2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin Designs Revealed

The United States Mint in late March unveiled the final designs to be featured on the 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins, the new series the U.S. Mint has entitled the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin™ Program.

The 5.0 ounce, .999 fine silver coins in the program bear the same reverse designs as the coins they are modeled after, the America the Beautiful Quarters.

"We will be transported to national parks, forests and wildlife refuges, part of a vast public land legacy belonging to all Americans-natural and cultural treasures protected for our recreation, relaxation, education, inspiration and transformation," U.S. Mint Director Moy said at the Newseum when the design images were made public.

Both circulating quarters and silver bullion coins honor National Parks and other National Sites in each state, D.C. and U.S. Territories.

The 2010 coins are the first five of fifty-six in total that will span over eleven years. They honor:

• Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas,
• Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming,
• Yosemite National Park in  California,
• Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, and
• Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon

Until the designs were revealed, the public had access only to the nineteen candidate designs. Three were proposed designs for Yellowstone, and there were four each for Hot Spring, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Mt. Hood.

The obverse or heads side of each coin bears a restored version of the historic George Washington portrait, which was first featured on the quarter-dollar in 1932.

In addition to the size and weight differences as compared to the quarters, the silver coins will have their edges encused with their weight and fineness. It was these factors that resulted in early production difficulties, and are a part of the reason that they will have had delayed release this year.

"The law was very specific. They said it had to be a certain diameter and it had to be 5 ounces," Mint Director Moy stated at a public coin forum. Well, there isn’t a 5 ounce blank out there, so we had to get this custom made. Then, because it was 3 inches in diameter, well we’ve got a 5 ounce piece of silver and we stretch it out to a 3 inch diameter, it’s paper thin."

Mr. Moy described how incusing caused coin edges to "crumple" during trial strikes. "Breakthroughs" have since been made, according to Moy.

The Mint plans to release the first 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin in late summer, with the following four 2010 silver coins being released at staggered intervals through the rest of the year. It will not sell theses directly to the public, but instead make them available to a small network of authorized purchasers who in turn will resell them (just like other Mint bullion coins, like the American Silver Eagles).

The 2010 coin designs and the U.S. Mint descriptions of them, follow.

2010 Hot Springs National Park Silver Coin Design

The image on the reverse (tails side) of the Hot Springs National Park quarter depicts the façade of the Hot Springs National Park headquarters building with a fountain in the foreground. The headquarters was built in the Spanish colonial revival style and completed in 1936. The National Park Service emblem is featured to the right of the door. Inscriptions are HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS, 2010 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.

2010 Yellowstone National Park Silver Coin Design

The image on the reverse of the Yellowstone National Park quarter features the Old Faithful geyser with a mature bull bison in the foreground. Inscriptions are YELLOWSTONE, WYOMING, 2010 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.

2010 Yosemite National Park Silver Coin Design

The image on the reverse of the Yosemite National Park quarter depicts the iconic El Capitan, which rises more than 3,000 feet above the valley floor and is the largest monolith of granite in the world. Inscriptions are YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA, 2010 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.

2010 Grand Canyon National Park Silver Coin Design

The image on the reverse of the Grand Canyon National Park quarter features a view of the granaries above the Nankoweap Delta in Marble Canyon near the Colorado River. Marble Canyon is the northernmost section of the Grand Canyon. Granaries were used for storing food and seeds (A.D. 500). Inscriptions are GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA, 2010 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.

2010 Mount Hood National Forest Silver Coin Design

The image on the reverse of the Mount Hood National Forest quarter depicts a view of Mount Hood with Lost Lake in the foreground. Inscriptions are MOUNT HOOD, OREGON, 2010 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.