Denali National Park 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coin Debuts

Orders rolled in for the debut of the 2012 Denali National Park 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coin.

Initial reporting shows that United States Mint Authorized Purchasers (AP’s) bought 5,200 Denali silver coins on the first day of availability, October 22, 2012.

Opening sales were weaker than the previous Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coin, which launched in early September with starting sales totaling 7,900.

The new coins are the fifth and last strike in the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coins Program for this year and the fifteenth since the series started in 2010. They honor the national park located in Alaska, and they are sold in bulk, a minimum of 100 coins per order, to AP’s who resell them in the secondary market.

Denali’s five ounce investment-grade coin launched before its corresponding business quality quarter entered circulation. Designs on both coins, it should be noted, are the same. The Denali National Park quarter is not officially scheduled for distribution into commerce for another two weeks, November 5, the same day that the U.S. Mint plans to start offering them in bags and rolls.

As time goes on and investors become aware of Denali coin’s availability, sales will also grow as they did for the other 2012 strikes. The Mint indicated there is no mintage limit for this year’s bullion coins, and they will be produced to meet demand. Below is a chart of the latest bullion coin sales figures as provided by the bureau.

ATB 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coin Sales
	Latest Sales	Release Month/Notes
2010 Hot Springs National Park	33,000	Sold Out
2010 Yellowstone National Park	33,000	Sold Out
2010 Yosemite National Park	33,000	Sold Out
2010 Grand Canyon National Park	33,000	Sold Out
2010 Mount Hood National Park	33,000	Sold Out
2011 Gettysburg National Military Park	126,700	Sold Out
2011 Glacier National Park	126,700	Sold Out
2011 Olympic National Park	85,900	May 2011
2011 Vicksburg National Military Park	39,500	June 2011
2011 Chickasaw National Recreation Area	29,700	July 2011
2012 El Yunque National Forest	17,900	May 2012
2012 Chaco Culture National Historical Park	18,200	June 2012
2012 Acadia National Park	20,500	July 2012
2012 Hawaii Volcanoes National Park	13,700	September 2012
2012 Denali National Park and Preserve	5,200	October 2012
Sales TOTAL	649,000	As of October 22, 2012

 

Another related product that will be hitting the market on November 5 will be the collector version of the 2012 Denali National Park 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coin. It too has a massive three inch diameter and is composed of five troy ounces of .999 fine silver, but it will have an uncirculated finish and a "P" mint mark on its obverse for the U.S. Mint facility in Philadelphia, where all of the bullion and uncirculated quality five ounce silver coins are struck. Both types of silver coins have their fineness and weight incused on their edge, but the numismatic version is sold directly to the public and carries a much higher price tag than the bullion strike.

Eventually, 56 national parks or sites will be honored in the America the Beautiful coins program, one for each state, territory and the District of Columbia. The sites have already been selected and the coins are being released in the order that the featured site was first established as federal land. Only five silver coins are being launched per year until the final one is released in 2021.