Great Sand Dunes National Park quarter design
In November of 2013, the U.S. Mint revealed the final design for the Great Sand Dunes National Park quarter. As the fourth release for 2014, this beautiful quarter will feature the sand dunes of this Colorado park, along with a mountain in the background, and father and son playing in the sand by the water in the foreground.
The waters of Medano Creek run from the melting snowpack at the base of the San de Cristo mountains through the sand to the south and east side of the dunes. In the summer if the creek has water, it is warm, and visitors love to splash and play in it. Eventually Medano Creek disappears back into the dunes’ aquifer that extends a mile below the surface. This is the lifeblood of the dunes. It keeps the sand moist, keeping it from spreading out and the dunes from vanishing.
The quarter’s reverse design was created by U.S. Mint sculptor-engraver Don Everhart. The reverse inscriptions read, name of the site: great sand dunes, colorado; year of issue: 2014; and the motto: e pluribus unum.
This handsome quarter is a perfect match for the 2006 Statehood Quarter, which also featured Colorado, the park’s home state. As 24th in the series overall, the Great Sand Dunes quarter will be the fourth coin for 2014.
