America the Beautiful silver bullion coins

America the Beautiful
silver bullion coins
United States
Value	0.25 US dollar
Mass	155.5 g (5.00 troy oz)
Diameter	76.2 mm (3 in)
Thickness	3.25 mm (0.128 in)
Edge	Plain with incuse inscriptions
Composition	99.9% Ag
Years of minting	2010–2021
Obverse
Design	George Washington
Designer	John Flanagan (1932 version) from a 1786 bust by Houdon / William Cousins (modification to Flanagan's design)
Design date	2010
Reverse
Design	Various; Five designs per year (one in 2021)
Designer	Various

The America the Beautiful silver bullion coins comprise a series of silver bullion coins with a face value of a quarter dollar. The coins contain five troy ounces of silver, making them the largest silver bullion coins ever issued by the United States Mint. The design of the coins duplicates exactly—though enlarged—each of the America the Beautiful quarters. They were issued from 2010 to 2021. The coins were available for sale during the year in which their corresponding circulating coin is issued. The coins are distributed by the United States Mint's network of authorized bullion dealers, and may be resold at the discretion of the Director of the National Park Service.

Design

A normal-sized quarter (left) sitting next to a bullion coin in a plastic holder (right)

All coins in the series feature a common obverse depicting George Washington in a restored version of the portrait created by John Flanagan for the 1932 Washington quarter, while the reverse feature five individual designs for each year of the program (one in 2021), each depicting a national park or national site (one from each state, federal district, and territory). Unlike the reeded edge of the normal quarter, the silver coins have a smooth edge inscribed with the coin specifications: .999 FINE SILVER 5.0 OUNCE.^[1]

Differences between uncirculated and bullion versions

There are three main differences between the uncirculated and bullion versions of the coin:

Each uncirculated coin comes with a certificate of authenticity from the Mint and is placed inside a plastic capsule and then in a presentation box; the bullion version is shipped in tubes of 10 coins. The tubes are shipped by the mint in "monster boxes", ten tubes to a box, and the contents are sold at the retailer's discretion.
The uncirculated coins are vapor blasted after minting, giving them a matte finish, while bullion coins have a shinier finish.
Under the "In God We Trust" inscription, the uncirculated coins feature a "P" mint mark representing the Philadelphia mint, whereas the bullion coins do not have a mint mark.

Legislative history

The program is authorized by Title II of the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008.^[2]

Minting history

A new coining press from Germany, the Grabener 1000 press, was installed on March 1, 2010, at the Philadelphia Mint for use in producing the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins. The press provides up to 1,000 metric tons (1,100 short tons) of pressure for each strike and can produce in excess of 1 million coins per year. Silver planchets for the series will be supplied by Sunshine Minting.^[3]

In conjunction with the April 27, 2010, meeting of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee in Philadelphia, committee members were shown examples of the America the Beautiful silver bullion coins.^[4]

Coins released to date

Year	No.	State/territory	Site	US Mint Item#	Release Date	Bullion Mintage^[5]	Uncirculated Mintage
2010	1	Arkansas	Hot Springs National Park	NP1	4/19/2010	33,000	27,000
	2	Wyoming	Yellowstone National Park	NP2	6/1/2010
	3	California	Yosemite National Park	NP3	7/26/2010
	4	Arizona	Grand Canyon National Park	NP4	9/20/2010		26,019
	5	Oregon	Mount Hood National Forest	NP5	11/15/2010		26,928
2011	6	Pennsylvania	Gettysburg National Military Park	NP6	1/24/2011	126,700	24,625
	7	Montana	Glacier National Park	NP7	4/4/2011	126,700	20,856
	8	Washington	Olympic National Park	NP8	6/13/2011	104,900	18,398
	9	Mississippi	Vicksburg National Military Park	NP9	8/29/2011	58,100	18,594
	10	Oklahoma	Chickasaw National Recreation Area	NP10	11/14/2011	48,700	16,827
2012	11	Puerto Rico	El Yunque National Forest	NQ0	1/23/2012	24,000	17,314
	12	New Mexico	Chaco Culture National Historical Park	NQ1	4/2/2012	24,400	17,146
	13	Maine	Acadia National Park	NQ2	6/11/2012	25,400	14,978
	14	Hawai'i	Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park	NQ3	8/27/2012	20,000	14,863
	15	Alaska	Denali National Park	NQ4	11/5/2012	20,000	15,225
2013	16	New Hampshire	White Mountain National Forest	NQ5	1/28/2013	35,000	20,530
	17	Ohio	Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial	NQ6	4/1/2013	30,000	17,707
	18	Nevada	Great Basin National Park	NQ7	6/10/2013		17,792
	19	Maryland	Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine	NQ8	8/27/2013		19,802
	20	South Dakota	Mount Rushmore National Memorial	NQ9	11/4/2013	35,000	23,547
2014	21	Tennessee	Great Smoky Mountains National Park	NR1	1/27/2014	33,000	24,710
	22	Virginia	Shenandoah National Park	NR2	3/31/2014	25,000	28,451
	23	Utah	Arches National Park	NR3	6/9/2014	22,000	28,434
	24	Colorado	Great Sand Dunes National Park	NR4	8/25/2014	22,000	24,103
	25	Florida	Everglades National Park	NR5	11/3/2014	34,000	22,732
2015	26	Nebraska	Homestead National Monument of America	SN1	2/9/2015	35,000	21,286
	27	Louisiana	Kisatchie National Forest	SN2	4/13/2015	42,000	19,449
	28	North Carolina	Blue Ridge Parkway	SN3	6/22/2015	45,000	17,461
	29	Delaware	Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge	SN4	9/14/2015		17,309
	30	New York	Saratoga National Historical Park	SN5	11/16/2015		17,563
2016	31	Illinois	Shawnee National Forest	16AJ	2/1/2016	105,000	18,781
	32	Kentucky	Cumberland Gap National Historical Park	16AK	4/4/2016	75,000	18,713
	33	West Virginia	Harpers Ferry National Historical Park	16AL	6/6/2016	55,300	18,896
	34	North Dakota	Theodore Roosevelt National Park	16AM	8/29/2016	40,000	18,917
	35	South Carolina	Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument)	16AN	11/14/2016	35,000	17,882
2017	36	Iowa	Effigy Mounds National Monument	17AJ	2/6/2017	35,000	17,251
	37	District of Columbia	Frederick Douglass National Historic Site	17AK	4/3/2017	20,000	17,678
	38	Missouri	Ozark National Scenic Riverways	17AL	6/5/2017	20,000	17,694
	39	New Jersey	Ellis Island (Statue of Liberty National Monument)	17AM	8/28/2017	40,000	17,670
	40	Indiana	George Rogers Clark National Historical Park	17AN	11/13/2017	35,000	14,731
2018	41	Michigan	Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore	18AJ	02/19/2018	30,000	17,773
	42	Wisconsin	Apostle Islands National Lakeshore	18AK	04/13/2018		16,802
	43	Minnesota	Voyageurs National Park	18AL	06/14/2018		16,839
	44	Georgia	Cumberland Island National Seashore	18AM	09/12/2018	52,500	16,376
	45	Rhode Island	Block Island National Wildlife Refuge	18AN	11/26/2018	80,000	15,912
2019	46	Massachusetts	Lowell National Historical Park	19AJ	02/07/2019		16,644
	47	Northern Mariana Islands	American Memorial Park	19AK	04/04/2019		16,287
	48	Guam	War in the Pacific National Historical Park	19AL	06/06/2019	72,500	16,277
	49	Texas	San Antonio Missions National Historical Park	19AM	08/29/2019	55,200	16,211
	50	Idaho	Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness	19AN	11/14/2019	25,000	16,310
2020	51	American Samoa	National Park of American Samoa	20AJ	02/06/2020	45,000	15,781
	52	Connecticut	Weir Farm National Historic Site	20AK	05/18/2020		15,328
	53	U.S. Virgin Islands	Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve	20AL	09/18/2020		13,566
	54	Vermont	Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park	20AM	11/23/2020		13,549
	55	Kansas	Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve	20AN	12/7/2020		13,617
2021	56	Alabama	Tuskegee Airman National Historic Site	21AJ	4/8/2021	50,000	19,819

Notes

^ "America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Coins | Coin Explorer | NGC". www.ngccoin.com. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
^ Pub. L. 110–456 (text) (PDF)
^ Numismatic News (26 February 2010). "Press Purchased for New Silver Coins". Numismaster.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
^ Harper, Dave (28 April 2010). "CCAC Makes History on Twitter". Buzz with Dave Harper. Numismatic News. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
^ "Bullion Sales/Mintage Figures - 2018 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion 5 oz Coins Bullion". United States Mint. Retrieved 2 November 2018.

External links

United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Program

[1] "America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Coins | Coin Explorer | NGC". www.ngccoin.com. Retrieved 2023-10-02.

[2] Pub. L. 110–456 (text) (PDF)

[3] Numismatic News (26 February 2010). "Press Purchased for New Silver Coins". Numismaster.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2010.

[4] Harper, Dave (28 April 2010). "CCAC Makes History on Twitter". Buzz with Dave Harper. Numismatic News. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2010.

[5] "Bullion Sales/Mintage Figures - 2018 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion 5 oz Coins Bullion". United States Mint. Retrieved 2 November 2018.

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