Quarter Dollar 2017 Effigy Mounds, Coin from United States - detailed information

The Quarter Dollar is a United States coin worth 25 cents. It has been produced on and off since 1796 and consistently since 1831. From its inception until 1964, the denomination was issued in silver; it underwent several design changes, including finally the silver Washington quarter (1932 - 1964) featuring the first President of the United States on the obverse and the American Eagle clutching a bunch of arrows on the reverse. Initially meant as a one-year design to commemorate 200 years since the birth of George Washington in 1932, the obverse became the definitive design for the denomination and has been used ever since. The reverse was issued in this form until 1998, after which time a large number of circulating commemoratives started being issued instead; the State Quarters series of 50 coins featuring each State was issued from 1999 to 2008; in 2009, a six-coin series represented the District of Columbia and five US territories.

The America the Beautiful Quarters Program (abbreviated ATB) running from 2010 until 2021 was then introduced; it is a 56 quarter-dollar coin series featuring designs depicting national parks and other national sites in each state, federal district or territory.

The Effigy Mounds National Monument quarter is the first to be released in 2017 and the 36th overall in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program; it was released on 6 February 2017 and represents the state of Iowa.

Effigy Mounds National Monument was established in 1949. The park protects one of the largest remaining concentrations of ancient American Indian earthworks in the United States. It is considered a sacred landscape by members of many modern-day tribes whose ancestors once lived here. The majority of the mounds were constructed between one thousand and two thousand years ago - often to inter the dead, but sometimes for ceremonial purposes, or to tell important stories.

The park is home to more than 200 mounds in a wide variety of forms, including more than 30 animal or bird-shaped “effigy” mounds for which the park is named. Often more than 100 feet long individually, many of these animal and bird shaped mounds are perched high atop rugged bluffs overlooking the adjacent Mississippi River. Aside from preserving these tangible links to an ancient and highly creative people, the park features outstanding views of the Mississippi River Valley, and hosts many of the native plant and animal communities that sustained people in this area for millennia.

Effigy Mounds National Monument (Iowa) Quarter Dollars issued in 2017 have now been in circulation for eight years.