2014-S Shenandoah National Park Quarter : A Collector’s Guide

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
 

The 2014-S Shenandoah National Park Quarter is a non-circulating legal tender quarter produced by the United States Mint exclusively for the collector market. Struck in the same copper-nickel clad composition with an identical finish as the circulation strikes produced at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints, the San Francisco Mint version offered collectors another coin to chase in the long-running America the Beautiful Quarters Program, from which the 2014-S Shenandoah National Park Quarter is the 22nd coin in the 56-coin series.

The Shenandoah National Park was established on December 26, 1935, and boasts hundreds of miles of hiking trails and nearly 80,000 acres of protected wilderness. Skyline Drive and a 101-mile leg of the Appalachian Trail are two of the park’s most well-known attractions. Located just an hour from Washington, D.C., the park attracts more than a million visitors yearly.

The coin’s obverse features an attractive modification of John Flanagan’s original Washington Quarter design. Flanagan based his portrait of Washington on the bust created by French artist Jean-Antoine Houdon, which is currently displayed at the Mount Vernon Visitor’s Center. The quarter’s reverse depicts a hiker taking in the view from the summit of Little Stony Man.

Shenandoah National Park Quarter Goes On Sale

The Official Launch Ceremony for the Shenandoah National Park quarter was held at Skyline High School in Front Royal, Virginia, at 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday, April 4.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward joined Mint Deputy Director Richard Peterson and Shenandoah National Park Superintendent Jim Northrup at the event. At the ceremony, attendees could buy rolls of the new quarters at face value.

Four days earlier, the United States Mint began offering business-strike Shenandoah National Park Quarters from the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints for sale on its website. The Philadelphia and Denver coins were struck for circulation and could have been acquired at face value from banks.

The Mint offered multiple circulation strike options, charging a surcharge for each.

• Two-roll Philadelphia and Denver bundles were sold for $32.95 ($20 face value).
• <Individual rolls of San Francisco Mint coins were offered for $18.95 ($10 face value. These coins were not released into circulation).
• Three-roll Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco bundles were sold for $46.95 ($30 face value).
• 100-Coin bags from Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco are offered for $34.95 each ($25 face value).

On April 8, the Mint offered collectors the opportunity to buy a three-coin set of circulation strike Shenandoah Quarters for $9.95 + $4.95 shipping.

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Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens

Only two major grading services (NGC and PCGS) have certified 2014-S Shenandoah National Park Quarter examples. Between NGC and PCGS, about 1,000 coins have been submitted, most of which landed in NGC MS67 or MS67PL holders. Interestingly, most of these coins must have been sold during the coin’s launch window, as there is very little auction data to sort through. eBay provides a database of searchable sales that concluded only within the last 90 days. Coins like this typically are not consigned to Stack’s Bowers or Heritage–and even GreatCollections, which specializes in more modern fare, only reports six transactions, the last being in December 2023.

GreatCollections did sell one of the 19 NGC MS68PLs on April 29, 2018. This example brought $75.38.

It’s likely that during the launch period, examples in the same grade were sold on eBay for more. eBay shows three transactions in March 2024 for PCGS First Strike examples in MS63, MS64, MS65, and MS66 (a nearly complete grading set). Except for the MS63, which sold for $1.25, each sold for $1.75 plus $3.99 shipping. Considering the cost of encapsulating these coins, these sales results are not good.

Rolls and bags of the 2014-S sell at prices close to or slightly above their 2014 issue price. Purchasing the 2014-S Shenandoah National Park Quarter in this format seems the most promising option, as the premium is fairly close to the coin’s face value. The public’s interest in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program will need to increase dramatically for this coin to appreciate any real value gains – this won’t happen overnight and might not happen for decades.

Top Population: PCGS MS70 (3, 4/2024), NGC MS68PL (19, 4/2024), and CAC None Graded (0:0 stickered:graded, 4/2024).

• NGC MS68PL #3911491-004: “The Centurion Collection,” GreatCollections, April 29, 2018, Lot 543894 – $75.38.

Design

Obverse:

Based on the John Flanagan design, George Washington is centered on the coin and faces left. JF’s initials on the bust truncation. Wrapping around the design, close to the rim, at the top: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; at the bottom: QUARTER DOLLAR. LIBERTY is inscribed horizontally to the left of Washington’s neck. IN GOD WE TRUST is inscribed to the right of Washington’s hair in a stacked configuration. The mintmark denotes the mint of manufacture; in this instance, a P mint mark for Philadelphia is located above the R in DOLLAR.

Reverse:

A lone hiker (wearing a backpack) looks out at a vista of the Shenandoah Mountains from the 4,000-foot-high summit of Little Stony Man. A hiking trail and the peaks’ rocky and watery surfaces are faithfully depicted, along with three visible trees in the distance. This scene is framed by a wide border on which is inscribed SHENANDOAH, VIRGINIA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, and 2014. Designer Phebe Hemphill’s initials “PH” are located near the rightward edge, above the US of PLURIBUS.

Edge:

The edge of the 2014-S Shenandoah National Park Quarter is reeded.

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Coin Specifications

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