WASHINGTON – The United States Mint today announced that the limited edition of up to 200,000 Peace Medal Nickel Official First Day Coin Covers will be available online at www.usmint.gov beginning at noon (Eastern Time) on April 28, 2004.

The Peace Medal nickel is the first in the Westward Journey Nickel Series™, authorized by Public Law 108-15, to commemorate the bicentennials of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition. The reverse side of the new nickel features a rendition of the original Jefferson Peace Medal designed in 1801, which Lewis and Clark gave as tokens of goodwill to Native Americans they met along the trail.

Priced at $19.95, the Peace Medal Nickel Official First Day Coin Cover features two Peace Medal nickels – one each bearing a mint mark from the United States Mint facilities at Philadelphia and Denver. Struck on January 20, 2004, the first day of mintage, the coins are mounted on a handsome display card with a cancelled 37-cent United States Flag postage stamp. The postmark of “MAR 1, 2004, ST. LOUIS STATION, ST. LOUIS, MO, 63155” marks the day the Peace Medal nickels were first released to the Federal Reserve Banks and to the public.

Customers can purchase the Peace Medal Nickel Official First Day Coin Covers online through the United States Mint’s secure website at www.usmint.gov, or by calling toll-free 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468) 8:00 a.m. to midnight (E.T.), seven days a week. Hearing- and speech-impaired customers may order by calling 1-888-321-MINT (6468) 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (E.T.), Monday through Friday. A shipping and handling fee of $4.95 per order will be added to all orders. Please allow approximately three to four weeks for delivery.

The second coin of the Westward Journey Nickel Series, depicting Lewis and Clark in a keelboat in full sail on the coin’s reverse, is scheduled to be released in August 2004.