2013-S Fort McHenry, NIFC

The 2013-S Fort McHenry, NIFC carries Joseph Menna's Baltimore fort reverse on a San Francisco business-strike planchet, the fourth of the year's five collector-only quarter releases. Menna's design depicts the star-shaped masonry fortification at the mouth of Baltimore harbor flying an oversized garrison flag, the same banner whose survival through the September 1814 British bombardment inspired Francis Scott Key's lyrics. The Mint produced 1,232,104 pieces, the uniform 2013 NIFC figure, and distributed them through annual Uncirculated Coin Sets and two-roll bag products from the catalog.

The coin is a business strike with cartwheel luster, not a proof, and the call between the two finishes is the only authentication question that matters. Both the 2013-S NIFC and the 2013-S clad and silver proofs of this design carry an S mintmark above Washington's head, so mintmark position does not separate them; field reflection does. Cartwheel rotation across the open fields means business strike; mirrored fields with frosted devices means proof. The clad composition (75% copper-nickel over a pure copper core, 5.67 grams) is the standard Washington quarter formula since 1965, and authentication of a modern collector-channel issue beyond finish identification is functionally unnecessary. Counterfeit risk on a sub-$10 retail product is essentially nil.

This is a Regular-classification issue with modest crossover demand beyond NIFC-set completists. The Fort McHenry design ties directly to the War of 1812 bicentennial commemorations that ran 2012 through 2015, so the issue has small constituencies among military-history collectors and topical Maryland-coin specialists in addition to NIFC-run builders. Population reports at MS67 are well-stocked, MS68 examples come up regularly, and most transactions happen raw or in low-tier slabs at modest premiums. Original Mint Set packaging carries a small uplift when intact because the cardboard-and-cellophane assembly documents Mint-direct provenance. For the broader story of the ATB program and the NIFC collector-only product line, see the Washington ATB series history.