Product Description
Historic Lighthouses
State Quarter
3 Coin Sets
Enjoy the world's greatest historic Lighthouses now featured for the first time on stunning sets of legal tender U.S. Statehood Quarters Coins! Each coin collection marks an Historic Lighthouse throughout history. Each set includes a Certificate of Authenticity.
Each set includes a set of three (3) beautifully colorized U.S. Statehood Quarters Coins featuring three historic Lighthouses. Each collectible Lighthouse coin is matched to its state's State Quarter.
These high-quality, genuine Legal Tender United States coins have been colorized using a unique painstaking multicolor authentic process by The Merrick Mint. Colorizing coins involves the unique application of special inks directly to the surface of a coin that achieves a level of detail, color saturation, and durability that is #1 in the coin industry.
The result is an everlasting colorized coin collectible of ultra-high quality.
Each coin comes in a premium coin capsule with a Certificate of Authenticity.
- Lighthouses have aided mariners for thousands of years, alerting sailors that their ships were close to shore, both at night and in stormy weather. The very first lighthouse in the New World was erected at the entrance to Boston Harbor in 1716. These "beacons of the night" proliferated rapidly in America, and were crucial to the growth of the colonies, which depended heavily on maritime trade.
- Modern technology has brought the era of classic manned lighthouses to a close, and only a few hundred are left in America, in various states of repair. Many have become heavily-visited tourist attractions, and lighthouse collectibles of all kinds are now extremely popular.
- These coins all began as statehood quarters, to which the mints artists have added colorization, honoring the most interesting and important lighthouses in the United States. Recalling America's great maritime heritage, these lighthouse quarters make great collectibles and gifts.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- First Ever U.S. Colorized Quarter Set featuring Historic Lighthouses
- Authentic & Genuine colorization process pioneered the Merrick Mint
- Genuine Legal Tender Statehood Quarters struck by the U.S. Mint
- Coins comes displayed in acrylic airtight coin holders
- Certificate of Authenticity
- Limited Edition
Set 1: The first lighthouse in America, Boston Light, is shown on a Massachusetts quarter. The tallest lighthouse, Cape Hatteras, is majestically depicted on a North Carolina quarter. Montauk Point Light, on the New York quarter, was the first lighthouse built completely by the Federal Government (in 1796), and until the Statue of Liberty was erected in 1886, was the welcoming beacon of freedom and opportunity that greeted immigrants arriving on our shores.
Set 2: Set includes Long Island's 80-foot octagonal Sands Point Lighthouse, dating to 1809 and known for its distinctive brown stone construction. It was once owned by William Randolph Hearst, who used it to throw lavish parties for his friends. The Cape May Lighthouse, at the southern tip of New Jersey, has been in operation since 1859, and is visited by over a hundred thousand tourists a year. Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay was completed in 1908, and is only accessible by boat. It is operated by solar power today, but in 1964 it was fitted with a small, experimental atomic reactor, becoming the first and only lighthouse ever powered by nuclear energy.
Set 3: The majestic 150-foot Cape Lookout Lighthouse on North Carolina's Outer Banks is known for its unique diagonal black and white checkerboard design. The Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in New Hampshire carries great historical significance as the site of the first military action of the American Revolution. Colonists raided the British fort there and made off with ammunition which they later used against the Redcoats at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Completing set three is the Assateague Lighthouse, on Assateague Island in Virginia, distinguished by its broad red and white stripes and its unusual flash pattern of two consecutive flashes every five seconds.
Set 4: Portland Head Light in Maine was the first lighthouse completed after the United States became a country. President George Washington appointed its first lighthouse keeper in 1791. Hyannis Harbor Light is a picturesque lighthouse on Nantucket Sound in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a short walk down the beach from the famous Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. Perched on a cliff near Santa Cruz, 50 miles south of San Francisco, the 115-foot Pigeon Point lighthouse has been guiding mariners since 1872, and is one of the tallest on the west coast.
Set 5: Today, visitors to the Kennedy Space Center occasionally mistake Cape Canaveral's 145-foot brick-lined, iron lighthouse for one of the rockets launched as part of our space program. Fire Island Light, on the Long Island coast, was once an important landmark for transatlantic ships coming into New York. It is now open to the public, offering spectacular panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island, and the Empire State Building. Sandy Hook Lighthouse, at the northern tip of New Jersey, was built in 1764 to aid mariners entering the southern end of New York harbor. Taken by the British during the Revolutionary War, its rubble-stone walls withstood an attempt by the colonists to destroy it with cannon fire.
Set 6: Harbour Town Lighthouse was conceived as a symbol for the Sea Pines luxury resort on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, and was the first privately financed light house built since the early 1800's. Massachusetts' Plymouth Light Station was erected in 1769, and is America's oldest free-standing wooden lighthouse. The 39-foot-tall octagonal pyramidal structure was pierced by a cannonball fired by the British frigate Niger during the Revolutionary War. Towering 106 feet above the ocean, the St. Simons Lighthouse has been helping ships navigate the coastal islands of South Georgia for nearly 200 years. The original lighthouse was destroyed by retreating Confederate forces in 1862, but a new tower was built in 1872, along with a charming Victorian house for the lighthouse keeper that now serves as a visitors center and museum.
Set 7: Before its first lighthouse was built in 1838, Nauset beach, on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, was the site of many shipwrecks. The present 48-foot cast-iron tower, dating to 1881, was moved here from nearby Chatham in 1923, and then had to be moved again after the "Perfect Storm" of 1991 severely eroded the cliff on which it stood. The 65-foot Lynde Point Lighthouse marks the entrance to the mighty Connecticut River and the harbor of the prosperous village of Old Saybrook, where the late Katherine Hepburn resided for many years. The first Morris Island lighthouse was built at the entrance to Charleston Harbor in 1767 when South Carolina was still a British Colony. The present 150-foot brick tower was activated in 1876, but was shut down in 1962 after erosion eventually submerged all of Morris Island.
Set 8: Located about 10 miles north of Niagara falls, Fort Niagara Light is a handsome limestone structure built by the French in 1726. One of the most valuable prizes in the French and Indian War, it was captured by the British in 1759, and was not surrendered to the U.S. until 1796. Robinson Point, on Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma, is world famous for its fog. On one memorable occasion in 1897, Point Robinson Light¿s steam whistle and red lantern had to be kept going continuously for 528 hours (22 days). St. Augustine, in Florida, is the oldest permanent European settlement in the Americas, preceding Jamestown by 40 years. Its majestic 165-foot lighthouse is famous for its ghosts, and is a very popular tourist attraction.
Set 9: The brick walls of Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, on the east coast of Florida, are 31 inches thick at the base. The 105-foot tower was disabled by the Confederacy during the Civil War in an attempt to break the Union blockade of Jupiter Inlet. The Old Cape Henry Lighthouse, guarding the entrance to Chesapeake Bay in Virginia was begun in 1772, before the American Revolution, and was completed under our first President, George Washington. The "new" Cape Henry lighthouse, erected in 1881, is now over 125 years old. Castle Hill Light in Newport, Rhode Island, was completed in 1890. Designed by renowned architect H.H. Richardson, it was built right into the cliff face, and almost looks like a natural feature of the landscape.
