California State Quarter

Year of issue: 2005

Released January 31, 2005, this is the 31st coin released in the 50 State Quarters Program and the first released in 2005. California, admitted into the Union on September 9, 1850, featured an image of naturalist and conservationist John Muir admiring Yosemite Valley's monolithic granite headwall and a soaring California condor.

The obverse (heads) design shows the familiar portrait of George Washington used on the quarter since 1932. But the inscriptions previously used on the reverse – "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA", "QUARTER DOLLAR", "LIBERTY", and "IN GOD WE TRUST" – all appear on the obverse in order to accommodate the state designs.