New 'Colorful Colorado' quarter hot off the presses
Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News
Published May 25, 2006 at midnight
With the push of a black button Wednesday, Gov. Bill Owens stamped the first ceremonial Colorado quarter.
With it, Colorado became the 38th state to have its own quarter.
Owens stood by a Schuler press at the United States Mint downtown and held the warm quarter as cameras flashed.
The coin depicts a mountain range over a banner that reads "Colorful Colorado."
Len Buckley, who designed the quarter, told the Rocky Mountain News he based the mountain on a picture he took of Longs Peak when he and his family spent a five-week vacation at Rocky Mountain National Park in the 1980s.
"I didn't intend for people to guess," said Buckley, who lives in Damascus, Md. Buckley said the 14,255-foot mountain stood out in his memories of the Centennial State.
"If I was going to put Colorado on a coin, let's put something ragged and jagged," said Buckley, a retired artist who designed coins and stamps for the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
About 1,500 people sent in design submissions ranging from pictures of a snowflake to retired Broncos quarterback John Elway. The other four final design candidates were cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park, a mountain backdrop with the words "Centennial State," a soldier/skier of the 10th Mountain Division and Pikes Peak.
The Denver and Philadelphia Mints will produce 575 million to 650 million Colorado quarters, said Timothy Riley, plant manager for the Denver Mint.
The coins will be released to the public June 14.
Colorado's quarter is part of the U.S. Mint's "50 States" series that premiered in 1999. Each year until 2008, five state coins will be added, the order being determined by statehood.
Besides Colorado, Nevada, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota will have quarters released this year.
Gov. Bill Owens called the coin an advertisement for Colorado.
"A governor can stay in office for only eight years," he said. "These coins will be around for decades."
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