2011 America the Beautiful Quarter Design Proposals

The design candidates for the 2011 America the Beautiful Quarters have been released by the United States Mint for review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). This will represent the second year of the series, which will feature Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, Glacier National Park in Montana, Olympic National Park in Washington, Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi, and Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma.

The US Mint prepared three or four proposed designs for each quarter. In some cases, the design candidates for the same site vary widely in their focus and depictions. As a change from the prior year, more of the design candidates feature man-made structures. Some of the designs also include people or statues of individuals. This was also not seen in the 2010 America the Beautiful Quarters design candidates.

Pictured below are the design candidates for the five 2011 America the Beautiful Quarters along some of the comments and recommendations provided by the CCAC and CFA.

2011 Gettysburg National Military Park Quarter

The designs feature monuments or portions of monuments from Gettysburg National Military Park located in Pennsylvania. The CCAC had a difficult time settling on an image due to the great importance of the battle as a turning point in the Civil War. The CFA chosen design PA-03 for their recommendation.

2011 Glacier National Park Quarter

Two of the designs for Glacier National Park located in Montana included animals within the images. Both the CCAC and CFA selected the third design, which depicts a mountain goat against the background of Mount Reynolds.

2011 Olympic National Park Quarter

There were four different design candidates prepared for the quarter depicting Olympic National park located in the state of Washington. One of the design candidates WA-02 depicts a seascape view, one of the few instances that a design for the series can depict such a scene. Both the CCAC and CFA favored the design WA-01, which incorporated the Roosevelt elk.

2011 Vicksburg National Military Park Quarter

There were four design candidates prepared for Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi. Several of them specifically deal with the Civil War campaign. The image of the USS Cairo MS-02 was supported by members of the CCAC since the image was "so specific and so surprising."

2011 Chickasaw National Recreation Area Quarter

The final quarter for the year 2011 will depict Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Oklahoma. There were three different design candidates prepared by the United States Mint. The CFA was not particularly impressed with the designs that they felt were mediocre vignettes that did not transfer well to coin design.