Candidate designs for the Effigy Mounds National Monument Quarter
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and representatives of Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa considered a large number of candidate designs for the reverse of the 2017 Effigy Mounds quarter. The portrayal of the animal-shaped mounds on a coin presented a considerable challenge, and the U.S. Mint’s first round of design proposals brought requests for revisions as well as for additional new submissions.
Many of the candidate designs featured birds-eye views of the animal-shaped mounds – which were created by Native American tribes from about 500 B.C. until European settlement in the area began during the 17th century. Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeastern Iowa preserves 206 Native American mounds, of which 31 are effigies in the shape of bears and birds. Some of the effigy mounds were built to a mammoth scale. The site’s signature Marching Bear Group, consisting of ten bear-shaped and three bird-shaped mounds, stretches for nearly a quarter of a mile along a bluff overlooking the Upper Mississippi River.
After receiving design recommendations from the CCAC, CFA and representatives of the Effigy Mounds National Monument, the secretary of the Treasury will make the final design decision.
