2013-D Great Basin

Denver's 2013 Great Basin came in at 141,400,000 pieces, edging out the Philadelphia figure of 122.4 million and continuing the year's pattern of higher D-mint than P-mint production. Don Everhart's reverse shows a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva), a species whose oldest known individual, the Methuselah tree in eastern California, was over 4,800 years old when the issue was struck. The species also grows on Wheeler Peak inside Great Basin National Park, where the famous Prometheus tree (cut for research in 1964 at over 4,800 years of age) had stood until shortly before park status was established for the area in 1986.

D-mint examples from this issue tend to read with full strike on the central trunk and branch structure, the area Everhart designed to carry most of the design's character. Look for clean separation between the living bark and the weather-stripped deadwood sections that bristlecones display in real specimens. The rock substrate at the base of the tree is the secondary grade anchor and softens first under late-die-state pressings. The clad composition (75% copper-nickel outer layers over a pure copper core, 5.67 grams) is the standard since 1965, so authentication concerns are negligible and the certified market runs through PCGS and NGC slabs (the two major third-party grading services). Roll hunters can find MS65 examples in original D-mint rolls without much trouble.

The 2013-D Great Basin carries a Regular classification and is one of the most available D-mint dates of the entire ATB run, reflecting the 141.4 million mintage. Population reports at MS67 and MS68 are deep and pricing stays modest into the upper Mint State grades. Real premium spend on this issue makes sense only at MS68+ in coins with full strike. Set builders find the date among the easiest of the 2013 acquisitions across all grades. For the broader story of the ATB program and the series' design arc, see the Washington ATB series history.