WASHINGTON – The United States Mint today announced that the limited edition of up to 200,000 Keelboat 5-Cent Coin (Nickel) Official First Day Coin Covers will be available online at www.usmint.gov beginning at noon Eastern Time (ET) on August 30, 2004.

Priced at $19.95, the Keelboat Nickel Official First Day Coin Cover features two Keelboat nickels – one each from the United States Mint at Philadelphia and Denver. Struck on June 14, 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 August 2, 2004, St. Charles, Missouri, marks the day the Keelboat nickels were first released to the Federal Reserve Bank and to the public, certifying this limited edition. The Keelboat nickel is the second design 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 new reverse design depicts an angled view of the keelboat with full sail that transported the Lewis and Clark expedition members and supplies as they traveled the rivers of the Louisiana Territory in search of a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean. Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are in full uniform in the bow.

The first nickel of the 2004 Westward Journey Nickel Series, featuring the Peace Medal reverse design, was released by the United States Mint on March 1, 2004. The limited edition of up to 200,000 Peace Medal Nickel Official First Day Coin Covers, which went on sale on April 28, 2004, remains available.

Customers can purchase the Keelboat Nickel 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 (ET), 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. (ET), 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.