The fifth United States Mint quarter release of 2014 is the Everglades National Park Quarter. This strike, the 25th of 56 in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program, honors the national park in Florida. Its circulation release date is November 3, 2014.
Everglades National Park Quarters are the last from the coin series for 2014. The America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008, Public Law 110-456, mandates quarter designs at a rate of five per year until the final one in 2021. Each design honors a different national park or other national site from every U.S. state, territory and the District of Columbia.
Mintages of the quarters are based on demand needs for commerce. They can vary, sometimes significantly, by design. Local banks cannot order quarters from the Federal Reserve by design, and that means it can take a long time for new ones to enter circulation even in the areas surrounding the national park or national site a quarter honors.
As a means to help collectors, the United States Mint (www.usmint.gov) begins selling rolls and bags of the quarters on the same day they are officially released into circulation. With these products, quarters are available with mint marks from each U.S. Mint facility that strikes coinage for circulation — the Denver Mint and Philadelphia Mint, as well as ‘S’ mint mark quarters from the San Francisco Mint. These latter coins will not be found in circulation.
The United States Mint does charge a premium for the rolls and bags, but the products are still popular because they are the quickest way to get new quarters and also, while produced in circulating-quality, the quarters have never entered circulation so they tend to be in better condition than those found in pocket change.
National Park Quarter Designs
A handful of design candidates or proposals are created by various artists for each quarter. These designs are reviewed by officials and various bodies, like the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). After reviews and suggestions, the United States Mint offers its recommendations to the U.S. Treasury Secretary who is mandated by law to select a final design for each quarter.
Designed by Joel Iskowitz and sculpted by Joseph Menna, the reverse or tails side of the Everglades National Park Quarter features an anhinga with outstretched wings on a willow tree with a roseate spoonbill visible in the mid-ground. Inscriptions read: EVERGLADES, FLORIDA, 2014 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.
As designed by sculptor John Flanagan, obverses or heads sides of America the Beautiful Quarters feature the same portrait of the first President of the United States, George Washington. Inscriptions include UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, QUARTER DOLLARS and the mint mark.
Four Prior 2014 Quarters
Prior 2014-dated quarters commemorate Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, Arches National Park in Utah, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.
Everglades National Park Information
Everglades National Park of Florida is unique in that it is a protected ecosystem, not a geological feature. This delicate ecosystem was in danger of extinction by the early 1900s as people saw the area as valuable farmland. However, there is a diverse group of species that make this area home and it was decided that they needed to be protected. Thus, in 1934, the park was created. But due to the Great Depression, it was not officially dedicated until 1947.
There are over 350 species of birds, several types of venomous snakes, sea turtles and other exotic animals that live in the Everglades. Thanks to the slow moving water system, which is actually a river, the ecosystem is able to support a wide array of animal life.
The most famous resident of the Everglades National Park is the American crocodile. Most of the dangerous species that live in the park often shy away from humans, leaving the attack rate very low.