01
The family
Three overlapping figures create different depths. Their names and nationalities are not supplied.
Ellis Island
Arrival is a beginning, not an answer.
An immigrant family fills the foreground while the hospital stands across the water. The design brings people close and keeps the institution in view.
Read the reverse ⟶DenominationQuarter dollar
Weight5 troy ounces
Fineness99.9% silver
Diameter76.2 mm
Mint markNone · bullion
IssuerUnited States Mint
Reverse design anatomy
People first.
The hospital behind.
The Mint describes an immigrant family approaching Ellis Island, with the hospital in the background. Its stated hope and uncertainty are attributed design language—not emotions independently proved by this image.
The following close reading describes visible forms. It does not assign undocumented intentions to the artists.
02
Baggage and tags
A basket and numbered tags provide visible signs of travel; no invented passenger record is attached.
03
The hospital
The background building is identified as a hospital by the Mint, not the Main Immigration Building.
The place behind the coin
The threshold
was not the same for everyone
Ellis Island operated as an immigration station from 1892 to 1954. NPS documents medical and legal inspection, hospital treatment and exclusion within that history. Reaching the island did not itself guarantee entry.
The Mint’s New Jersey issue identity is retained. Its account distinguishes the island’s New York and New Jersey jurisdictions; the hospital complex belongs to the expanded area. Neither a single family nor one design can stand for every immigrant experience.
- 1892Immigration station opens
- 1902Main Hospital opens · NPS
- 1954Station closes
Historical context, not a reconstruction. No unverified event photograph is used.
Same design. A larger canvas.
From pocket change
to a statement in silver
The 2017 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: Barbara Fox; sculpt: Phebe Hemphill.
- 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.