LONG BEACH, WASHINGTON — The Nation’s new “Ocean in View” 5–cent coin (nickel) will be offered at a nickel exchange in Long Beach, Washington, on Thursday, November 10, 2005, to celebrate the historic culmination of Lewis and Clark’s cross–country expedition. The public is invited to exchange their bills for $2 rolls of new Ocean in View nickels from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the USA, Lodge #888, at the SeaPort Marina Hotel, 6400 E. Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach. The exchange precedes the Lewis and Clark Signature Event, “Destination: The Pacific,” being held Friday, November 11, through Sunday, November 13, 2005.
The Ocean in View nickel is the fourth design in the United States Mint’s Westward Journey Nickel Series™, which has symbolically followed the Lewis and Clark expedition. The Ocean in View reverse (tails side) design is based on a photograph by Andrew E. Cier of Astoria, Oregon, a professional photographer, who took the picture of a rocky, western coast line. He said the image captured what Captain William Clark might have seen upon reaching the western waters. The United States Mint launched the Westward Journey Nickel Series in 2004, with the Peace Medal nickel, followed by the Keelboat nickel, the American Bison nickel and then the Ocean in View nickel in August 2005.
The Ocean in View nickel was presented to the American people in a ceremony on August 5, 2005, at Washington’s Cape Disappointment State Park. The design, prepared by artist Joe Fitzgerald, features the exclamation, “Ocean in view! O! the Joy!,” which is reminiscent of an entry recorded in explorer William Clark’s field notes in 1805. Clark made the entry as the expedition crossed the Columbia River estuary within twenty miles of the Pacific Ocean.
The 2006–dated nickel will feature a forward–looking President Thomas Jefferson on the obverse (heads side), and Jefferson’s Virginia home of Monticello will return to the coin’s reverse.
A law passed by Congress, and approved by President Bush in April 2003, authorized the redesign of the Nation’s nickel for the first time since 1938 to commemorate the bicentennials of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Bags and rolls of the Ocean in View nickel may be ordered on the United States Mint website at www.usmint.gov or by calling 1–800–USA–MINT (872–6468). Free lesson plans about the Ocean in View nickels and the Westward Journey Nickel Series are available online at www.usmint.gov.