Rolls and bags of quarters depicting Ellis Island in New Jersey go on sale Monday, August 28, 2017.
This year’s fourth and overall thirty-ninth coin from the United States Mint program of America the Beautiful Quarters® features an immigration family. More than 12 million immigrants were processed through Ellis Island from 1892 to 1954.
Local financial institutions cannot order coins of a certain design from Federal Reserve Banks. That usually makes it pretty difficult to find new National park quarters in change. Buying them from the U.S. Mint is the easiest way to get them in large quantities and from each of three production facilities that make them.
Product Options
Rolls and bags with circulating quality Ellis Island quarters are made at one of three U.S. Mint production facilities:
- the Philadelphia Mint,
- the Denver Mint, and
- the San Francisco Mint.
Product choices and their prices are:
| PRODUCT OPTION | MINT MARK | PRICE |
| Single Roll of 40 coins | “S” | $18.95 |
| 100-Coin Bag | “P,” “D,” or “S” | $34.95 |
| Two-Roll Set, 40 coins per roll | “P” and “D” | $32.95 |
| Three-Roll Set, 40 coins per roll | “P,” “D,” and “S” | $46.95 |
Mintmarks are engraved on the obverse or heads side of every quarter. They indicated where they are made with “S” for San Francisco, “P” for Philadelphia and “D” for Denver.
Ellis Island quarters from the Denver and Philadelphia Mints will eventually find their way into change but those from the San Francisco Mint are struck only for coin collectors. The Fed does not distribute S-Mint coins into circulation.
Designs on Ellis Island Quarters
Quarter obverses (heads) share John Flanagan’s 1932 portrait of George Washington. It is quarter reverses that change on each coin in the America Beautiful Quarter series as they showcase a distinct national park or site in one of the states, territories or DC.
Reverses of this quarter depict an immigrant family approaching Ellis Island with a mixture of hope and uncertainty. Barbara Fox created the design and Phebe Hemphill sculpted it.
Ordering
Anyone can order the rolls and bags beginning at noon ET on August 28. The U.S. Mint’s product page for quarter products is online here.
Quarter Launch Ceremony, Forum and Coin Exchange
Two days later, on Wednesday, August 30, the National Park Service and United States Mint will officially unveil the new quarter in a ceremony by the flagpole area on Ellis Island
The event is free and open to the public, and begins at 11:00 AM Eastern Time. Attending children will receive one free quarter. After the ceremony, there is a coin exchange where the public can swap cash for rolls of P-mint mark quarters‎.
Beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the same location, the U.S. Mint will also host a coin forum where attendees can ask questions about current and upcoming products.