Candidate designs for new 2020 Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Quarter

Candidate designs for new 2020 Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Quarter
In June of 2018, both the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) made recommendations after reviewing several candidate designs for the reverse of the 2020 Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve quarter.

The CCAC chose a design showing a Regal Fritillary butterfly flitting amongst Big Bluestem and Indian grasses. The CFA showed preference for two images, though they did recommend alterations to both. One option showed a prairie chicken and butterfly in a grassy field, while the other was the same option preferred by the CCAC.

Tallgrass Prairie is the largest prairie land of its kind left on Earth. Although at first glance it appears to be just a sea of grasses, about 20% of its foliage consists of more than 300 different types of flowers and flowering plants!

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve featured 55th in National Park Quarter series

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve featured 55th in National Park Quarter series
Located in America’s heartland, along the rolling hills of eastern-central Kansas, is Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve – the largest prairie land of its kind left on Earth. At one time, the prairie covered 170 million acres, though much of it has been lost to agricultural development over time.
At first glance, the land appears to be a sea of grasses. However, about 20% of its foliage consists of more than 300 different types of flowers and flowering plants! Each season the grasses grow fresh, reaching their full height by autumn. Some species, like Big Bluestem or Indian grass, reach a height of 8 feet or more!
Learn more about Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.

2020 Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Quarter Released

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Quarter Design Released
The new Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park quarter, 54th in the series and fourth to debut in 2020, is in circulation as of August 31.

Located in Woodstock, VT, the working farm and woodlands opened as a national park in 1998. Its mission of land stewardship is the legacy of three distinct generations of owners. It began with George Perkins Marsh who, as a youth growing up on the farm in the very early 1800s, observed the effects of soil erosion that resulted with the deforestation of woodlands. The next owner, Frederick Billings, actively implemented a variety of stewardship programs that included reforestry and selective logging methods. The third owners, Mary French Rockefeller, a Billings’ granddaughter, and her husband, Laurence S. Rockefeller, opened the Billings Farm and Museum to make available to the public the methods and results of the successful dairy farm and working woodlands.

The 2020 quarters honor some of America’s most popular national parks: Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut; Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas; National Park of American Samoa in the South Pacific, and Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This detailed Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park quarter can be nicely paired with the 2001 Statehood quarter for Vermont. Order today.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Quarter Design Finalized

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Quarter Design Finalized

On August 13, 2019, the U.S. Mint announced the final design for the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park quarter at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, IL. Chosen was Donna Weaver’s design showing a young girl completing the planting of a Norway spruce seedling near an established tree. The reverse design is also inscribed with the words land stewardship.

The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park quarter is the fourth release in 2020 and 54th in the series that honors a national park or historic site in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the 5 U.S. territories. The working farm and woodlands are located in Woodstock, VT.

Candidate Designs for new 2020 Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park Quarter

Candidate Designs for new 2020 Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park Quarter

In 2018, the U.S. Mint commissioned its artists to create candidate designs for the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, VT. Eleven were reviewed for accuracy, edited, finalized, and then presented to the Citizen Coinage Advisory Committee and Commission of Fine Arts.

Two reverse designs featured a sugar maple sapling being planted by a pair of hands; one had the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion in the background, the other Vermont’s mountains.

A third design featured branches of a Norway spruce and a sugar maple with seeds, with the inscription people taking care of places.

A fourth design showed a sugar maple seedling passing from the hands of one generation to the next to symbolize stewardship and the sharing of natural resources.

A fifth depicted branches of a Norway spruce, with the symbolic release of seeds from the cones and the inscription legacy of conservation.

A sixth featured a Norway spruce seedling against a backdrop of horse-logged spruce and the inscription land stewardship.

A seventh showed Norway spruce saplings representing the reforestation of Mount Tom with the inscription future forest.

An eighth design depicted a carriage trail through a planted Norway spruce forest.

A ninth featured a young girl planting a Norway spruce seedling near an established tree to promote a sustainable forest for future enjoyment and education. It was inscribed with the words land stewardship.

A tenth design showed a young oak seedling next to a maple and a Norway spruce. Both were drawn to represent 150 years of environmental conservation and land stewardship throughout the park.

The final reverse design depicted a new-old method of horse logging, one of several different timbering methods used within the park.