Hawaii Volcanoes National Park coin unveiled in ceremony

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK — Pele is coming to your pocket, whether you’re in Pahoa, Peoria, Kalapana or Kalamazoo.

At a rain-drenched ceremony near the national park’s visitor center, Superintendent Cindy Orlando, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye and David Croft, plant manager of the U.S. Mint in Denver, tipped their ceremonial calabashes and poured out $500 in newly minted quarters onto a koa platter, inaugurating the ceremonial rollout of what could be a glowing-hot collector’s item. The quarters honor Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with a depiction of a volcanic eruption.

The U.S. Mint will produce 34 million HVNP quarters in Denver and 34 million more in Philadelphia.

It’s the 14th in a series of the U.S. Mint’s America the Beautiful Quarters program. Similar to the 50 State Quarters program, the government is hoping to stimulate interest in its national parks by minting 56 different quarter designs — one for each state, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories.

Following Wednesday’s ceremony, hundreds of people — park enthusiasts, numismatists and people who happened to be there — lined up to exchange $10 in cash for $10 in quarters. HFS Federal Credit Union brought $35,000 in quarters to an eager crowd, and the public snapped up the lion’s share of that by the afternoon.

The obverse of the new coin retains the familiar 1932 bust of President George Washington.

The reverse features the name of the national park, “Hawaii Volcanoes,” above a stylized depiction of an early phase eruption of Puu Oo.

Although it could not be verified, the photo of the eruption is likely inspired by an image taken by U.S. Geological Survey geologist J.D. Griggs, who was part of a five-man observation team during a Sept. 6, 1983, eruption.

Press reports from the time the photo was taken indicate that a fountain of lava was shooting 160 to 225 feet above the cinder cone, sending a short-lived lava flow to the northeast.

A vertically exaggerated version of that picture, showing bursts of spatter and lava flowing from the cone, is depicted on the new coin above the name of the state, the motto “E Pluribus Unum” and the year 2012.

The rain did not faze Inouye, who noted that in the Hawaiian tradition the ua, or rain, signifies the blessing of the gods. If that’s true, many people in the audience received an ample blessing.

“This is a great achievement, to have the world know that this is where Hawaii was born,” Inouye said. “Pele is our mother.”

“It is exciting to think that our quarter will circulate across the nation, starting today,” Orlando said.

She speculated that the quarter could inspire people across the nation to discover Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Orlando used the occasion to tout the national park’s coming centennial celebration in 2016 and the ongoing renovations of the historic Volcano House hotel.

Each year through 2021, the public will see five new quarters with designs on the reverse representing select national sites. The next quarter rollout will be for Alaska’s Denali National Park, later this year.