01
The action
The hand and trowel work close to the base of the seedling.
Marsh–Billings–
Rockefeller
Conservation is something people do.
A girl plants a Norway spruce seedling beside an established tree. Vermont’s reverse makes a human action—not an untouched forest—the point of entry.
Read the reverse ⟶DenominationQuarter dollar
Weight5 troy ounces
Fineness99.9% silver
Diameter76.2 mm
Mint markNone · bullion
IssuerUnited States Mint
Reverse design anatomy
Hand, seedling,
established tree
The Mint describes the child as a conservationist. The planting action and LAND STEWARDSHIP inscription connect that attributed meaning to visible features of the exact reverse.
The following close reading describes visible forms. It does not assign undocumented intentions to the artists.
02
The seedling
The Mint identifies the small tree as a Norway spruce.
03
The established tree
The larger trunk places the new planting beside an older tree.
The place behind the coin
A managed forest.
A continuing practice.
NPS describes Mount Tom as a working forest with a history of planting and management. Norway spruce is part of that planted landscape, not evidence that the scene represents untouched native woodland.
Ideas became work
Marsh’s Man and Nature appeared in 1864. After buying the property in 1869, Frederick Billings pursued reforestation. NPS also records manager George Aitken’s work from 1884 to 1910: stewardship was not the work of one person alone.
NPS · Billings and estate management ↗Planting is not the whole story
NPS describes ongoing management and timber harvesting at Mount Tom. The coin selects planting as its action; this page does not turn that choice into a complete account of the forest or its earlier inhabitants.
NPS · Mount Tom working forest ↗- 1864Man and Nature published
- 1869Billings buys the property
- 2020Vermont design issued
The depicted child is not identified as a named person. No claim is made that stewardship began with the families named in the park title.
Same design. A larger canvas.
From pocket change
to a statement in silver
The 2020 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: Donna Weaver; sculpt: Michael Gaudioso.
- 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.