United States Mint candidate designs for the 2021 and beyond quarter dollar were reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). The selected design will appear on quarter reverses following the conclusion of the U.S. Mint’s America the Beautiful Quarters® Program.
That program, which launched in 2010 and features changing reverses honoring national parks and other national sites in each state, District of Columbia and five U.S. territories, ends with the one and only 2021 design honoring Alabama’s Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. Going forward from there, Public Law 110-456 directs a non-changing quarter reverse depicting George Washington crossing the ice-choked Delaware River prior to the Battle of Trenton.
Seventeen Designs Reviewed
Seventeen candidates highlighting the crossing were developed by U.S. Mint artists who collaborated with curators at Mount Vernon.
The CCAC reviewed them on Oct. 15 and CFA looked them over on Oct. 17. Both panels recommended the same design imaged topmost, numbered #12, showing a right-standing Washington with a sword in his hand directing another boat of Continental Army soldiers as it passes through chunks of ice in the Delaware River. The CFA supplemented its recommendation with the suggestion of "adding more dramatic ice floes to the depiction of the river."
U.S. Mint images of all 17 candidate designs follow. Mount Vernon curators favored designs #1, #1a, #2, and #12.
The Treasury Secretary will approve the final design which will be paired with an obverse featuring the traditional portrait of Washington that was introduced on quarters in 1932.
No Five-Ounce Silver Version
The U.S. Mint is not required and at present has no plans to strike 3-inch diameter, 5-ounce silver editions of George Washington Crossing the Delaware River quarters.
