Welcome to the winter 2012 issue of Making Cents, the online newsletter that tells you what's new and striking at the United States Mint. Be sure to check back every 3 months for a new issue.
$1 Coin Events : James Garfield
Which Presidential $1 Coin has been released most recently? During the last quarter, it was the coin that bears the name and portrait of 20th president James A. Garfield. The Statue of Liberty is on the back and some inscriptions are incused on the coin's edge.
The coin that honors Garfield was launched at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. This Ohio site is where Garfield lived with his family. Two days after the launch event, it was the 180th anniversary of Garfield's birth.
Speakers at the event included Marc Landry of the United States Mint, President Garfield's great-grandson Rudolph Garfield, and Dr. Allan Peskin, who wrote the President's biography "Garfield."
President Garfield was the last President born in a log cabin, fatherless by the age of two, drove canal boat teams to earn money for college, became a classics professor and college president, rose to brigadier general in the Civil War, and enjoyed a long, distinguished career in the U.S. Congress before his days in the White House.
At the 1880 Republican convention, Garfield won the nomination for President on the 36th ballot. Flip explains why it took so many ballots on the December Coin of the Month page.
Just four months into Garfield's term, an angry attorney shot the President in a Washington railroad station. Read more about President Garfield on the coin's Presidential $1 Coin page. Coming up next time: the Chester Arthur Presidential $1 Coin.
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A Game to Remember
Have you checked out the Coin Memory game lately? The game itself is not new, but it has been wonderfully transformed and expanded. Not only has the design been updated, but now you get to choose which H.I.P. Pocket Change Pal appears on the back of the cards and which kind of coins you'd like to play the game with!
Both levels in this game will challenge your memory and increase your coin knowledge. No matter which set of coins you're using, there's an information page to tell you about all the coins.
The easier level (8 pairs) includes images of the 50 State Quarters® and the America the Beautiful Quarters® programs. (These sets appear in random groups of 8.) The more challenging level (12 pairs) uses circulating, historical, commemorative, and Presidential $1 coins.
So check out the new multi-level and multi-group Coin Memory Game! Which set will be your favorite?
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Quarters of the Quarter: El Yunque
Quarter number 11 in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program is the first quarter released in 2012. It honors Puerto Rico's El Yunque National Forest.
El Yunque's quarter features two of the animals found in the National Forest. One of these is the Puerto Rican parrot, a type of parrot native-born in Puerto Rico.
Once living in forests all over Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican parrot was on its way to extinction in the 1970s. Learn why that happened and how this unique bird is being brought back in January's Coin of the Month.
Of course, the quarter has its own page as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program: the El Yunque National Forest Quarter page.
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Winter 2012 Puzzle
We hope you've enjoyed this issue of Making Cents. All the words in the puzzle are used in this issue, so you should already have a clue!
Check your answers with the answer key.