SALT LAKE CITY — United States Mint Senior Official Gloria C. Eskridge, Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. and First Lady Mary Kaye Huntsman launched the Utah commemorative quarter–dollar today, while the Bonneville Elementary School 4th grade class serenaded the audience at Rio Grande Depot with “Iron Wheels a Rollin’ — the Golden Spike Song.” The Utah launch ceremony honored the 45th coin in the United States Mint’s popular 50 tate Quarters® Program, and the program was emceed by Ken Verdoia, senior producer of public affairs at KUED, the local PBS affiliate.
The reverse of the Utah quarter, which was released into circulation on November 5, features two locomotives moving toward the golden spike that joined the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads on May 10, 1869, at Promontory, Utah, linking East and West regions of the United States. “Utah’s quarter design perfectly embodies that historic day when our Nation, separated by a vast continent, was transformed into one country by the transcontinental railroad,” said Mrs.Eskridge, the United States Mint’s Associate Director for Sales and Marketing.
The coin also bears the inscriptions “Crossroads of the West,” “Utah,” and “1896,” the year Utah was admitted into the Union.
Following the launch ceremony, members of the Golden Spike Park Rangers and Girl Scouts helped Mrs. Eskridge and Governor Huntsman hand out newly minted quarters to children in the crowd. On the eve of the launch, the United States Mint hosted a Coin Collectors Forum at the Discovery Gateway Museum in Salt Lake City, where attendees expressed their ideas on coin programs and coin design.
The United States Mint is offering the Utah quarter in two–roll sets (40 coins per roll) containing one roll each from the United States Mints at Philadelphia and Denver, and in bags of 100 and 1,000 coins. To place an order, visit the United States Mint web site at www.usmint.gov, or call 1–800–USA–MINT (872–6468). The two–roll sets are $32.95, bags of 100 coins are $32.95, and bags of 1,000 coins are $309.95.
Free United States Mint lesson plans about the Utah quarter may be downloaded at www.usmint.gov/kids .
For a digital image of the Utah Quarter, go to /news/image-library/50-state-quarters-program #50state
Satellite Feed of Utah Quarter Launch B–Roll will be available: Friday, November 9, 3:30–4:00 PM ET — GA 26C/14 DL 398OH, 5:00–5:15 PM ET–GA 25C/23 DL 416OV; Saturday, November 10, 3:30–3:45 PM ET–GA 3C/4 DL 378OV.