US Coins

350 witness Ellis Island quarter launch ceremony

By Paul Gilkes

Published: Sep 1, 2017, 7 AM

Members of the crowd are shown during the launch ceremony for the 39th coin in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, held on a sunny day on Ellis Island in New Jersey.

Background image by Sharon McPike of the United States Mint; coin image courtesy of U.S. Mint.

Barbara Fox, the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program artist who designed the reverse of the 2017 Ellis Island National Monument quarter dollar, autographs an unidentified collector’s rolls of the 2017-P coins acquired during the coin exchange at the launch event.

Image by Sharon McPike of the United States Mint.

U.S. Mint senior advisor Todd Baldau, left, presents a framed display containing Ellis Island quarter dollars struck on the first day of production at the Denver and Philadelphia Mints to John Hnedak, deputy superintendent for the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island.

Image by Sharon McPike of the United States Mint.

Children attending the event were given U.S. Mint-monogrammed containers to house the free quarter each was given following the ceremony.

Images by Sharon McPike of the United States Mint.

Attendees at the coin launch ceremony wait their turn to exchange other cash for $10 face value rolls of the new quarter dollars.

Image by Sharon McPike of the United States Mint.

Circulation quality 2017-P Ellis Island National Monument quarter dollars on view at the ceremony are from production at the Philadelphia Mint.

Images by Sharon McPike of the United States Mint.

Approximately 350 people, including 30 children, converged on Ellis Island Aug. 30 for the U.S. Mint’s official launch ceremony for the 2017 Ellis Island National Monument quarter dollar.

The coin is the 39th of 56 to be released under the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.

Each of the children in attendance received a free 2017-P quarter dollar inside a Mint-monogrammed case.

How can collectors determine a coin’s value when price guides assign it different values? Also in this week’s print issue, we learn of the first report of a 2017 doubled die variety, found on a Lincoln cent.

Approximately 25 people attended a coin forum during which they could provide comments to and receive feedback from U.S. Mint senior advisor Todd Baldau on U.S. Mint coin programs.

Bank of America exchanged U.S. quarter dollar rolls for cash totaling $18,400, at the rate $10 per 40-coin roll.

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The new quarter dollar entered general circulation through the Federal Reserve Banks and their participating financial institutions on Aug. 28, the same day the U.S. Mint began offering circulation quality examples of the quarter dollars in 100-coin bags and 40-coin rolls from production at the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints.

Although the San Francisco Mint coins are struck in circulation quality, only the coins struck at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints are released into general circulation.

Barbara Fox, the U.S. Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program artist who designed the Ellis Island coin, was on hand to be recognized for her contribution and to sign her autograph for collectors and others in attendance. Some collectors had Fox sign the paper wrappers on the rolled coins they obtained during the coin exchange after the ceremony.

Fox’s reverse design, which depicts an immigrant family approaching Ellis Island with a mixture of hope and uncertainty, was sculptured by U.S. Mint Medallic Sculptor Phebe Hemphill.