America the Beautiful Series

Silver America the Beautiful Coins on Silver.com

The Silver American Eagle might be the most popular silver bullion product in the world at this time, but the Silver America the Beautiful coins series from the United States Mint is gaining momentum with each production year. With five new coin designs released each year, the Silver ATB Coins are in high demand among investors and collectors alike, with thousands of coins minted each year in the series. In production since 2010, this popular coin series won’t stop until all 50 states, federal districts, and territories of the United States have been represented.

Foundation of the Silver ATB Coin Series

The Silver ATB Coin series has its roots in the popular 50 State Quarters program. The single most popular and successful coinage program in US Mint history, the 50 State Quarters program launched in 1999 following Congressional approval in December of 1997. The program introduced unique reverse designs onto America’s circulation 25-cent pieces.

Each circulation quarter contained the same metal alloys used in circulation currency because the coins were intended for release into the market, which meant they needed to be produced using metal alloys that would allow them to withstand the rigors of circulation. The obverse design of each coin remained the same, but the reverse side featured a unique landmark from each of the 50 US states. The coins were so popular it helped spark a new generation of coin collecting in America, with almost half the US population collecting the coins in some capacity, either for fun or for numismatic purposes.

In fact, the removal of coins from circulation by collectors netted an additional $3 billion in profits for the federal government. The popularity of the state quarters led Congress to approve a similar program for the District of Columbia and the nation’s five overseas territories.

Introduction of the Silver ATB Coin Series

Given the immense popularity of the state quarters, and the District of Columbia and territories coins, that Congress authorized the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008. The legislation established the foundation for the Silver ATB Coin series, which includes a total of 56 commemorative bullion coins. The series features five new releases each year, with the reverse representing a different national park, national forest, or historical landmark from each of the 50 states, Washington DC, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

The site’s chosen for the Silver ATB Coin series were different for all of the states, with the exception of Arizona, California, and South Dakota. The Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park, and Mount Rushmore (respectively) were again chosen as the representative sites for those states, but new designs were drawn up and used on the reverse to differentiate from the state quarters program.

The overall site selection process was a collaborate effort on behalf of the governor or chief executive of each jurisdiction, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of the Interior. Each governor or chief executive was allowed to select a primary site and up to three alternate sites to represent their state or territory on the Silver ATB coin series, and then the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of the Interior would select compatible designs based upon the relevance of the site to local and American history.

Each coin in the Silver ATB series shares similarities with circulation quarters. Most obvious is the obverse design of the coins, which is the exact same for all Silver ATB coins. President George Washington’s left-profile portrait is included in the center of the design, with the words “United States of America” engraved above, “Liberty” to the left, “In God We Trust” to the right, and the face value of the coin below.

The similarities between circulation quarters and Silver ATB coins ends there. Each coin has its own unique reverse design, representative of its local forest, park, or landmark. All America the Beautiful coins contain .999 pure silver with a total weight of 5 oz, making each one five times the size of a circulation quarter. The coins were struck in both uncirculated versions for collectors and exhibitors, and bullion for investors. There are a handful of important differences between the two versions. You can tell the two coins apart by looking for the following features:

• On the obverse side of uncirculated coins you’ll find a “P” mint mark below the motto “In God We Trust.” This mark identifies the Philadelphia Mint as the point of origin for the coins. Bullion coins have no mint marks.
• Uncirculated coins have a matte finish that is achieved through vapor blasting after the coins are minted. On the other hand, bullion coins have a mirror-like finish.

Uncirculated coins ship in individual plastic capsules, placed inside of a presentation box, and are shipped with a certificate of authenticity. Bullion coins ship in the same plastic capsules, mint tubes of 10 coins, or Monster Boxes of 100 coins (10 total tubes).

While the state quarters and territories quarters were separate programs, America the Beautiful is a 56-coin program that consists of five new design releases each year. The total program consists of one coin for each of the 50 US states, the five territories mentioned earlier, and the federal district in Washington DC. The coins were first released in 2010, with five new coins released annually through 2021. The Secretary of the Treasury has been given the power to extend the program through 2033 if deemed necessary.

Available Silver ATB Coins to Date

So far the ATB Silver Coin series has released a total of 30 coins, representing six years of production (2010 to 2015). The coins available on Silver.com at this point in time including the following states, along with year of release and representative park, forest, or monument:

• Arkansas (2010) – Hot Springs National Park
• Wyoming (2010) – Yellowstone National Park
• California (2010) – Yosemite National Park
• Arizona (2010) – Grand Canyon National Park
• Oregon (2010) – Mount Hood National Forest
• Pennsylvania (2011) – Gettysburg National Military Park
• Montana (2011) – Glacier National Park
• Washington (2011) – Olympic National Park
• Mississippi (2011) – Vicksburg National Military Park
• Oklahoma (2011) – Chickasaw National Recreation Area
• Puerto Rico (2012) – El Yunque National Forest
• New Mexico (2012) – Chaco Culture National Historical Park
• Maine (2012) – Acadia National Park
• Hawaii (2012) – Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
• Alaska (2012) – Denali National Park
• New Hampshire (2013) – White Mountain National Forest
• Ohio (2013) – Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial
• Nevada (2013) – Great Basin National Park
• Maryland (2013) – Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
• South Dakota (2013) – Mount Rushmore National Memorial
• Tennessee (2014) – Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• Virginia (2014) – Shenandoah National Park
• Utah (2014) – Arches National Park
• Colorado (2014) – Great Sand Dunes National Park
• Florida (2014) – Everglades National Park
• Nebraska (2015) – Homestead National Monument of America
• Louisiana (2015) – Kisatchie National Forest
• North Carolina (2015) – Blue Ridge Parkway
• Delaware (2015) – Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge
• New York (2015) – Saratoga National Historical Park
• Illinois (2016) – Shawnee National Forest
• Kentucky (2016) – Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
• West Virginia (2016) – Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
• North Dakota (2016) – Theodore Roosevelt National Park
• South Carolina (2016) – Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument)
• Iowa (2017) – Effigy Mounds National Monument
• District of Columbia (2017) – Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
• Missouri (2017) – Ozark National Scenic Riverways
• New Jersey (2017) – Ellis Island
• Indiana (2017) – George Rogers Clark National Historical Park
• Michigan (2018) – Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
• Wisconsin (2018) – Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
• Minnesota (2018) – Voyageurs National Park
• Georgia (2018) – Cumberland Island National Seashore
• Rhode Island (2018) – Block Island National Wildlife Refuge
• Massachusetts (2019) – Lowell National Historical Park
• Northern Mariana Islands (2019) – American Memorial Park
• Guam (2019) – War in the Pacific National Historical Park
• Texas (2019) – San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
• Idaho (2019) – Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

The United States Mint is already in the production process for America the Beautiful 2016 coins, with five new designs ready for striking. The latest coins in the series will be released throughout 2016 in accordance with the release schedule set for this and all previous years of productions. New states and designs include:

• Illinois: Shawnee National Forest consists of land that was once little more than exhausted farmland in southern Illinois. During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt’s public works programs saw thousands of workers plant new trees to revive the forests in the region and rebuild the soil.
• Kentucky: Cumberland Gap was the first gateway used by Americans to explore the inland stretches of the North American continent. Situated at a natural break in the Appalachian Mountains, the Cumberland Gap had been used for centuries by Native American tribes following migratory animals who used the area heavily.
• West Virginia: A part of Virginia when it came to prominence, Harpers Ferry is situated at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers west of the nation’s capital. President George Washington established a military storehouse on the site, and John Brown famously raided the storehouse prior to the Civil War, leading a group of abolitionists in a standoff with US Marines.
• North Dakota: President Theodore Roosevelt was a champion of conservation in America, and made a second home of sorts out of his time in North Dakota’s Badlands. Today, he is remembered for his conservation efforts with Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The park consists of three units stretching some 75 miles in total along the banks of the Little Missouri River.
• South Carolina: Fort Sumter was the site of the Civil War’s first major clash, but nearly a century earlier, nearby Fort Moultrie was bravely defended by 200 members of South Carolina’s continental regiment. The brave troops held off a British Naval fleet as its cannonballs seemingly bounced off the palmetto logs of the fort’s foundation.

Silver.com Payment Methods and Shipping Policies

At Silver.com you’ll be able to pay for your Silver ATB coins in a variety of ways. We accept Visa and MasterCard credit/debit cards, paper checks, bank wire transfers, and PayPal transfers. Credit and debit card purchases process within one business day, while paper checks take upwards of six business days to process. Bank wire and PayPal transfers are immediate, releasing your purchases to our shipping queue with the greatest speed.

Silver.com offers an affordable shipping scale to ensure you get the best price for shipping on your Silver ATB coins. The scale ends at $3,000 in total purchase, after which all shipments are free of charge and include free insurance, as well. All packages are handled and delivered by the United States Postal Service or UPS. Should your package be lost during shipping, we’ll work with the carrier to recover your shipment. If it’s damaged or stolen, we’ll initiate an insurance claim on your behalf to secure a refund of your purchase price.

If you have any questions about Silver ATB coins from Silver.com, please feel free to reach out to our associates at 888-989-7223. You can also locate us conveniently online through our website’s hosted live web chat, or submit your questions to us via email.