-D Texas quarter in worn condition is worth its 25 cent face value. Original mint-sealed 40 coin rolls carry a small premium. Meaningful premiums appear on high-grade certified pieces from an established grading service, on original 2004 proof and silver proof sets, and on documented mint errors.
Does the 2004 Texas quarter contain silver?
Only the 2004-S silver proof strike contains silver. It weighs 6.25 grams and is 90 percent silver, giving 0.180791 troy ounces of pure silver per coin. All Philadelphia and Denver circulating strikes are copper-nickel clad and contain no silver. The 2004-S clad proof strike is also copper-nickel and contains no silver.
Where is the mint mark on the 2004 Texas quarter?
The mint mark sits on the obverse, to the right of the ribbon that ties Washington's queue. It reads P for Philadelphia, D for Denver, or S for San Francisco. On the 50 State Quarters series, the mint mark moved from the reverse (where it sat on the earlier 1965 to 1998 Washington quarter design) to the obverse.
Is the 2004 Texas quarter legal tender?
Yes. The 2004 Texas quarter is a circulating United States federal coin with a face value of 25 cents. It remains valid legal tender for all debts, public and private, as codified at 31 U.S.C. section 5103. Spending a Texas quarter today is legal; melting one is not restricted by the federal melt-prohibition rule at 31 CFR Part 82, which covers only one-cent and five-cent coins.
Is there a rare error on the 2004 Texas quarter to look for?
No single Texas quarter error variety has entered standard reference literature at the scale of the 2004-D Wisconsin "Extra Leaf" varieties. Documented off-center strikes, broadstrikes, clipped planchets, and die cracks exist for 2004-P and 2004-D Texas quarters in certified populations. Any large-value claim should be backed by a holder from an established grading service.
Sources
- Wikipedia, 50 State quarters. Program-level history of the 50 State Quarters Program, authorization by the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act (Public Law 105-124) signed by President Bill Clinton on December 1, 1997, design table for every state including the Texas row with release date, engraver credit, and mintage figures. Cites the statequarterguide.com mintage tables and the United States Mint 50 State Quarters Report as underlying sources. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_State_quarters. Checked August 2026.
- United States Mint. 50 State Quarters Program. Official program page listing every issue with release date, designer credit, and circulation totals. The Texas quarter appears as the 28th coin in the series, released June 1, 2004, designed by Norman E. Nemeth. usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/50-state-quarters-program. Checked August 2026.
- United States Mint. Coin specifications. Official specifications for the modern circulating quarter: composition of 91.67 percent copper and 8.33 percent nickel (outer layers of cupronickel bonded to a pure copper core), mass 5.67 grams, diameter 24.26 millimeters, thickness 1.75 millimeters, reeded edge with 119 reeds. Silver proof strikes are 90 percent silver, 10 percent copper, at 6.25 grams. usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/circulating-coins. Checked August 2026.
- Public Law 105-124, 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act, enacted December 1, 1997. Statutory basis for the program, directing the Treasury Secretary to issue five new circulating quarter designs per year for ten years in the order the states ratified the Constitution or joined the Union. congress.gov/105/plaws/publ124/PLAW-105publ124.pdf. Checked August 2026.
- Smithsonian Institution National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History. Institutional home for the reference set of United States coins, including examples of each 50 State Quarters Program design. Publicly searchable via the Smithsonian collections online catalog. americanhistory.si.edu/collections/national-numismatic-collection. Checked August 2026.
- Handbook of Texas Online, Annexation. Standard reference for the December 29, 1845 admission of Texas to the Union, the date cited by the United States Mint 50 State Quarters release schedule for the Texas issue. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/annexation. Checked August 2026.
- Bullock Texas State History Museum, Austin. State museum operated by the Texas State Preservation Board that curates permanent exhibits on Texas statehood, the flag, the lone star, and the ranching economy referenced by the Texas quarter reverse iconography. thestoryoftexas.com. Checked August 2026.
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. 31 CFR Part 82: Prohibition on the Exportation, Melting, or Treatment of 5-Cent and One-Cent Coins. Confirms that the federal melt-prohibition rule covers only one-cent and five-cent coins. Quarters, including the 2004 Texas quarter, are not covered by the regulation. ecfr.gov/current/title-31/subtitle-B/chapter-I/part-82. Checked August 2026.
- 31 U.S.C. section 5103. Legal tender. Federal statute establishing that United States coins and currency are legal tender for all debts, public and private. Applies to the 2004 Texas quarter as a circulating quarter dollar. law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5103. Checked August 2026.