Collectors Corner^SM: The Collectibles Marketplace

2009 Puerto Rico Quarter. Click image to enlarge.

Spanish Language Day was founded by the United Nations in 2010 “to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six of its official working languages throughout the organization.” April 23 coincides with the death date of influential Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the Don Quixote de la Mancha author who died on that day in 1616.

The Spanish language, both written and spoken, has exploded in use around the globe over the intervening four centuries, now rapidly becoming a dominant language in many areas of the United States – a trend that will surely continue as more and more Americans hail from Spanish-speaking countries and raise children with the language. So how apropos it is that U.S. coins have also begun adopting Spanish words. More recently, the 2024 Celia Cruz Quarter featured “Azucar,” the Afro-Latina salsa singer’s catchphrase that means “sugar” in English. But the first U.S. coin to showcase Spanish was struck in 2009 and pays homage to the beautiful American Commonwealth known as Puerto Rico.

The 2009 Puerto Rico Quarter features the inscription “ISLA DEL ENCANTO,” which translates to English as “The Island of Enchantment.” Surely, many who hail from or have visited Puerto Rico would believe the island lives up to that moniker. But also importantly, that sobriquet helped make numismatic history – Spanish now makes occasional appearances on U.S. coinage. This means that numismatists who know and love Spanish, or simply want to celebrate Spanish Language Day, can use their collections to pay homage to the holiday thanks to the growing number of coins that incorporate Spanish.