01
Arched doors
Repeated openings give the facade its rhythm; the brick courses remain visible.
Harpers Ferry
National Historical Park
A small building carries a difficult history.
Brick arches, a roof tower and a name beneath the building make John Brown’s Fort legible. The architecture remains still; its history does not.
Read the reverse ⟶DenominationQuarter dollar
Weight5 troy ounces
Fineness99.9% silver
Diameter76.2 mm
Mint markNone · bullion
IssuerUnited States Mint
Reverse design anatomy
Architecture
as a witness
The reverse depicts John Brown’s Fort, identified by the Mint as the site of his last stand during the armory raid. The view presents the building, not a reconstruction of the attack.
The following close reading describes visible forms. It does not assign undocumented intentions to the artists.
02
Roof tower
The raised structure breaks the long horizontal roofline.
03
The name
JOHN BROWN’S FORT makes a historical association explicit below the architecture.
The place behind the coin
An engine house
became a fort in memory
Built in 1848 for the armory’s fire engines and guard, the building became the final refuge of John Brown and followers during the 1859 raid against slavery. It was not originally designed as a battlefield fort.
NPS records later dismantling and several relocations, with its return to Lower Town in 1968. The surviving structure is not evidence that the present setting reproduces the raid’s exact surroundings.
- 1848Engine and guard house
- 1859John Brown’s raid
- 1968Moved back to Lower Town
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 2016 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: Thomas Hipschen; 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.