The United States Mint released the Vicksburg Quarter Three-Coin Set on Tuesday, October 18, 2011. Each set is available for $14.95, plus the Mint’s standard shipping and handling charge of $4.95 per order.
The three-coin set marks the ninth similar issue in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program which debuted in 2010. It is the fourth from the series this year, with preceding 2011 sets honoring Gettysburg National Military Park, Glacier National Park and Olympic National Park.
Shown on the reverse of America the Beautiful coins are designs emblematic of sites of national interest. The quarter dollars included in this set all feature the same design honoring Vicksburg National Military Park, which is located in the state of Mississippi and was established on February 21, 1899. Each set has three versions produced specifically for coin collectors, including:
- a proof 25c piece from the United States Mint at San Francisco
- an uncirculated 25c piece from the United States Mint at Philadelphia, and
- an uncirculated 25c piece from the United States Mint at Denver
Circulation quality Vicksburg quarters were released by the United States Mint on Monday, August 29, when bags and rolls of the new strike were offered for sale. An official launch ceremony was held the following day, Tuesday, August 30, at the USS Cairo Museum in Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The location of the ceremony was appropriate not only because it was located within the park’s boundaries, but also because it was near the USS Cairo. The Cairo is a Civil War era gunboat that was salvaged, partially restored and is now on display at the military park.
It is an image of the Cairo that graces the reverse of the quarter. The gunboat is shown as it would have appeared steaming on the Yazoo River during the war. Designed by Thomas Cleveland and sculpted by Joseph Menna, the reverse also includes the inscriptions of VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, 2011 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.
Mintages, Latest U.S. Mint Sales Figures and Order Details
In its August production figures, the United States Mint indicated that a total of 64,200,000 of the Vicksburg quarters have been struck. That mintage is split between the two facilities responsible for manufacturing circulating coinage of the United States. The Denver Mint produced 33,400,000 of the quarters and the Philadelphia Mint struck 30,800,000 of them.
Collectors are still able to order the previous eight sets in the series, all at the same $14.95 per set price. According to the most recent sales figures as of Monday, October 17, buyers have purchased the following numbers:
- 19,417 of the Hot Springs Quarters Three-Coin Set,
- 19,672 of the Yellowstone Quarters Three-Coin Set,
- 17,256 of the Yosemite Quarters Three-Coin Set,
- 16,765 of the Grand Canyon Quarters Three-Coin Set,
- 14,429 of the Mount Hood Quarters Three-Coin Set,
- 15,365 of the Gettysburg Quarters Three-Coin Set,
- 13,105 of the Glacier Quarters Three-Coin Set, and
- 11,814 of the Olympic Quarters Three-Coin Set.
The United States Mint website (www.usmint.gov/catalog) has all nine of the sets available, or they may be ordered from the toll free number 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468).
Related And Final Quarter Product Releases in 2011
Release dates for this year’s America the Beautiful Three-Coin Sets only started mid-summer with four now completed. The final one is scheduled for December. A complete list of launch dates follows:
- Gettysburg on July 27, 2011
- Glacier on August 23, 2011
- Olympic on September 20, 2011
- Vicksburg on October, 18, 2011
- Chickasaw on December 20, 2011
A total of fifty-six sites will be honored in this series when completed in 2021. One site was chosen from each state as well as the District of Columbia and the five US territories.
Also released by the Mint, and featuring the same designs as found on the Vicksburg quarters, are much larger five ounce .999 fine silver coins. This includes the Vicksburg Silver Bullion Coin minted for investors, which was initially released for sale on Monday, June 20, 2011. It also includes the Vicksburg Silver Uncirculated Coin struck for collectors. It has yet to receive an official release date.