The official state quarter of California is the quarter coin
minted on January 31, 2005.
From the California State Library: The Quarter Coin
"The California Quarter was issued January 31, 2005 by the
United States Mint. The California Quarter, part of the United
States Mint's 50 State Quarters Program, was the 31st state
quarter released by the Mint because California, admitted
into the Union on September 9, 1850, is our nation's 31st
state. The California Quarter depicts naturalist and
conservationist John Muir admiring Yosemite Valley's
monolithic Half Dome while a California condor soars overhead.
The coin bears the inscriptions "California," "John Muir,"
"Yosemite Valley" and "1850."
John Muir helped form the Sierra Club in 1892 to protect
Yosemite National Park that Congress had established in 1890.
Muir served as the Sierra Club's president until his death in
1914. The California condor, with a wingspan of nine feet,
was once nearly extinct. Its prominence on the quarter is a
testament to the enormous bird's successful repopulation in
California.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger chose the California Quarter
design concept from five final concepts presented to him by
the 20-member California State Quarter Commission. The U.S.
Department of Treasury approved the "John Muir/Yosemite Valley"
design on April 15, 2004.
California Quarters are available in commemorative holders
through the California Museum for History, Women, and The
Arts store."
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