We are pleased to offer for sale this 2014-D Colorado Great Sand Dunes National Park Quarter in GEM BU condition from the US Mint's America the Beautiful Quarters Program. This Great Sand Dunes Park Quarter comes from the Denver (D) Mint and is from an original BU roll or US Mint Set. This Colorado National Park Quarter is the twenty-fourth release in the America the Beautiful Quarters Series. Great Sand Dunes National Park is featured twenty-fourth because it was established as a National Park on March 17, 1932 by the NPS (National Park Service), the twenty-fourth national reservation in United States history.
Information on Great Sand Dunes National Park:
Great Sand Dunes National Park is located in the San Luis Valley, 35 miles northeast of Alamosa, Colorado. It has an area of 85,000 acres. The park has the highest sand dunes in North America rising 750 feet above the valley floor. The dunes are formed from soil and sand deposits of the Rio Grande River and its tributaries flowing through the San Luis Valley. Westerly winds pick up sand particles off the flood plain and deposit them on the east edge of the valley as they loose power before crossing the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. These high winds change the shape of the dunes daily. Tourists come to hike the dunes as well as sandboard and sand slide them!
Information on the United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Program:
From 2010 through 2021 the US Mint is issuing commemorative quarters with special reverse designs celebrating National Parks and other National Sites. A park or site is being honored in each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the five US Territories: Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. Each National Park or National Site was selected for its natural or historical significance. The National Park Quarters are being minted and issued at the rate of 5 designs a year, in approximately ten week intervals. The National Park Quarters are being released in the order that the locations were first designated as National Sites. The Obverse side of the coins feature a smaller restoration of the original Washington Quarter portrait, modeled from designer John Flanagan's 1932 plaster. The Reverse of each coin will feature a representation of the unique character and environment of each State, District, or Territory's National Park or Historic Site.
Circulation strikes will be made at the Philadelphia (P) and Denver (D) Mints (starting in 2012 circulation strikes were also minted at the San Francisco (S) Mint). The San Francisco (S) mint will strike the Proofs in clad composition and silver. Clad composition strikes contain an outer layer of 75% copper and 25% nickel bonded to an inner core of pure copper with a 24.33 mm diameter, 5.67 grams weight, and a reeded edge. The silver strikes will contain 90% silver and 10% copper with a 24.33 mm diameter, 6.25 grams weight, and a reeded edge.