Wild mustangs are the main subject of Nevada's quarter, the first quarter released in 2006 and the 36th in the United States Mint's 50 State Quarters^® Program.  Nevada was admitted into the Union on October 31, 1864.  This day (October 31) eventually became a state holiday.

Nevada is home to more than half of the nation's wild horses.  The horses roam the vast deserts and many mountains of the Great Basin, an area between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.  The quarter's design also features the sagebrush, Nevada's state flower.

The name of the state came from its territorial name, the Nevada Territory, from a word that means "snow-capped" in Spanish.  The Territory was set up by Congress in 1861, several years after gold and silver were found near Virginia City.  This discovery helped to earn Nevada the nickname "The Silver State."