25 cents

---

Washington, America the Beautiful reverses quarters

Recession affects mintages in first year

By Beth Deisher
Coin World Staff

Rep. Michael Castle, the Delaware lawmaker who championed the highly successful 10-year State quarter dollars program (1999 through 2008), thought success would build upon success. But he learned during a July 20, 2010, congressional hearing the state of the economy plays a big role in coin demand and mintages and may prove to be the critical factor in the success of the latest circulating commemorative coin program, marketed by the U.S. Mint as the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program.

U.S. Mint and Federal Reserve Bank officials testified at the hearing that due to the recession, demand for the new quarters is a mere fraction of what it had been for the predecessor programs. Also, the Fed representative was adamant that the nation's central bank will not make any special provisions for commercial banks to order the new coins so that they can reach circulation as the new quarters are being produced by the U.S. Mint.

Castle, as chief sponsor of the America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008, skillfully moved the legislation through Congress within a record six months time during 2008 so that the U.S. Mint would have adequate time to prepare for the program when the one-year District of Columbia and Territories State Quarters program ended in 2009.

"I am encouraged that this initiative will be every bit as successful as its predecessor – both as an educational tool and a collector's item," Castle had said as the authorizing legislation was signed into law (Public Law 110-456) by President George W. Bush on Dec. 23, 2008.

The law calls for 56 quarter dollars to be issued beginning in 2010, at the rate of five per year, with reverse designs honoring national parks or designated federal historic sites within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five territories – Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The obverse features the modified George Washington portrait used on the 50 State and 2009 quarters, though the portrait was modified in 2010 to be closer in appearance to the original portrait used on the Washington quarter dollar when it was introduced in 1932.

The authorizing law requires the coins to be issued in the order in which the chosen site officially became a part of the national park or national historic site system. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Aug. 25, 2009, approved the list of sites recommended by the U.S. Mint after consultation with the governor or other chief executive of each host jurisdiction and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. The 56 sites comprise national parks, national historic sites, national wildlife refuges and national river ways. Six are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forestry Service; two are under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and the remaining 48 sites are under the auspices and control of the National Park Service.

Public release of the list of sites on Sept. 9, 2009, contained a surprise: The first site to be honored during the program would not be the nation's first national park, but rather the first nationally protected site – Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. The 56th and final coin, representing Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama, will be the only quarter dollar currently scheduled to be issued under the program in 2021. A complete list in the order the coins will be issued, is available the U.S. Mint's web site: http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/atb/?action=siteRegister.

A provision in the law gives the Treasury secretary the authority to decide during the ninth year of the program whether a second site will be selected for each state, territory and the District of Columbia, essentially extending the program for a second 11-year period.

Once the first (or second) round of the national parks program ends, the obverse design for the quarter dollar will return to the image of George Washington used in 1998 and the reverse will depict an image of Washington crossing the Delaware River prior to the battle of Trenton, N.J. That scene is depicted on the 1999 New Jersey State quarter dollar.

The law authorizes the U.S. Mint to produce numismatic versions of the America's Beautiful National Parks quarter dollars, both in Uncirculated and Proof in copper-nickel clad and in 90 percent silver compositions.

The law also created a new investment-grade 5-ounce coin 3 inches in diameter and made of .999 fine silver. These noncirculating coins bear the same designs as each quarter dollar (though with some slight differences) and are released by the Mint only in the year in which the equivalent quarter dollar's design is issued. The fineness and weight is incused on the edge of the bullion coin, which is denominated as a quarter dollar.

America the Beautiful quarter dollars
Dates of authorization:	April 2, 1792; July 23, 1965; Oct. 18, 1973; Dec. 1, 1997; Dec. 23, 2008
Dates of issue:	2010, 2011
Designers:	(Original obverse) John Flanagan 2010: (Hot Springs reverse) Don Everhart (Yellowstone reverse) Don Everhart (Yosemite reverse) Joseph Menna (Grand Canyon reverse) Phebe Hemphill (Mount Hood reverse) Phebe Hemphill 2011: (Gettysburg National Military Park) Joel Iskowitz Glacier National Park) Barbara Fox (Olympic National Park) Susan Gamble (Vicksburg National Military Park) Thomas Cleveland (Chickasaw National Recreation Area) Donna Weaver
Engravers:	(Modified obverse) William Cousins 2010: (Hot Springs reverse) Joseph Menna (Yellowstone reverse) Don Everhart (Yosemite reverse) Phebe Hemphill (Grand Canyon reverse) Phebe Hemphill (Mount Hood reverse) Phebe Hemphill 2011: (Gettysburg National Military Park) Phebe Hemphill Glacier National Park) Charles L. Vickers (Olympic National Park) Michael Gaudioso (Vicksburg National Military Park) Joseph F. Menna (Chickasaw National Recreation Area) Jim Licaretz
Diameter:	24.26 mm/0.96 inch
Weight:	5.67 grams/0.18 ounce
Weight of pure silver:	(Proofs only): 5.63 grams/0.18 ounce
Metallic content:	75% copper, 25% nickel clad to pure copper core (Proofs only): 90% silver, 10% copper
Edge:	Reeded
Mint mark:	Obverse right of Washington's ponytail