New medallions promote Nevada's first state park

Volunteers at the Nevada State Museum on Friday minted a set of medallions honoring the first state park dedicated in Nevada.

With the familiar arch of Elephant Rock pictured on the front, the solid silver medallions commemorate the 1935 creation of Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas.

A handful of Nevada State Park employees in tan uniforms watched historic coin press No. 1 imprint the image with 120 tons of pressure.

"Valley of Fire is one of our nicest state parks," said Allen Newberry, chief of operations for the parks. "It's a beautiful, tremendous park."

Newberry worked as supervisor of the park from 1976 through 1980.

Valley of Fire is the state's largest park at about 36,000 acres and often ties with Lake Tahoe for number of annual visitors. The medallions, a way of promoting state parks, will be sold at gift shops.

"If we're successful - and it looks like we will be - then we'll eventually do coins for other state parks as well," said David Morrow, state parks administrator.

The medallion project is funded by the Nevada State Park Cooperative Extension. All profits will go back into the parks.

The group's funding has recently added a blacksmith shop at Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park east of Gabbs and retrofitted signs at Old Mormon Station in Genoa.

The idea to mint the medallions came from Newberry, who collects coins as a hobby. It all started with state park belt buckles, he said.

"It was kind of a natural evolution from the belt buckles to the coins."

"A lot of people who visit a park want to have a special memory of their visit," said Morrow. "That's kind of what these coins can be."

The front face of the medallion was designed by Carson City artist Margery Hall-Marshall. She could not attend the minting because she is currently in Angola doing some filming for a group of doctors.

The medallions, solid .999 silver, feature the state seal on their reverse. Technically they are not coins, said mint volunteer Karen Hopple.

"The difference between a coin and a medallion is that medallions are not legal tender and coins are," she said.

Also, on a coin the heads and tails are opposite so if you flip it vertically both come around right side up.

On a medallion, heads and tails have the same orientation so you'd have to turn it from the side for the back to come around right side up.

"And medallions are also one millimeter thicker so you can't put them in slot machines and stuff," Hopple said.

Her husband Ken was running the mint, which was originally used in the state museum building when it was a U.S. Mint. That same press minted real legal tender for the U.S. in Carson City from 1870 until 1885 and then again from 1889 until 1893.

For more information call the museum at 687-4810.

Contact Karl Horeis at khoreis@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.