Changes to the coin will include symbols of peace and freedom: clasped hands, one with military cuff symbolizing the American government, the other with a silver band and stylized eagle, symbolizing American Indian tribes.

The back of the coin will also bear a crossed peace pipe and tomahawk. The Jefferson peace medals that the nickel design mirrors were given to American Indian chiefs and other important leaders by Lewis and Clark.

And next fall, another new nickel will feature on its reverse side an angled view of a keelboat, which the explorers used to transport people and supplies on the Missouri and other rivers.

The design shows Capts. Lewis and Clark in uniform in the bow of the boat with full sail. The U.S. Mint unveiled the new nickel designs last month. Another design not yet announced could follow in 2005, also with the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark themes.

"These were two momentous historical events for the United States," U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore said Wednesday. "The Louisiana Purchase, at the time, doubled the size of our nation, and the Lewis and Clark expedition opened up the land and the people of the West to the American conscientiousness.

"They're important in our history, and the redesigning of coins enables us as Americans to learn about our history, and to reconnect with that history, and to use it to teach our children about the history of the United States."

In 2006, the image of Monticello - Jefferson's Virginia home - will return to the nickel's reverse side, though both that image and Jefferson's face may not be the current likenesses.

Though the nickel's first redesign in decades is months away, at Farmers State Bank in Victor, employees have already seen customer interest in the coins, said head teller Coane Stutzman.

"They're looking forward to them," she said. "And they want to know if we have them yet."

When they're available next year, the coins will come from the Denver mint via the Federal Reserve bank in Helena, she said.

Stutzman said she printed out images of the new designs from the U.S. Mint Web site to show customers, plus the bank has a replica Jefferson peace medal that shows how the reverse of the first new coin will look.

"(Collectors) want to make sure we're going to be able to get mint rolls of them so they can get them and save them," Stutzman said.

She said many people already collect the 50-state quarter series, but some seem more excited about the new nickels, the five-cent piece's first redesign since 1936.

"I'm excited about it," said Stutzman, who's also a coin collector.

The first of the 2004 nickels could reach the Federal Reserve bank system by February, Holsman Fore said. "But you're not likely to see them in your change at the local grocery story until maybe March," she said.

Interest in the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition, the native people they met and the thousands of miles of wilderness through which they traveled has been building since before the bicentennial commemoration kicked off in Virginia this year.

Also in 1803 came the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson's 828,000-square-mile land acquisition from France.

In 2000, a Sacajawea "golden" $1 coined was minted, honoring the Shoshone Indian guide widely credited with helping ensure the Corps of Discovery's successful journey. The 50-state quarter series includes a Missouri coin featuring a dugout canoe from the Lewis and Clark era.

The explorers traveled down the Bitterroot Valley in 1805, before a rough crossing of the Bitterroot Mountains en route to the Pacific Ocean. On the return trip, the party split up temporarily, and Clark and company journeyed up the Bitterroot in 1806 before meeting Lewis again near the mouth of the Yellowstone River.

Coins are minted to meet demands of the Federal Reserve bank system, but an estimated 500 million of the first new nickel design could be minted, Holsman Fore said. Collectors will be able to buy proof sets, Holsman Fore said. And although the 2006 nickel will again feature Monticello on its back side and Jefferson on the front, collectors might also want to keep the 2003 series, she said, since being the last of the current design should boost its status among coin enthusiasts.

Prior to the current Jefferson nickel, the government minted "Indian head" or "buffalo nickels" from 1913 to 1938. That design replaced the "liberty head nickel," minted since 1883. Before that was the "shield design," five-cent pieces minted from 1866 to 1883, said mint spokesman Michael White.

Reporter Buddy Smith can be reached at 363-3300 or bsmith@ravallirepublic.com

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