MOUNT RUSHMORE, SD — With the monumental faces of four of the Nation’s former Presidents towering in the background, United States Mint Director Edmund C. Moy joined Governor M. Michael Rounds, South Dakota First Lady Jean Rounds and Rapid City Mayor Jim Shaw to launch the South Dakota commemorative quarter–dollar in a ceremony at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Amphitheater. Native drum group Star Nation performed an honor song during the ceremony.
“I can’t imagine a more dramatic backdrop than this classic tribute to four of the greatest leaders of our democracy,” said Director Moy.
The South Dakota quarter is the final coin of 2006, and the 40th to be introduced in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters Program. The reverse (tail side) of the coin features an image of Mount Rushmore with the State bird, the Chinese ring–necked pheasant, soaring overhead. The famous monument depicts the faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carved in granite. The coin’s reverse also bears the inscriptions “South Dakota” and “1889,” bordered by heads of wheat. On November 2, 1889, South Dakota became the 40th state to be admitted into the Union.
Following the ceremony, Director Moy, the Governor, First Lady, Mayor Shaw and Mount Rushmore National Memorial Superintendent Gerard Baker handed out shiny, new South Dakota quarters to the children in the crowd. Adults lined up to exchange their bills for $10 rolls of South Dakota quarters.
On the eve of the launch, hobbyists and the general public met Director Moy to express their ideas about the Nation’s coinage at a Coin Collector’s Forum hosted by the United States Mint at the Dahl Art Center in Rapid City. The South Dakota quarter is available in two–roll sets (40 coins per roll), including one roll each from the United States Mint at Philadelphia and Denver, and in bags of 100 and 1,000 coins, at the United States Mint website at www.usmint.gov. The two–roll sets are $32.00, bags of 100 coins are $35.50, and bags of 1,000 coins are $300.00.
Free United States Mint lesson plans about the South Dakota quarter–dollar may be downloaded at www.usmint.gov/kids
For a digital image of the South Dakota quarter, please click here
NEWS MEDIA ONLY: VIDEO AVAILABLE — Satellite Feed of Quarter Launch: Monday, Nov. 13, 3:30 – 4:30 PM ET, IA 6 Transponder 11, Downlink 3920V. Tuesday, Nov. 14, 10:30 – 10:45 AM ET, IA 6 Transponder 11, Downlink 3920V.