01
The mill
Roof, windows and foundation form an ordered volume between the trees.
Ozark
National Scenic Riverways
Water is not only scenery. It is power.
Alley Mill stands above moving water, framed by trees. Look past the picturesque outline to a building made for work.
Read the reverse ⟶DenominationQuarter dollar
Weight5 troy ounces
Fineness99.9% silver
Diameter76.2 mm
Mint markNone · bullion
IssuerUnited States Mint
Reverse design anatomy
A working building
within the river landscape
The Mint identifies Alley Mill, a steel roller merchant mill completed in 1894. Its gabled volume sits above a stream; the turbine is historical context, not a visible waterwheel on the coin.
The following close reading describes visible forms. It does not assign undocumented intentions to the artists.
02
Watercourse
Curving engraved lines lead from the building toward the foreground.
03
The frame
Tree trunks bound the composition. They do not make this an untouched landscape.
The place behind the coin
A spring, a turbine,
a local economy
NPS dates construction to 1893–1894, while the Mint summarizes the mill as built in 1894. Spring water drove a turbine, with belts transmitting power to milling machinery.
The mill processed grain in a settled community. NPS also records floods and a mismatch between a wheat-oriented roller system and local corn farming. Water made production possible; it did not guarantee prosperity.
- 1893–94Construction · NPS
- TurbineWater power, not an external wheel
- 2017Issue #38
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: Ronald D. Sanders; sculpt: Renata Gordon.
- 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.