2013-P White Mountain

The 2013-P White Mountain opened the fourth year of the America's Beautiful National Parks program and marked the start of a striking mintage reversal. Philadelphia produced 68,800,000 pieces of this issue, more than tripling its lowest 2012 figure (22 million for Chaco Culture) and signaling the Federal Reserve order surge that ran across the entire 2013 calendar. Phebe Hemphill's reverse depicts Mount Chocorua reflected in the still surface of Chocorua Lake, one of the most recognized landscape compositions in the White Mountains and a long-running subject for New England landscape painters from the mid-nineteenth century forward.

Strike quality concentrates on the mountain's ridge line and the lake's mirror surface. Look for clean separation between the peak and the sky and for fine reflection texture on the water, both of which require well-maintained dies to render. The mountain reflection effectively doubles the design's visual area, so soft strike on either side of the lake compounds quickly into a one-grade penalty. The clad composition (75% copper-nickel outer layers over a pure copper core, 5.67 grams, 24.26 mm) is identical to every quarter struck since 1965, so authentication is functionally a non-issue and the high-grade market runs through PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and NGC slabs. Roll hunters routinely recover MS65 examples from original P-mint rolls.

This is a Regular-classification issue and trades as a common date through high Mint State. The 68.8 million mintage produces a comfortable certified population at MS67, and even MS68 examples come to market with reasonable frequency. Set builders pursuing the year-by-year ATB run find this date significantly easier to acquire in MS67-plus than any 2012 P-mint design. Real premium pricing begins only at MS68+ and at the few MS69-graded examples that have surfaced. For the broader story of the ATB program and the series' design arc, see the Washington ATB series history.