Probably our favourite bullion series, this ambitious series of five ounce silver coins (also Quarters) have become much sought after over the last few years. Starting out with some decent artwork, it’s matured into an award-winning series with some super designs. There are five releases every year until the full set of 56 coins has been struck.

As usual, the United States Mint makes available images of the candidates to be put forward to committee for the choosing of the reverse design meant to depict the National Park or National Monument in question. The design candidates for the 2016 series, there are only 32 choices this year compared to 2015’s 44 selections, represent coins 31-35 in the America the Beautiful programme, and the final choices will be announced later in the year.

To clarify, these are not the designs that will appear on the actual coins yet. The designs are submitted to the Secretary of the Interior, the chief executive of the host jurisdiction (State/District of Columbia/Territory), the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) for review and comment. The Director of the United States Mint will make a final recommendation to the Secretary of the Treasury, after considering all relevant factors, including the opinions of the four recipients of the designs. The choices below are the favoured designs of the CCAC and CFA.

The sites to be highlighted for 2016 are;