January 7th, 2011 — Coin News
The new series of quarters featuring National Parks and National Sites will continue in 2011 with five more releases. These 2011 America the Beautiful Quarters will feature sites in the states of Pennsylvania, Montana, Washington, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
I think the designs for the coming year are particularly well done. Each has a very unique and distinctive image that can serve as an iconic statement about the area portrayed. Two of the coins feature National Military Parks, two feature National Parks, and one features a National Recreation Area.
Designs were picked by the United States Treasury of the Secretary, but he was required to consider the input of various committees and other interested parties. The final design selections for the reverse of each quarter are shown below.
First up for release will be the Gettysburg National Park Quarter, which includes a depiction of the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument. The design is by Joel Iskowitz.
Next is the Glacier National Park Quarter, which includes an image of a mountain goat on a rocky ledge. The northeast slope of Mount Reynolds appears in the background. The design is by Barbara Fox.
The Olympic National Park Quarter will be released in the middle of the year. A Roosevelt Elk is shown stepping into a river. Mount Olympus appears in the distance. This design is by Susan Gamble.
A stunning scene of the U.S. Cairo appears on the Vicksburg National Park Quarter. The Union ironclad gunboat appears as it served during the American Civil War. This design was by Thomas Cleveland.
The final coin to be released for the year is the Chickasaw National Recreation Area Quarter. The series can feature both National Parks and other federally designated areas, like the site chosen for Oklahoma. The design is by Donna Weaver.
October 8th, 2010 — Mintages
A strange thing happened last month, the mintages for previously released America the Beautiful Quarters have increased. For the previous State Quarters Program, the US Mint would complete production of one design and then move onto the next. For the present series, the Mint reserves the right to go back to previous designs and strike more coins.
As a result, the previously lowest mintage coin of the program so far, the Hot Springs Quarter, has been bumped up by 10 million. This makes the Yellowstone Quarter now the lowest mintage, unless the US Mint decides to strike some more of those, too.
The updated America the Beautiful Quarters mintages appear below.
|
Denver |
Philadelphia |
Total |
| Hot Springs |
34,000,000 |
35,600,000 |
69,600,000 |
| Yellowstone |
34,800,000 |
33,600,000 |
68,400,000 |
| Yosemite |
34,800,000 |
35,200,000 |
70,000,000 |
| Grand Canyon |
35,400,000 |
34,800,000 |
70,200,000 |
September 9th, 2010 — Mintages
Even though the coins have not yet been released into circulation, the preliminary mintage for the Grand Canyon National Park Quarter is already available from the United States Mint.
The America the Beautiful Quarters Program includes five different quarter designs per year featuring National Parks or Sites from across America. Over the course of the next twelve years, one park or site will be depicted from each state, territory, and the District of Columbia. For series with rotating designs, typically the US Mint has stopped production of one design before starting the next. For the current series, they reserve the right to reopen production for earlier designs, as long as it is within the year of issue.
Thus, the figures below are not considered final, but preliminary.
The Grand Canyon Quarter preliminary mintage figures indicate 34.6 million coins produced at the Philadelphia Mint and 34.8 million coins produced at the Denver Mint. The combined total of 69.4 million is just below the prior Yosemite National Park Quarter mintage of 70 million.
September 25th, 2009 — Coin News
The US Mint recently announced a new series of quarters called America the Beautiful Quarters. This is the series that most people had been previously referring to the National Park Quarters. It follows our new found coin tradition of altering designs frequently to create a collectible series.
America the Beautiful Quarters will feature a National Park or National Site located in each of the 50 states, each of the 5 US territories, and the District of Columbia. The reverse design will feature an image representative of the site and the obverse will feature a portrait of George Washington, which is a restored version of the 1932 Washington Quarter obverse.
The quarters will be released at a rate of five designs per year, starting in 2010, and ending in 2021 with a single quarter release. The sites and locations to be featrured in 2010 include:
- Hot Springs National Park - Arkansas
- Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming
- Yosemite National Park - California
- Grand Canyon National Park - Arizona
- Mt Hood National Forest - Oregon
I have mixed feelings about the new series. While it was a joy to collect the State Quarters series, and be surprised by finding new designs in pocket change, all of the follow up "rotating design" series have taken their toll. Rotating designs have been featured on the nickel, a second quarter series for the territories, the Presidential Dollar, another series of dollars, and the Lincoln Cent.
I think the oversaturation might actually start to turn off some collectors and the broader public. It's gotten to the point that if a new coin design was announced that would be a static design intended to be used for the foreseeable future, collectors and the public would be more excited. With yet another series of rotating designs, I think most people's reaction is "Again?"
December 24th, 2008 — Coin News, Coin Series
H.R. 6184 America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 was signed into law on December 23, 2008. This will create a new series of National Park Quarters to follow the 50 State Quarters Program and Washington DC & US Territories Quarters Program.
The new series would feature at least 56 quarters with designs emblemnatic of a National Park or National Site in each of the 50 States, plus Washington DC and the US Territories. The quarters would be released at a rate of five per year in the order that each park or site was designated. This will give the new program a duration of at least 11 years. In the ninth year of the program, the Secretary of the Treasury has the option to expand the program for a second round of designs, bringing the program duration to 22 years.
The bill also provides for the production of oversized silver repliacs of each National Park Quarter. These replicas would be 3 inches in diameter, contain 5 ounces of .999 silver, and have incused edge lettering. The replicas would carry the 25 cent denomination.
There have been some mixed opinions on another long series of "new State Quarters." Since 1999, there have been an endless parade of series redesigns which all utilize the concept of a rotating reverse design. Unfortunately, it looks like constantly changing coin designs are becoming the norm rather than the exception.
The first National Park Quarters will be released in 2010.
