01
The sheep
Curved horns frame the animal’s head.
Denali
National Park
and Preserve
A vast range. A living foreground.
A Dall sheep stands before the Alaska Range in the final 2012 design.
Read the reverse ⟶
DenominationQuarter dollar
Weight5 troy ounces
Fineness99.9% silver
Diameter76.2 mm
Mint markNone · bullion
IssuerUnited States Mint
The illustrated edition
Illustrated: P-mint-mark five-ounce uncirculated edition. The standard bullion edition has no mint mark.
Official U.S. Mint gallery ↗Reverse design anatomy
The sheep
and the mountain.
The reverse places a Dall sheep in the foreground with the mountain behind it. The horns, rocky footing, and distant slopes create clearly separated layers.
The following close reading describes visible forms. It does not assign undocumented intentions to the artists.
02
The mountain
The distant snowy mass rises behind the sheep.
03
The footing
Rocky ground gives the animal a foreground position.
The place behind the coin
From taiga
to alpine tundra.
Denali National Park and Preserve protects an Alaskan landscape where low-elevation taiga gives way to alpine tundra and snowy mountains.
The sheep and mountain offer two scales of that environment. Neither the synthetic panorama nor this editorial reading is presented as the engraver’s documented source view.
- Alaska RangeMountain setting
- TundraAlpine habitat
- Dall sheepReverse subject
Synthetic context · not the artist’s source view.
Same design. A larger canvas.
From pocket change
to a statement in silver
The 2012 design also belongs to the circulating quarter. At 76.2 mm, the five-ounce silver coin is 3.14 times wider by diameter—not 3.14 times heavier.
The quarter is a measured outline: an exact authorized quarter photograph is not bound for this page. It is not a miniature bullion image.
Collect with context
Know the design.
Know the object.
Reverse design: Susan Gamble. Sculptor: Jim Licaretz. Obverse: John Flanagan.
- Standard bullion
- No mint mark · Authorized Purchasers · incuse edge weight and fineness.
- Collector five-ounce
- P mint mark · special finish · a separate object. Collector totals are not bullion mintages.