2013 Fort McHenry Quarter

Here is a Maryland Coin Story many Collector’s have been following:

In the March 2012 Coin World Magazine there was a feature article about the Fort McHenry Quarter which will be part of the current “America the Beautiful Quarters Program” issued by The US Mint.

For the 2nd time the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) rejected the US Mint’s proposed designs for the Fort McHenry National Monuments Quarter scheduled for 2013 release. There were 11 Fort McHenry designs presented during the February meeting, 7 of which were aerial views. If you read the full Coin World article you can see these 11 designs, some of which are very appealing. The Commission Chair, Earl A. Powell III said he didn’t like the angles at which The Fort was depicted. “Try it again,” was his terse advice to the US Mint.

The first rejections had come from the panel during a meeting in November 2011. With the deadline for submission looming,  US Mint Deputy Director Richard A. Peterson told his engraving staff to get back to the drawing board.

Well, after more wrangling, and a split from the CFA by the Citizen’s Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), a design was selected and sent for approval. There is still disagreement , and there was sharp debate over whether the design would work. The selected Fort McHenry Quarter will show “bursting bombs” over the Fort:

Unless Timothy Geithner, US Treasury Secretary somehow blocks this design, you should see the bursting bombs over Fort McHenry on the 2013 Quarter.