‘It’s very exciting’: New coin features Kansas tallgrass prairie preserve in Flint Hills
There’s big excitement in the Flint Hills over a new coin that pays homage to a stunning Kansas landmark.
The U.S. Mint earlier this month released the 55th installment in its America the Beautiful Quarters Program — a coin representing the state’s Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. It is stamped on the tails side with a skyward view of the prairie, native Big Bluestem and Indian grasses as well as a Regal Fritillary butterfly. The inscriptions include “Tallgrass Prairie,” “Kansas” and the release year.
The front, or heads side, looks like a traditional quarter.
“It’s quite an honor to represent Kansas,” said Heather Brown, chief of interpretation and visitors services for the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. “The design helps spotlight some of the prairie’s endangered ecosystem.”
It’s already generating buzz among collectors and local residents.
Lyon County State Bank President Brad Yount said he’s received several calls so far from people hoping to get their hands on some.
“It’s very exciting here in the local area because it is a local landmark. We’re getting calls from all over the country,” including from coin dealers asking to buy $500 boxes, “so it’s starting to leak out,” he said.
To help promote the quarter’s release, the bank is holding a special event where they’ll be available for purchase from 2-4 p.m. Dec. 12 at its Emporia branches, 902 Merchant St. and 1202 Industrial.
The preserve will also have coins available for exchange, up to $2 per person, in the bookstore at its visitors center, 2480B Kansas Highway 177 in Strong City.
But you can also find them at banks nationwide and buy them directly from the U.S. Mint at www.usmint.gov.
A three-coin collector’s version of the set, released Nov. 5, costs $11.50 on the U.S. Mint’s website and includes uncirculated coins from the mints in Philadelphia and Denver and a proof quarter from the San Francisco mint.
Other options for online purchase include 40-coin rolls and 100-coin bags ranging in price from $19.75 to $49.25.
The tallgrass prairie quarters were released into circulation on Nov. 16, “so it may take a few weeks before folks start seeing these in their change,” U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White said.
Approximately 300 million were minted.
“Other banks already have gotten those quarters around the country. But they just come in the bulk bags that often are mixed with other quarters,” Yount said. “The unique thing about our event is the entire roll are uncirculated Tallgrass quarters rolled by the mint.”
Yount said Lyon County State Bank decided to go ahead with its own version of a celebratory coin release event after the U.S. Mint canceled one it had planned, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yount’s bank branches already have $50,000 worth of the commemorative quarters — that’s 200,000 total — on hand, which will be sold in 40-coin rolls on Dec. 12. Each roll of uncirculated coins, from the Denver mint, costs $10.
Collectors and residents can buy up to 10 rolls. Loose change will not be sold.
“We anticipate there’s going to be quite a bit of interest,” Yount said. “The mint said when they’ve done their release in the past, they’ll sometimes go through $25,000 in quarters in two hours.”
He’s not sure how many his banks will sell on Dec. 12.
“They had $50,000 in quarters,” he said, referring to the mint. “We just bought all of them. ... We shouldn’t run out.”
After the event, Yount said Lyon County State Bank will divvy up what’s left among all the other banks in town so they have them on hand, too.
But he doesn’t expect his bank to put the Tallgrass Prairie quarters into general circulation until 2021, so people who might want to give them as gifts over the holiday season can find them. You can inquire about the quarters by calling the bank at 620-342-3523.
“Our goal is just to get them out as quick as we can here.”
The U.S. Mint launched the America the Beautiful series in 2010 to commemorate selected national parks and other sites from each state, the District of Columbia and each of the five U.S. territories — Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. There are 56 coins in the series, which are being released in the order in which the national parks or sites were established, according to the U.S. Mint’s website.
Kansas’ coin is the second to last installment. Its design is the work of artists Emily Damstra and Renata Gordon.
The final quarter, featuring the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama, will be released next year.
The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is the largest expanse of natural tallgrass prairie left on the continent, covering nearly 11,000 acres. It is located in the heart of the Flint Hills, two miles north of Strong City on Kansas State Highway 177, also known as the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway.
Established in 1996 to honor the region’s ranching history, the preserve is a public-private partnership between the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy.
For more information on the preserve, go to www.nps.gov/tapr or email tapr_interpretation@nps.gov. You can also call the preserve at 620-273-8494 or visit the preserve’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NPS.TallgrassPrairie.
More information about the Nature Conservancy in Kansas is at www.nature.org/Kansas or www.facebook.com/TNCKansas.
“We’re excited that this is finally coming to fruition,” Brown said. “We’re really happy to be a part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 5:01 AM.
