First ever West Point Mint-marked quarters released

The U.S. Mint has released its first ever coins with West Point Mint marks, the agency announced on Tuesday.

The 2019 America the Beautiful Quarters bear “W” mint marks – signifying they were minted at West Point – and were mixed in with quarters produced and shipped in Philadelphia and Denver beginning on Monday. The coins will be distributed to banks and financial institutions via the Federal Reserve and are expected to appear within circulation in about four to six weeks.

About ten million of the coins will be minted as West Point. They have been designed to encourage Americans to collect coins.

“We want to encourage Americans to consider coin collecting by making the W mint mark quarters only available in general circulation,” U.S. Mint Director David Ryder said in a statement. “We’re fortunate to be able to feature the W mint mark quarters at the same time dealers around the nation are mounting a similar effort to celebrate and promote the hobby of numismatics.”

This year, the coins honor:

-Lowell National Historic Park (Massachusetts)

-American Memorial Park (Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands)

-War in the Pacific National Historic Park (Guam)

-San Antonio Mission National Historical Park (Texas)

-Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness (Idaho)

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The announcement of the W mint mark comes on the U.S. Mint’s 227th anniversary. It is the sole manufacturer of tender coinage.

Last year, the U.S. Mint said it produced 1.85 billion quarters for circulation.