WASHINGTON – The United States Mint today announced that the limited edition of up to 100,000 American Bison Nickel Official First Day Coin Covers will be available online at www.usmint.gov beginning at noon (ET) on April 4, 2005.

To ensure the most widespread distribution possible for this very popular new nickel, orders for this product will be limited to 5 units per order and 5 units per household. The limits will be lifted on June 7, 2005, if the product is still available. This product is limited up to 100,000 units.

Priced at $19.95, the American Bison Nickel Official First Day Coin Cover features two American Bison nickels – one each from the United States Mint at Denver and Philadelphia. Struck on January 12, 2005, at Denver, and on January 26, 2005, at Philadelphia, the coins are mounted on a handsome display card with a cancelled 37-cent United States Flag postage stamp.

The postmark of February 28, 2005, Washburn, North Dakota, marks the day the American Bison nickels were first released to the Federal Reserve Bank and to the public, certifying this limited edition. The American Bison nickel is the third 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 obverse design for the 2005 nickel bears, for the first time in 67 years, a new likeness of America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson. Artist Joe Fitzgerald of Silver Spring, Maryland, designed the new obverse portrait of Jefferson, with the word “Liberty” written in Jefferson’s own handwriting. The design is based on the marble bust of Jefferson by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, completed in 1789. The design was made age-appropriate to Jefferson’s presidency by utilizing later paintings by Gilbert Stuart and Rembrandt Peale. Artist Jamie Franki of Concord, North Carolina, designed the American Bison image, which recognizes the American Indians and wildlife encountered by the Lewis and Clark expedition. United States Mint sculptor-engraver Don Everhart executed the obverse design, and sculptor-engraver Norman E. Nemeth executed the coin’s reverse.

In late summer 2005, the second 2005-dated nickel, with the Ocean in View reverse, will replace the American Bison. The new Jefferson portrait will remain on the coin through 2005. Customers can purchase the American Bison 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.