The United States Mint mintage total for Glacier National Park Quarters was 61.6 million. The Glacier quarter was released into circulation on April 4, which was the same day the US Mint started offering collector 100-coin bags and two-roll sets of its circulation strikes.

When considering mint facility output, Philadelphia struck fewer than Denver. The 2011-P Glacier Park Quarter mintage was 30.4 million and tied with the lowest minted park quarter to date, the 2011-P Gettysburg Park Quarter. As for the 2011-D Glacier Park Quarter, 31.2 million were produced, ranking third lowest at this time.

The 61.6 million amount is still considered a preliminary production figure. The Mint may decide to strike more based on orders from the Federal Reserve Bank, which strictly orders by denomination not design, or from bulk orders, which is based on design. The final quarter mintages are typically revealed in January of the following year.

The 2011 America the Beautiful Quarter production chart below illustrates the differences in mintages for each coin design.

 

The Glacier National Park Quarter was the seventh release in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program which started in 2010. (Visit the National Park Quarters home page for links to each of the coins by location and release.) Quarters that were struck in that inaugural year had higher mintages compared to 2011. The lowest minted quarter in 2010 was the Yellowstone National Park Quarter. The final mintage was 68.4 million, and the Philadelphia facility struck the least with 33.6 million.

In related quarter news, the United States Mint and the National Park Service jointly hosted a special Glacier Quarter release ceremony on April 13, 2011.

The ceremony was held at Columbia Falls High School in Columbia Falls, Montana. The school was not far from a park entrance. Approximately 1,000 people attended, which included Park Ranger Bill Schustrom who served as Master of Ceremonies, Glacier National Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright, Associate Director of Marketing for the United States Mint B.B. Craig, Director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau Jan Metzmaker, and other dignitaries.

Children who attended the event were given a free Glacier Park Quarter while adults could exchange cash for $10 quarter rolls with the design. Freedom Bank of Columbia Falls, who sponsored the coin exchange, reported $16,000 in quarters were exchanged at the ceremony.

There happens to be several ways for collectors to get their National Park Quarters besides buying directly from the Mint or attending a coin ceremony. For more information, see Where to Get National Park Quarters.

Glacier National Park preserves more than 1 million acres in the Northern Rocky Mountains of Montana. It was first set aside as a national reserve on February 22, 1897. The park extends up to the Canadian border, where Canada set aside the adjoining lands protecting Waterton Lakes National Park of Alberta in 1895.

The two parks gained world-wide attention in 1932 when they were combined to form the world’s first International Peace Park. As of 1995, the park was also given the distinction of becoming a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Other World Heritage Sites include the Pyramids, Stonehenge, and The Great Wall of China.