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As far as I’m concerned, the 2026 Emerging Liberty dime is the best circulating coin the U.S. Mint has produced in generations. I bought my first on a whim for a couple bucks at a local flea market but, almost immediately, they started turning up in my pocket change everywhere I went. Before long, the rest of the Semiquincentennial coinage began appearing too! After months of keeping an eye out, I’ve finally assembled a full set of every denomination, including the three commemorative quarters released so far.

To recognize the 2026 Semiquincentennial -the USA’s 250th birthday-  the U.S. Mint issued a whole slate of commemorative circulating coinage. So far there’s a new nickel, a new dime, three new quarters, and a half dollar. The designs range from meh to genuinely outstanding, and whenever I find one in circulation, it goes straight into a coin flip. The fifty-year-old Bicentennial coins have made it clear that they’ll never be particularly valuable, but hunting them down has been a fun and inexpensive way to keep collecting while I was unemployed for eight months.

Although there’s a non-circulating Semiquincentennial penny minted for collectors, the lowest common denomination for us regular folk is the nickel. It pairs Felix Schlag’s familiar 1938 reverse with Jamie Franki’s forward-facing Jefferson portrait introduced in 2006. Aside from the commemorative “1776 ~ 2026” date, it’s essentially the same nickel we’ve carried for years. Even so, it’s a sharp-looking coin and a subtle nod to America’s 250th birthday. Both of the SemiQ nickels I’ve found came from the Payless supermarket in Muncie. 

Next up is the Emerging Liberty dime, which was released on January 5th. I wrote about this coin in an earlier post, and I still think it’s absolutely phenomenal. Esao Andrews’ striking obverse gives Liberty a bold, modern look, while Eric David Custer’s dynamic reverse captures an eagle in flight with incredible energy. I’m still not sure how I feel about the lack of olive branches accompanying the eagle’s arrows, something reader gregandwords pointed out that I noticed too, but I think this is one of the finest circulating coin designs ever minted. Surprisingly, I’ve received nearly as many of the new design in my change as the traditional Roosevelt dime from stores all around Muncie and Yorktown over the past few months.

The Mayflower Compact quarter commemorates the Plymouth colony and the Compact itself, a forerunner to both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Released on January 5th, the coin pairs Roland D. Sanders’ obverse of two pilgrims in an embrace with a reverse adapted from Cyrus E. Dallin’s 1920 Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar. The Mayflower may be the most dynamic ship design to ever to appear on a U.S. coin! Compared to depictions like George T. Morgan’s Santa Maria on the 1893 Columbian half dollar, this one practically seems to be sailing away. I found two examples in the change at Pay Less.

The Revolutionary War quarter followed on March 3rd, and it’s the design I’ve encountered most often so far aside from the dime. I’ve found four of them in change! The obverse reuses Joseph Menna’s portrait of George Washington from the 2007 Presidential dollar, while the reverse depicts a Continental Army soldier enduring the harsh winter at Valley Forge. It’s interesting to see Washington’s familiar likeness rendered in copper-nickel instead of manganese brass, but I can’t help but wish that the Mint had chosen a new portrait to better honor the SemiQ.

As of this writing, the Declaration of Independence quarter is the newest addition to the Semiquincentennial series; it entered circulation on May 25. The obverse features Benjamin Sowards’ portrait of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, while John McGraw’s reverse showcases the Liberty Bell mid-peal. It’s a dignified design. So far, though, I’ve only found a single example. If you’ve been keeping score, yes, it turned up at Pay Less.

Rounding out the Semiquincentennial series, at least for now, is the Enduring Liberty half dollar. Released on January 5 alongside the Emerging Liberty dime and Mayflower Compact quarter, it pairs Donna Weaver’s elegant Statue of Liberty obverse with Beth Zaiken’s reverse depicting Liberty passing her torch to the next generation. For whatever reason, the Statue of Liberty often seems surprisingly difficult to capture well on a coin, but I think the Mint absolutely nailed it here. Unfortunately, I had to buy my only example at a flea market because half dollars have all but disappeared from circulation.When’s the last time you got one in change? Mine was on June 30, 2023, when the self-checkout at Walmart in Houghton Lake, Michigan, spit one out as I was buying a pair of swim trunks. 

With two more commemorative quarters still on the way, I’ll be checking my pocket change a little more closely over the coming months. I know these coins probably won’t make anyone rich, but that’s never been the point. They’re tiny pieces of history that pass through millions of hands every day, and each one marks an important chapter in America’s story. For me, they also mark a memorable chapter in my own life. During eight difficult months of unemployment, finding a new Semiquincentennial coin in my change was a small but welcome bright spot. Now that I’m back to work, I hope the hunt continues. If nothing else, these coins have reminded me that even ordinary pocket change can still hold the thrill of discovery.