California Quarter: The first quarter released in 2005 honors California, and is the 31st in the United States Mint's 50 State Quarters® Program.
California was admitted into the Union on September 9, 1850,
becoming our Nation's 31st State. Nicknamed the "Golden State,"
California's quarter depicts naturalist and conservationist John Muir
admiring Yosemite Valley's monolithic granite headwall known as "Half
Dome" and also contains a soaring California condor.
The coin bears the inscriptions "California," "John Muir," "Yosemite Valley" and "1850."