Quarter designs for 2017 chosen
A spiny softshell turtle peering above the water at a kayaker is the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee’s preferred design for the the 2017 America the Beautiful quarter honoring Missouri. “By…
A spiny softshell turtle peering above the water at a kayaker is the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee’s preferred design for the the 2017 America the Beautiful quarter honoring Missouri.
“By far and away we were going to have a turtle on this coin,” said CCAC Chairman Mary Lannin, who noted that the design garnered 25 of a possible 27 points from committee members.
“I applaud the artist who created the design,” Lannin said of the image that honors Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri.
It is a design that represents the past and future of the riverways, she said.
“The dividing line of the water looks at someone in a kayak currently enjoying the beauty of the river, and the turtle is there because the Ozark Riverways were preserved for the past, present and future.”
Designs for three of the five ATB quarters to be released in 2017 were endorsed recently by the CCAC. It recommended designs for quarters honoring Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in the District of Columbia, George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Indiana and Ozark Riverways.
Frederick Douglass, one of the foremost abolitionists, was a respected orator and the selected image shows Douglass speaking at a podium.
The design chosen for the Clark Park shows Col. Clark and his men wading through flood waters on their way to secure the surrendered Fort Sackville.
The CCAC asked U.S. Mint engravers to revisit designs for Ellis Island National Monument in New Jersey and Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa.
Many of the designs for Ellis Island included an image of the hospital immigrants had to be processed through. Lannin noted that the CCAC is not fond of buildings on coins unless they are so iconic they are immediately recognizable. And it suggested the bird’s eye view of Effigy Mounds, while an accurate representation of the park, be put in perspective to surrounding trees or the night sky for those who may be unfamiliar with the magnitude of the mounds.
This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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