¼ Dollar "Close Quarters" Arkansas

Arkansas entered the 50 State Quarters program in 2003 as the third of five states honored that year. The series itself was a 1997 congressional initiative that proved far more commercially successful than the Mint anticipated — early estimates of coins that would leave circulation permanently and be kept by collectors ran to around 100 million per state, a figure the program consistently exceeded, which in practical terms meant the Treasury saved money on metal it never had to redeem.

Struck at both Philadelphia and Denver, with San Francisco producing proof examples in copper-nickel and silver. The "Close AM" versus "Wide AM" reverse variety debates that plagued Lincoln cents of this period did not extend to the quarters program.