2013-S White Mountain, NIFC

The 2013-S White Mountain, NIFC opened the second year of San Francisco business-strike ATB production, the first of the year's five collector-only quarter releases. Phebe Hemphill's reverse renders Mount Chocorua, the prominent rocky summit on the southeast edge of the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, the same composition used on the Philadelphia and Denver circulation issues. The Mint produced 1,232,104 pieces, a slight uptick from the 2012 NIFC average and the highest figure across the five 2013 dates. The figure reflects a small step up in Mint Set sales orders for the second program year as the new collector product line settled into a stable retail rhythm.

Finish is the primary authentication question. The piece is a business strike with cartwheel luster across the fields, identical surface character to a Philadelphia or Denver Mint State example, and distinct from the 2013-S clad and silver proofs that share the same design and mintmark but carry mirrored fields with frosted devices. Read the field reflection: cartwheel rotation reads business strike, deep mirror reads proof. The S mintmark sits in the standard position above Washington's head. The clad composition (75% copper-nickel over a pure copper core, 5.67 grams, 24.26 mm) is the same formula used on every Washington quarter since 1965, so authentication beyond finish identification is essentially unnecessary, and counterfeit risk on a modern Mint-direct collector product is negligible.

This is a Regular-classification issue whose collecting interest comes from set completeness rather than scarcity. The 1.23 million print figure was sized to expected collector demand, so high-grade examples remain readily available, with MS67 the typical certified grade for submitted material and MS68 examples coming up regularly at PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and NGC. Set builders working through the 45-entry NIFC run usually pick the issue up from broken annual Uncirculated Coin Sets or through dealer inventory at modest premiums. Coins remaining in their original cardboard-and-cellophane Mint Set packaging carry a small price uplift for intact provenance. For the broader story of the ATB program and the NIFC collector-only product line, see the Washington ATB series history.