This week marks a hundred years of the US National Parks Service. There are 59 National Parks in 27 states,
the US Virgin Islands and American Samoa. I got to enjoy the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia back in June. I drove down Sunrise Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway up to the North Carolina border. You get a number of scenic views and historical sites along the way. It was a great, relaxing drive. Why am I talking about National Parks on a coin blog? Well, have you seen the Washington Quarters lately?
America the Beautiful (aka National Park) Quarters
In 2008, the last of the State Quarters were released. It was also in this year that Congress passed an act to produce a quarter from each state and US territory displaying a national park, refuge, forest, etc. With the US mint producing Washington Quarters for the District of Columbia and US Territories in 2009, the National Park Quarters
would begin in 2010. With 5 different quarters minted each year, it is planned to last until 2021.
In 2010 and 2011, there were circulated and uncirculated coins minted in Philadelphia and Denver, and
proof clad and silver coins in San Francisco. Starting in 2012, San Francisco would also mint uncirculated coins.
Just like the State Quarters, these quarters would be release in order that the national sites were established. Though Yellowstone was the first US National Park in 1872, the first coin released in 2010 was the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. Hot Springs Reservation would be protected by the US in 1832, and would officially become a National Park in 1921.
Since there will only be one coin for each state, some National Parks will have to be overlooked. California’s coin will have Yosemite National Park, yet the state has nine National Parks including Redwood, Sequoia and Death Valley.
Here’s my album
I saw this album at the New Hampshire Coin Show in Manchester, NH over a year ago. I figured I collected one of each state quarter for the United States map I purchased from the US Mint back in 1999. Why not go for the National Park Quarters? This album goes from 2010 – 2021 and has holes for the Philadelphia and Denver coins. This must have been made before 2012 because there are no holes for San Francisco coins and I have found 2 in change. The Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Parkway quarters above are included in this album. As of this post, I am only missing 6 of the Philadelphia coins before 2016, but only have 4 coins from Denver. Now I have 2 reasons to visit Denver: visit the mint and buy quarter rolls.
Have You Visited any US National Parks?
Out of the 59 National Parks operated by the National Park Service, I have only made it to 2: Shenandoah in Virginia, and Arcadia in Maine. Most of the National Parks are west of the Mississippi River. California has 9. Alaska has 8. Utah has 5. That’s 22 right there. One I would especially like to visit would be Badlands in South Dakota so I could see Mount Rushmore nearby.
Consider Collecting National Park Quarters
Like the State Quarters of before, the National Park Quarters
are bringing in new coin collectors. It’s a fun set to collect with all the different reverses. Would you collect them?
Enjoyed reading this post. We save coins, the closest we’ve ever gotten to collecting was giving our Granddaughters a folder with quarters from all the states. I wish my husband would become a collector because he has a passion about saving coins. I will encourage him to read your post, this may plant the seed. I like also that your post is easy to read.
Hey Rowena! That’s nice that you gave your granddaughter a state quarters folder. My grandmother promised me three coins that she had in a blue pouch when I was young. When she passed away in 2000, my mom gave me the pouch and looking at it recently, reminded me of the love I had for my grandmother.
I’m glad you enjoyed my post and hope you and your husband come back. You can also subscribe to my website as well so my posts will get sent to my email.
Hey Corina I’ve never been in united states, I want to go there, and I know there are a lot of national parks out there as one of the most popular parks like Yellowstone and such. It could be a good gift if I visit some parks and collect those coins, and to give them to my loved ones.
Great post.
Saúl.
Hey Saul! That would be great collecting the coins and visiting the places on those coins. Yellowstone was the first official national park in 1872. Hot Springs would be owned by the US 40 years before but wasn’t an official national park before Yellowstone.
Hi Kevin. I really enjoyed reading your post! Brings back memories of my youth. My grandfather was an avid coin collector and would purchase me a mint set of Canadian coins every year for my birthday.
I still have those mint sets today and was just wondering the other day how much they are worth. The sets date back to 1972 but I have a binder full of Canadian pennies with some dating back over 125 years!
Hey Rick! That’s cool about the Canadian cents and sets. I just found out a few months ago that Canada stopped minting the penny in 2012. I’m surprised the US is still minting them. I haven’t been in Canada since 2007. I liked the loonie and toonie. The US hasn’t had much success with a modern dollar coin. We’ve had Sacagawea Dollars since 2000 but people haven’t had any interest in using them. This year is also the last year of the Presidential Dollar which weren’t very successful either.
I don’t know much about the value of Canadian coins. With modern US coins, they are not worth much unless they were low mintage or had silver in them. Good luck with your sets!
It’s amazing what you read about but never realized. I had no clue that National Parks were being put on coins.I knew of all the different states but think the National parks is a great idea. I have 3 sets of all the state quarters (1 for each of my kids). Guess I need to start on the National Parks! Isn’t the internet great.
Hey Jason! That’s great that you did the state quarter sets for each of your kids. You should definitely do National Park sets for each of them since they are currently out in circulation and the mint is considering minting them till 2021.