Effigy Mounds National Monument to be featured on first new quarter of 2017
Local events planned at Effigy Mounds, Waukon High School and Kerndt Brothers Bank to celebrate
Area residents will have a high degree of familiarity with a new quarter being released into circulation by the United State Mint to start the new year. The first quarter to be released in 2017 under the U.S. Mint’s America the Beautiful Quarters® Program will feature Iowa’s Effigy Mounds National Monument.
The coin design (pictured at far right) showcases an aerial view of two bears and one bird effigy mound from the Marching Bear Group in the South Unit of the monument. Several free events will take place to commemorate the quarter launch.
SCHEDULED EVENTS
Collectors will get their first in-person look at the 2017 Effigy Mounds National Monument quarter dollar during the coin’s official U.S. Mint launch ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, February 7 in the gymnasium of Waukon High School. The ceremony, which will include remarks from Philadelphia Mint Plant Manager J. Marc Landry and local representatives, will be followed by a coin exchange. Elected officials and dignitaries from across the state are expected to be in attendance at this event as well.
Immediately following the ceremony, a coin exchange begins where attendees can exchange $10 for a roll of the newly-minted Uncirculated 2017-D Effigy Mounds National Monument quarters (10-roll maximum). The coin exchange is sponsored by Kerndt Brothers Saving Bank. All children 18 and younger will receive a free Effigy Mounds quarter provided by the U.S. Mint. Additionally, students in Kindergarten through fifth grades will receive the redesigned Effigy Mounds National Monument Junior Ranger badge, which incorporates the new America the Beautiful design.
“As a community bank with 160 years of history right here in Allamakee County and along the Mississippi River, we’re honored to have been selected as the official bank sponsor for the Effigy Mounds National Monument Quarter coin exchange, joining the U.S. Mint and National Park Service for this very exciting event,” said James Kerndt, President and CEO of Kerndt Brothers Bank. “It is an opportunity to showcase Iowa’s only national monument and share a special event with northeast Iowans.”
Extending the opportunity to access the new quarter, Kerndt Brothers Bank will host an open house coin exchange Tuesday afternoon, February 7 from 1-4 p.m. at its Waukon location at 820 Eleventh Avenue SW. This event is open to the public and will allow people unable to join the official launch celebration event to also have a chance to take home the Effigy Mounds National Monument quarters.
To further celebrate this event, Kerndt Brothers Bank will also be serving cake and coffee during its afternoon open house. The six other locations of Kerndt Brothers Bank will also have the new Effigy Mounds quarter coin to distribute beginning Wednesday, February 8.
The evening before the quarter dollar launch, the U.S. Mint will host a coin forum during which Mint representatives will inform attendees on current and future coin programs and receive feedback from collectors. The forum is scheduled to be held from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Monday, February 6 at the Effigy Mounds National Monument Visitor Center, located at 151 Highway 76, Harpers Ferry.
THE AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL QUARTERS® PROGRAM
The Effigy Mounds quarter marks the 36th coin released as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program, which runs for 11 years from 2010 until 2021. The program debuted in 2010 with five new quarter dollars. Each subsequent year, an additional five coins will be issued until the final year of 2021 when the last single strike of the series will be released.
The four other quarters will follow the Effigy Mounds National Monument Quarter with their release later this year. The sites featured on those quarters include the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Quarter, the Ozark National Scenic Riverways Quarter, the Ellis Island National Monument Quarter, and the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park Quarter.
ABOUT THE DESIGNER
In what is believed to be a first instance, the designer of the selected Effigy Mounds image on the quarter is actually a native of the state where the quarter design feature is located. U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program artist Richard Masters is a native of Sioux City and earned his bachelor's degree in studio art, a master's degree and a master of fine arts degree in design from the University of Iowa.
Currently residing in Wisconsin and serving as an associate professor of art at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Masters' design was selected from a number of designs submitted by various artists for the Effigy Mounds quarter. He is certainly no stranger to coin design, as he also designed the Nebraska quarter, a silver dollar commemorating the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, and had his work - a 19th century cabin representing President Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and childhood in Kentucky - selected for one of four designs for the Lincoln penny released in 2008 in recognition of the bicentennial of President Lincoln's birth and the centennial of the first issuance of the Lincoln cent.
EFFIGY MOUNDS
Effigy Mounds National Monument, located three miles north of Marquette and 22 miles south of Waukon on Iowa Highway 76, is home to a group of over 200 mounds that Native Americans hold sacred. These mounds were used for burial, ceremonies and sometimes lodging. There are even 31 mounds that are shaped like reptiles, birds and other mammals where the term "effigy" comes from.
There are three areas of the monument that host mounds, and the Sny Magill Unit holds the most with over 100 mounds in that area. However, the North and South Units offer visitor centers and easy access for tourists.
Although much of the history and meaning behind the mounds has been lost, local Native Americans still hold many of the mounds sacred. In addition to offering an excellent view of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers, Effigy Mounds National Monument also features the first place where European settlers made contact with the Natives in the area.
For more information about Effigy Mounds National Monument, call 563-873-3491, ext. 123 or visit the park's website at www.nps.gov/effigymounds. Additional information about the Effigy Mounds quarter launch ceremony and other events will be published as it is made available.
