Release 42 of 50 · 2007
A breaching king salmon crosses an evergreen-framed Mount Rainier, compressing water, forest, mountain, movement, and state nickname into one Washington emblem.
King salmon breaching before Mount Rainier and an evergreen landscape
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United States MintState of WashingtonU.S. Commission of Fine ArtsCitizens Coinage Advisory Committee
Public Law 105-124 ordered state reverses by ratification or admission. Washington entered the Union on November 11, 1889 as the forty-second state, making this the program's forty-second coin and second 2007 release. One reverse cannot encompass the state's sovereign Tribal nations, treaty fisheries, coast and inland waters, Cascade and Olympic landscapes, eastern drylands, agriculture, ports, cities, industry, migration, or contemporary life. Salmon, mountain, forest, and nickname communicate a recognizable but partial identity.
U.S. Government Publishing OfficeUnited States Mint
Mount Rainier is an active, glacier-clad Cascade volcano and regional landmark. The land and waters around it are ancestral homelands with enduring cultural and spiritual meaning for Cowlitz, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island, Yakama, Coast Salish and other peoples; many names for the mountain remain in use. Salmon connect marine and inland ecosystems and are inseparable from Tribal cultures, treaty rights, fisheries, restoration, and modern environmental pressures. THE EVERGREEN STATE and the tree line emphasize western forests but do not describe all Washington landscapes.
Susan Gamble's composition places the salmon diagonally across the foreground. Its arched body and splash create the strongest motion; Charles L. Vickers translated that drawing into relief while keeping the mountain broad and the conifers legible at quarter scale.
The Mint calls the fish a king salmon and the peak majestic Mount Rainier. The state pamphlet presents salmon, mountain, water, forest, and nickname as familiar Washington identity. World Coin Book keeps that official reading separate from historical context: salmon also invoke Indigenous stewardship, treaty fisheries, habitat change, dams, harvest, and restoration, none of which the coin explains.
The three finalists produced real disagreement. CFA welcomed the Northwest Native American-style orca as relief from landscape designs and asked for bolder relief. CCAC found the collage cluttered, questioned parts of the fish anatomy, and strongly endorsed the simpler salmon-and-mountain scene. Public preference and federal advice did not all point in the same direction.
World Coin Book interpretation: the fish's diagonal leap cuts across the mountain's stable triangle. Water lines form a low stage, trees provide scale and connect the nickname to visible landscape, and open field around Rainier reads as sky. The hierarchy moves from fish to peak to inscription rather than presenting a literal continuous place.
The design omits named rivers and salmon runs, specific Tribal nations and Indigenous names for the mountain, treaty rights, dams and habitat loss, coastal and eastern Washington, agriculture, cities, ports, technology, labor, immigration, wildfire, glacial retreat, and contemporary environmental debates. It is a civic emblem, not a complete ecological or social history.
United States MintState of WashingtonU.S. Commission of Fine ArtsCitizens Coinage Advisory CommitteeNational Park Service
The federal process asked governors to develop three to five concepts. The Mint screened legality and coinability, made candidate art, consulted CFA and CCAC, returned approved choices for state recommendation, and the Treasury Secretary retained final approval.
Governor Christine Gregoire appointed a 22-member Washington State Quarter Advisory Commission in April 2005, with Mike Gregoire as honorary chair. Residents were invited to submit design ideas; the commission reduced them to five narratives sent to the Mint. The reviewed official pamphlet does not preserve the complete submission corpus or scoring rubric.
Mint artists returned three documented candidates: salmon, Mount Rainier and apples inside a state outline; a salmon breaching before Mount Rainier with THE EVERGREEN STATE beneath the forest; and a Northwest Native American-style orca intended to draw from regional styles. These are alternatives, not coin varieties.
CFA recommended the orca on January 19, 2006, asking for bolder, higher relief. On January 24, CCAC gave the salmon-and-mountain design 24 of 27 points, the orca 8, and the collage 0; it suggested simplifying splash and water and checking salmon anatomy.
The state placed the three finalists before the public online and by mail. The official state pamphlet records more than 130,000 votes and says the salmon-and-mountain design received about 45 percent; the commission recommended it and Governor Gregoire selected it. The reviewed sources do not provide a signed Treasury approval instrument, complete anti-duplication audit, geographic distribution, or full design revision log.
U.S. Department of the TreasuryState of WashingtonU.S. Commission of Fine ArtsCitizens Coinage Advisory Committee
Procedures varied by state and changed during the program; each researched state page must document its actual path.
Three documented candidates framed Washington differently: a state-outline collage of salmon, Mount Rainier and apples; the issued breaching salmon, Rainier, forest and nickname; and a Northwest Native American-style orca. CFA preferred the orca, CCAC and the public preferred the issued scene. Because artist assignments, consultation with source communities, candidate-art rights, and full revisions are incomplete, no reconstructed gallery is published.
State of WashingtonU.S. Commission of Fine ArtsCitizens Coinage Advisory Committee
Official explanation: The Mint identifies a king salmon breaching the water before Mount Rainier.
Historical context: Salmon link ocean and river systems and carry ecological, economic, cultural, treaty, and restoration meanings across Washington.
World Coin Book interpretation: World Coin Book interpretation: the arched diagonal fish supplies motion and dominates the stable mountain behind it.
United States MintState of WashingtonCitizens Coinage Advisory Committee
Official explanation: The Mint identifies the background peak as majestic Mount Rainier.
Historical context: The active Cascade volcano is an icon and ancestral landscape with many Indigenous names and more than 9,000 years of human connection.
World Coin Book interpretation: World Coin Book interpretation: the broad triangular peak anchors the field and contrasts permanence with the salmon's instant of motion.
Official explanation: Trees edge the mountain, water supports the fish, and THE EVERGREEN STATE names the theme.
Historical context: The nickname and western hemlock reflect forest identity but do not make every tree a botanically identified hemlock or represent eastern Washington.
World Coin Book interpretation: World Coin Book interpretation: the tree line provides scale while the inscription bridges landscape and state identity.
Official explanation: The reverse bears WASHINGTON, 1889, 2007, E PLURIBUS UNUM, THE EVERGREEN STATE, SG, and CLV.
Historical context: 1889 records statehood; SG identifies designer Susan Gamble and CLV identifies sculptor Charles L. Vickers.
World Coin Book interpretation: World Coin Book interpretation: perimeter text contains the scene while the nickname sits inside it and the initials remain subordinate.
The officially identified fish, represented as a general emblem rather than one documented individual or run.
The active Cascade volcano and culturally layered ancestral landscape behind the fish.
A stylized western forest and water setting linked to the state nickname.
The governor who selected the design and the advisory commission's honorary chair.
The credited reverse designer and sculptor.
Mountain, salmon, and peoples
Statehood
National park
Program authorization
Advisory commission
CFA review
CCAC review
Public poll
Federal release
John Flanagan's Washington portrait, adapted and sculpted for the program by William Cousins, appears on the shared obverse. Resident ideas became five state narratives and then three Mint candidates reviewed by CFA, CCAC, the public, the commission, governor, and Treasury. The Mint credits Artistic Infusion Program artist Susan Gamble as reverse designer and sculptor-engraver Charles L. Vickers as reverse sculptor; SG and CLV appear in the relief. The full concept-to-die revision record and alternative artist assignments were not recovered.
| Issue | Finish | Catalog mintage |
|---|---|---|
| 2007-P | Circulation | 265,200,000 |
| 2007-D | Circulation | 280,000,000 |
| 2007-S | Clad proof | 2,374,778 |
| 2007-S | Silver proof | 1,313,481 |
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 one breaching salmon before Mount Rainier, evergreen trees, water lines, and THE EVERGREEN STATE. P, D, or S appears on the obverse near Washington's hair ribbon. P and D are circulation strikes; S coins are proofs. The clad proof has a copper-colored edge core and weighs 5.67 g; the 90% silver proof lacks that stripe and weighs about 6.25 g.
Inspect the salmon's head, back, dorsal and tail fins, scales, water splash, mountain summit and ridges, tree tops, lettering, SG, and CLV. First wear dulls the fish's exposed back and head, peak, and prominent trees. Weak strike or grease can soften scales, fins, splash, tree line, initials, or letters while luster remains.
Open sky and water fields reveal contact marks, scrapes, residue, cleaning, and wheel marks; the forest can hide hits. Proofs require checks for hairlines, haze, milk spots, fingerprints, frost breaks, and impaired mirrors. Judge wear, weak strike, machine doubling, die deterioration, cracks, and damage separately.
Ordinary worn P and D examples generally occupy the face-value design-set tier. Better circulation coins attract interest through full luster, clean sky and water fields, complete fins and scales, a sharp summit and tree line, strong lettering, and legible SG and CLV. Clad proofs form a collector-product tier; silver proofs add 90% silver as a separate composition tier. Unsupported fish or mountain error labels alone do not create a premium. World Coin Book gives no live price promise: compare dated completed transactions for the exact mint, finish, grade, surfaces, and authenticated error status.
One Washington 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: