1/4 Dollar 'Washington Quarter' New Hampshire - Silver Proof

New Hampshire's quarter was the third released in 2000, part of the accelerating pace of the 50 State Quarters Program that Congress authorized in 1997. The program's designers faced an unusual constraint with New Hampshire: the state had already enshrined its famous rock formation in law as the official state emblem, leaving the selection committee little room to maneuver politically. The silver proof version — struck at San Francisco — was never intended for circulation, produced exclusively for collectors at a premium above face value.

The Old Man of the Mountain, whose image the state insisted upon, collapsed entirely in May 2003.