Published: January 29, 2008 04:23 pm      

State quarters released Monday

A handful of customers waited just before 11 a.m. Monday to get the new Oklahoma state quarters released at BancFirst’s Del City branch on Sunnylane Road.

Bobbie Karby and Mary Duncan were the first two in line at the Del City branch.

“It’s the longest three minutes,” Duncan said.

“No kidding,” Karby replied.

Karby, who lives just off Sunnylane and S.E. 44th Street, said she wasn’t a quarter collector per se, but she did want “centennial stuff.”

“I just didn’t want to miss out on it,” she said.

Duncan, a Del City resident, said she has been collecting each state’s quarter as they’ve been released.

“I’ve got ‘em all,” she said.

The Del City location had 3,000 quarters available, selling them in $10 rolls, Tonya White of BancFirst said Monday.

BancFirst’s I-240 and Sooner Road location sold out in four minutes, White said.

“We are excited and honored to be named the sponsoring bank for this historic release and the first bank to distribute the Oklahoma quarter. We’ve heard about the coming of this quarter for several years now, and we are proud to be the bank to deliver it to Del City, Midwest City, Oklahoma City and all surrounding areas,” Brian Renz, president, BancFirst Mid-Del, was quoted in a press release.

The coin pays tribute to Oklahoma’s scenic beauty by boasting an illustration of the official state bird and the state wildflower. In a statewide online vote that drew more than 148,000 votes, Oklahomans overwhelmingly selected a design featuring the scissor-tailed flycatcher and the Gaillardia puchella, or Indian Blanket.