Release 24 of 50 · 2003
A westward-looking monument frames an eastbound homecoming, joining Missouri’s river geography, expedition memory, and modern St. Louis identity.
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United States MintUnited States MintMissouri State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State
Public Law 105-124 ordered reverses by constitutional ratification or admission. Missouri entered the Union on August 10, 1821 as the twenty-fourth state, making this the twenty-fourth program coin and fourth 2003 release. One reverse could not encompass Indigenous nations, colonial histories, slavery and freedom, the Missouri Compromise, rivers, farms, cities, migration, civil rights, industry, music, or every community. The selected scene instead made the state a departure-and-return threshold in a national expansion story.
U.S. Government Publishing OfficeUnited States Mint
Missouri’s position around the Missouri–Mississippi confluence made the St. Louis area a preparation, supply, departure, and return point for the Corps of Discovery. Clark established Camp River Dubois near the confluence in 1803; the party moved up the Missouri in 1804 and returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806. The expedition depended on a larger, changing Corps and on knowledge, food, horses, shelter, translation, and assistance from many Indigenous nations. The coin’s two named captains and later Arch do not represent that full history.
Two seated figures occupy a canoe in the foreground. The Mint identifies them as Lewis and Clark returning down the Missouri River to St. Louis. Their diagonal boat and paddles turn a long expedition into one readable homecoming instant.
The Gateway Arch rises behind them even though it did not exist in 1806. That deliberate time-layer joins the expedition to later public memory: St. Louis as a Gateway to the West, expressed through a monument completed more than a century and a half after the return.
CORPS OF DISCOVERY 1804–2004 frames the bicentennial period, not the expedition’s complete dates. The journey began in 1804 and returned in 1806; 2004 points to commemoration rather than a historical endpoint.
The Missouri River acts as route and visual ground, while the Arch creates the tallest, simplest silhouette. The compact heroic image omits most Corps members, Sacagawea, York, interpreters and boatmen, Indigenous homelands and aid, diplomacy and conflict, scientific labor, expansion and dispossession. It is a 2001–2003 civic choice, not a complete history.
United States MintUnited States MintGateway Arch National Park, National Park ServiceGateway Arch National Park, National Park Service
In February 2001 Governor Bob Holden announced the Missouri Commemorative Quarter Design Committee and requested statewide submissions. The Mint reports more than 3,000 March submissions; the State Archives says First Lady Lori Hauser Holden headed the initiative and many submissions came from schoolchildren.
The committee selected twelve named finalists. A first public vote narrowed them to entries by Barton Burnell, Albert Fields, Paul Jackson, Marybeth Logsdon, and Natasha Zerjav; Missouri sent those five to the Mint on April 20, 2001.
About a year later the Mint returned redrawn versions. The state archive says some changes were radical and one redraw misspelled Bicentennial. The candidates represented westward expansion, a riverboat, Pony Express, and Lewis and Clark; an online public vote selected CORPS OF DISCOVERY 1804–2004.
The State Archives identifies Paul Jackson as the winning concept artist and documents negotiations that restored some original elements. The Mint credits Alfred Maletsky as reverse designer and sculptor, separating Jackson’s citizen concept from Maletsky’s coin relief.
Reviewed summaries do not preserve vote totals, rules, the committee roster and deliberations, every candidate image, Mint feasibility notes, advisory comments, the governor’s formal recommendation, Treasury’s design-specific approval, or a complete change log.
U.S. Department of the TreasuryUnited States MintMissouri State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State
Procedures varied by state and changed during the program; each researched state page must document its actual path.
Official records name twelve first-round finalists: Marvin Brown, Barton Burnell, Danielle Renee Critten, Howard D. Franklin, Albert Fields, Charles W. Galli, Paul Jackson, Lauren Keller, Marybeth Logsdon, Stanze Sneller, Sarah Wilson, and Natasha Zerjav. The public advanced Burnell, Fields, Jackson, Logsdon, and Zerjav. The Mint describes broad subjects—westward expansion, riverboat, Pony Express, and Lewis and Clark—but reviewed summaries do not reliably map each name to each subject or reproduce every design, so World Coin Book does not invent that mapping.
United States MintMissouri State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State
Official explanation: The Mint identifies the figures as Lewis and Clark returning to St. Louis down the Missouri River.
Historical context: They captained a larger Corps dependent on many participants and Indigenous assistance.
World Coin Book interpretation: The low boat and paired bodies turn a continental journey into a human-scale homecoming.
United States MintGateway Arch National Park, National Park Service
Official explanation: The Mint places the explorers returning down the Missouri River.
Historical context: The expedition used changing craft; the relief is a symbolic summary, not a vessel plan.
World Coin Book interpretation: Horizontal water and diagonal paddles establish motion beneath the Arch’s still curve.
United States MintGateway Arch National Park, National Park Service
Official explanation: The Mint identifies the background monument as the Gateway Arch.
Historical context: The Arch is a later memorial and was not present in 1806.
World Coin Book interpretation: Its curve bridges historical return and modern St. Louis memory; it is not a literal 1806 skyline.
United States MintUnited States MintGateway Arch National Park, National Park Service
Official explanation: The Mint identifies the theme and bicentennial inscription.
Historical context: The expedition returned in 1806, so 2004 marks the start-date bicentennial, not the full journey.
World Coin Book interpretation: The upper text supplies the commemorative frame while the scene supplies place and action.
United States MintGateway Arch National Park, National Park Service
Official explanation: The inscriptions give state, admission year, issue year, national motto, and Alfred Maletsky’s initials.
Historical context: The Mint credits Maletsky as reverse designer and sculptor.
World Coin Book interpretation: Rim text fixes chronology while AM records the Mint artist; SHOW ME STATE does not appear.
Expedition captain shown in the canoe.
Expedition captain shown beside Lewis.
Larger expedition compressed into two figures on the coin.
Return route and city tying the scene to Missouri.
Later memorial used symbolically, not an 1806 structure.
Jackson created the winning concept; Maletsky designed and sculpted the issued relief.
Clark establishes Camp River Dubois near the river confluence
Corps leaves Camp River Dubois and joins Lewis at St. Charles
Corps returns to St. Louis
Missouri enters the Union as the twenty-fourth state
Public Law 105-124 authorizes the program
Governor Holden announces committee and submissions
Missouri sends five concepts to the Mint
Mint redraws return for online public vote
Quarter is released to the Federal Reserve Bank
Quarter launches at the Missouri State Fair
John Flanagan’s Washington portrait, adapted by William Cousins, appears on the shared obverse. The Missouri State Archives identifies watercolorist Paul Jackson as creator of the winning citizen concept and documents negotiation over the Mint redraw. The Mint credits Alfred Maletsky as reverse designer and sculptor. Maletsky converted the concept into shallow relief, simplifying figures, canoe, water, inscriptions, and Arch for production. Reviewed summaries do not preserve every model, advisory comment, inscription revision, die change, or complete before-and-after record.
United States MintMissouri State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State
| Issue | Finish | Catalog mintage |
|---|---|---|
| 2003-P | Circulation | 225,000,000 |
| 2003-D | Circulation | 228,200,000 |
| 2003-S | Clad proof | 3,408,516 |
| 2003-S | Silver proof | 1,125,755 |
P and D are circulation issues. Both S issues were sold in proof products; the silver proof is a distinct 90% silver composition. Mintages are established catalog figures retained with an explicit source-audit limit.
Identify the reverse by two explorers in a canoe beneath the Gateway Arch and CORPS OF DISCOVERY 1804–2004. P, D, or S appears on the obverse right of Washington’s hair ribbon. P and D are circulation strikes; S coins are proofs. A clad proof usually shows a copper-colored edge core and weighs 5.67 g; the 90% silver proof lacks that stripe and weighs about 6.25 g.
Inspect heads and shoulders, canoe rim and ends, paddle blades, water lines, Arch curves, inscriptions, and AM. First wear dulls exposed figures, boat, and Arch and interrupts luster. Thin lines or faces may be weak yet lustrous from strike or die state rather than wear.
Open fields around the Arch reveal contact, scrapes, residue, and cleaning; dense water and figure relief can hide impacts. Check proofs for hairlines, haze, spots, fingerprints, frost breaks, and reduced cameo. Compare normal examples before calling missing detail a filled die or struck-through error.
Worn P and D examples usually occupy the face-value design-set tier. Better circulation coins attract interest through full luster, clean Arch fields, distinct faces, complete canoe and paddles, separated water lines, sharp Arch edges, clear inscriptions, and visible AM. Clad proofs form a collector-product tier; silver proofs add 90% silver as a separate composition tier. Themes add interest, not automatic rarity. World Coin Book gives no live price promise: compare dated references for exact mint, finish, grade, strike, and surfaces.
One Missouri reverse, any circulation mint.
Both circulation facilities.
P, D, clad proof, and silver proof.
Official law and U.S. Mint records establish program facts and image identity. World Coin Book separates official explanation, historical analysis, and editorial interpretation.
Official descriptions, historical context, and World Coin Book interpretation are labeled separately. No live prices are asserted. Last verified: