With help from National Park Service officials, the United States Mint marked the release of the Grand Canyon National Park
quarter today in a ceremony at the Grand Canyon National Park in
Arizona. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar unveiled the first five
“America the Beautiful” quarters in March of this year, featuring
America’s four oldest national parks — Hot Springs, Yellowstone,
Yosemite and Grand Canyon — and Mount Hood National Forest (see story here).
Since then, each quarter has been released in the order in which the
honored site was first established as a national site. Each year, the
public will see five new national site designs depicted on the reverse
(tails side) of America the Beautiful Quarters.
Highlights of today’s event included a ceremonial coin pour,
performances by the Pollen Trail Dancers, a local Native American
troupe, and a coin exchange at which members of the public swapped their
currency for $10 rolls of the new quarter. Children 18 years old and
younger received a new Grand Canyon National Park quarter to commemorate
the event.
The design on the most recently released coin features on the
reverse (tails) a view of the granaries, which were used for storing
food and seeds, above the Nankoweap Delta in Marble Canyon near the
Colorado River. Inscriptions on the reverse are GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA,
2010 and E PLURIBUS UNUM. The design on the coin’s obverse (heads)
features the 1932 portrait of George Washington by John Flanagan,
restored to bring out subtle details and the beauty of the original
model. Inscriptions on the obverse are UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and QUARTER DOLLAR.
The Grand Canyon National Park quarter is the fourth coin released
through the United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Program, a
multiyear initiative to honor 56 national parks and other sites in each
state, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories. Mount
Hood National Forest Quarter will be the fifth. Each year through 2020,
the United States Mint will issue five new quarters in the order in
which the honored site was first established as a national site. One
final coin will be released in 2021.
For more information, call (800) USA-MINT or visit The United States Mint.
