On September 9 the U.S. Mint announced
the 56 sites selected for a new circulating commemorative quarter
program that begins next year. Per Public Law 110-456, the America's
Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008, the U.S. Mint
will issue a series of 56 quarters honoring a national park or other
significant site in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and
five U.S. territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S.
Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands.
The sites to be honored on 2010 quarters are Hot Springs National Park
in Arkansas, Yellowstone National Park in
Wyoming, Yosemite National Park in California, Grand Canyon National
Park in Arizona and Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon. Quarters in
the series will be produced at the rate of five per year through 2020.
The final quarter in the series, honoring Tuskegee Airmen National
Historic Site in Alabama, will be issued in 2021.
The quarters will be released in the same order that each featured
location was established as a national park or site. All 56 selections
were approved by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner from a list
proposed by the Mint, after consultation with the governor of each
state, the chief executives of the other 6 jurisdictions and Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar. The comple list of sites and the order in which
they will appear is
posted
on the U.S. Mint's web site.
The same legislation also instructs the Mint to strike and to sell
concurrently with each quarter a .999 fine silver bullion coin bearing
the same design. Each silver bullion coin will contain 5 ounces of
silver and be 3 inches in diameter, with the weight and fineness of the
silver to be inscribed on the edge.
DID YOU KNOW?
A bust of George Washington facing left will be retained on the obverse
of the quarters in the new program - the Mint has announced that it
will be "a restored version ... including subtle details and the beauty
of the original
model." Washington first appeared on the quarter in 1932.
The design
was intended to be a commemorative issue honoring the 200th anniversary
of his birth, but it proved popular with the public and has been
retained ever since. Two of the inscriptions originally on the reverse
of the Washington quarter were moved to the obverse with the advent of
the state quarters program in 1999, to allow more room for the
individual state designs.
In 1931 a submission to an open design competition for the new quarter
submitted by Laura Gardin Fraser was declared the winner by both the
Washington Bicentennial Commission and the federal Commission of Fine
Arts. The Treasury Secretary at the time, Andrew Mellon, ignored the
results and instead chose a design submitted by John Flanagan. Mellon
was reportedly unwilling to use a design created by a woman.
Fraser's design was finally used on a commemorative five dollar gold
coin honoring Washington in 1999 (images courtesy of U.S. Mint), issued
200 years after his death.
Receive our free newsletter by e-mail!
Messages sent about once a month feature announcements of new
purchases, special offers and
updates at our web site. Each issue also includes at least one article
containing news and/or commentary pertaining to the world of
numismatics.
To receive future issues of the Telesphere
Numismatics newsletter by e-mail, enter your name and e-mail address in
the form below and click
the "Subscribe Now" button.
Our newsletter is strictly opt-in only. No
one will be added without
requesting it. To protect your privacy, subscriber info will not be
available
to anyone else. Requests to unsubscribe are promptly honored.
Telesphere
Numismatics is pleased to announce that we now offer Dansco
coin albums, binders, pages and slipcases. Dansco's high quality coin
albums with a brown simulated leather cover and gold colored lettering
are familiar to collectors. Dansco products are made in the U.S.A.
