2010 was the inaugural year for a new series of coins the likes of which have never before been produced by the United States Mint. Officially known as the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin® Program, these strikes are colossal in comparison to all other U.S. Mint bullion products.

The complete program will include fifty-six coins in total throughout the 12 years of the series with each featuring a different reverse design emblematic of a site of national interest. Annually, five new coins are scheduled to appear in the series. Honored sites include locations such as White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire, Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial of Ohio, Great Basin National Park of Nevada, Ft. McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine of Maryland and Mount Rushmore National Memorial of South Dakota. These five sites are included in the 2013 America the Beautiful Silver Coins.

All of these bullion coins are required by law to be struck from five ounces of .999 fine silver to a diameter of between 2.5 and three inches. Initial specifications required the series to be exactly three inches in diameter which the Mint has opted to keep as the standard. These specifications dwarf the Silver American Eagle, which is the only other silver bullion coin manufactured by the United States Mint that is intended for investors. In fact, the Silver Eagle only has a diameter of 1.598 inches and is composed of one ounce of silver, giving the America the Beautiful Silver Coins five times the content of the precious metal and nearly double the diameter. The US Mint’s release schedule for the coins is shown below:

Releases Dates and Sites for America the Beautiful Silver Coins

Obverse and reverse designs for all these silver coins will be exact duplicates of those found on the circulating America the Beautiful Quarters® Program, although they will feature enhanced details. Both series of coins were authorized by the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 and honor select sites of national interest from around the United States. One site was selected from each state, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories for a total of fifty-six locations.

A portrait of George Washington, as designed by John Flanagan, is found on the obverse of all the coins. This same portrait of the first President of the United States has been featured on the quarter dollar since 1932. It was slightly modified in 1999 for the release of the State Quarters Program, but has been returned to its original form for the debut of these strikes. Reverse designs will be emblematic of the honored site.

Since both the obverse and reverse of the silver bullion coins are duplicates of the quarter dollars, the Mint was initially required to edge incuse the weight and fineness of the strikes on the bullion pieces. That initial requirement has since been changed, but like the diameter, the Mint has opted to remain with the original specifications.

A total of five America the Beautiful 5 oz Silver Bullion Coins will be released annually until the program is completed in 2021. The order in which the coins are released is dictated by the order in which the honored site came under the direct control of the federal government.