Coin collectors and enthusiasts itching to get their hands on the new Yellowstone National Park quarter will have a golden — or, perhaps more accurately, copper and nickel — opportunity on Thursday.The United States Mint is scheduled to introduce the Yellowstone quarter to the nation on Thursday, June 3, at a 10:30 a.m. event inside the park.

The introductory ceremony will take place in front of the Old Faithful Inn, a stone's throw from the Old Faithful geyser. The geyser, along with a bison, is depicted on the tails side of the new quarter; the heads side of the coin features the familiar profile of George Washington.

The Yellowstone quarter is the second of 56 to be released over the next 12 years in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. The tails side of each coin depicts a national site in each of the nation's 50 states, the District of Columbia and the American territories.

Ed Moy, the director of the U.S. Mint, Yellowstone Superintendent Suzanne Lewis, historian and author Paul Schullery and Wyoming Tourism Board member Gene Bryan are scheduled to participate in Thursday's roll-out ceremony of the Yellowstone quarter. The public is welcome to attend the event and children 18 years and younger will receive a Yellowstone quarter to commemorate the occasion.

Following the ceremony, folks may exchange their currency for $10 rolls of the Yellowstone National Park quarters. U.S. quarters are comprised of a copper/nickel alloy.

For those who can't make it in person, the event will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.americathebeautifulquarters.gov.

The coins are being issued in the order the areas they depict came under federal protection. Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, designated as a federal reservation in 1832, was released first, in April. Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, follows.

Coins for Yosemite National Park in California, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon are slated to be released later this year.