Bear picked for Alaska quarter </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 2:26 PM on Thursday, April 26, 2007

Bear picked for Alaska quarter

The final design for the Alaska commemorative quarter was unveiled by Gov. Sarah Palin Monday. The governor's choice was the bear with a salmon and the North Star. Mark Vinsel, chair of the AlaskaCommemorative Coin Commission, was with Palin for the unveiling ceremony in Anchorage. The design will be forwarded to the United States Mint, with the coin's release scheduled for fall 2008.

In the Homer News online poll about the quarter, the brown bear with a salmon also was the favorite quarter with 36 percent of those voting choosing that design. The Denali Park design with the musher, Big Dipper and North Star was a close second with 34 percent voting for it, followed by the polar bear with the midnight sun (25 percent). The least favorite design in the Homer News poll was the gold panner in Denali National Park, with only 5 percent of those voting saying that should be the state's quarter.

The new state quarter is part of a 10-year program started by Congress in 1999. Coins are released every 10 weeks in the order states were admitted to the union. Alaska, the 49th state, was admitted in 1959.

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