Not many people I talk to understand or approve of the design to represent our capitol but here is the first quarter of 2009, DC. The District of Columbia, created in 1790, became the Nation's capital on December 1, 1800. The 10-square-mile site, originally part of Maryland and Virginia, was chosen personally by President George Washington to fulfill the need for a new Federal district that would not be part of any state. The District of Columbia quarter reverse features native son Duke Ellington, the internationally renowned composer and musician, seated at a grand piano. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born into a middle-class family in Washington, D.C., in 1899, and started piano lessons at the age of seven. I finish this pair of cut-outs with sterling silver french earwires(shown) or silver-electroplated clip-ons.