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Frederick Douglass National Historical Site Five Ounce Silver Coin Now Available

Silver News
The United States Mint Introduces the Second Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coin in the 2017 America The Beautiful Series.

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The second coin in the 2017 America The Beautiful from the United States Mint, the Frederick Douglas National Historical Site will be released in mid-April and is now available to order from BGASC.com for shipment by April 14.

The Frederick Douglass National Historical Site

The much anticipated Frederick Douglass National Historical Site silver bullion five ounce silver coins are now available for order from BGASC.com.

The Frederick Douglass National Historical Site silver bullion coin is the second in a series of five 2017 America The Beautiful (ATB) quarters. As part of the ATB quarter program, the U.S. Mint also simultaneously produces five ounce silver coins with the same design as the ATB quarters. Demand for 2016 ATB silver coins were the second highest in the coin’s history.

Demand for the 2017 ATB coins is expected to continue to be strong starting with the release of the Effigy Mound National Monument silver bullion coin. The first coin, the Effigy Mounds National Monument sold 19,500 through mid-March.

On the Back of the Coin

The Frederick Douglass National Historical Site coin features a portrait of Frederick Douglas who was a runaway slave and abolitionist. Mr. Douglas is seated at a writing desk, with pen in hand in front of his home in Washington D.C. The words “E Pluribus Unum” and “Frederick Douglass” and “District of Columbia ” are emblazoned on the coin. The coin’s reverse was designed by Thomas Hipschen and engraved by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill

Watch how Ms. Hemphill describes the engraving process of the Frederick Douglass Historical Site coin.

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Click to buy the Frederick Douglass Historical Site Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coin

Mr. Douglas was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818. In 1838, he boarded a train headed north to escape slavery. When he arrived in New York, he declared himself a free man. Frederick Douglas used his oratory skills to speak out against slavery and penned his autobiography in 1845 that risked his return to slavery. In order to escape such a fate, Douglass fled to Great Britain where supporters arranged for the purchase of his freedom from his owner. Douglas returned to the United States in 1847 and published an abolitionist newspaper. During the Civil War, Douglass met with President Lincoln and encouraged African Americans to join the battle on the Union Side.

After the Civil War, Douglass procured a series of government jobs including U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, the District’s Recorder of Deeds, and the U.S. Minister to Haiti and Charge d’ Affairés to the Dominican Republic.

The Frederick Douglass Historical Site is located at 1411 W Street SE, Washington, DC. It was established in 1962 as a national historic site to preserve the home where Mr. Douglass lived from 1877 until he died in 1895. The National site houses the Frederick Douglass Museum and Cultural Center.

On the Front of the Coin

The ATB silver bullion coins look like giant quarters and even bear a face value of a “quarter dollar”, though the five ounces of silver contained in the coins makes them worth far more.

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Pictured above is a quarter dollar that is also a five ounce silver coin!

Sales of the U.S. Mint’s ‘other’ silver bullion coin, the America The Beautiful (ATB) coin are on the rise. ATB coins are produced in limited mintages, that have never exceeded 126,700. In contrast, the U.S. Mint has sold record amounts of one ounce American Silver Eagle coins from 2013-2015, selling over 133 million ounces. Sales of five ounce ATB coins from 2013 – 2015 were just 508,000 reflecting 2,540,000 ounces of silver sold.

In 2016, sales of American Silver Eagle coins fell 20% from 2015’s record sales. Sales of ATB coins in 2016, however, soared 35% from 2015. The U.S. Mint sold 286,000 American the Beautiful coins in 2016, the second highest total ever in the coin’s seven year history. The best selling coin in 2016 was the first coin of the series the Shawnee National Forest coin that sold 105,00. The coin with the lowest mintage in 2016 was the Fort Moultre National Monument coin that sold 27,900.

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The first two coins of the 2016 America the Beautiful series, the Shawnee National Forest and Cumberland Gap coins were the third and fifth best selling coins in the series’ seven year history.
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The United States Mint sold 286,000 America The Beautiful Coins in 2016.

About The America The Beautiful Coin Series

The America The Beautiful five ounce silver coins were authorized in 2008 under Public Law 110-456. The ATB coins are five ounces of .999 fine silver and are exact replicas of the designs of the America the Beautiful quarters ($.25) minted for general circulation. The ATB five ounce silver coins even have stamped on them “quarter dollar” on the obverse. ATB five ounce coins are the first five ounce silver coins ever produced by the U.S. Mint.

Each year since 2010, the U.S. Mint has produced five different designs of America the Beautiful coins. The reverse of the ATB coins features various depictions of U.S. National Parks or other national sites. The obverse of the ATB coins looks like a U.S. quarter featuring a portrait of George Washington. Indeed, the ATB series includes U.S. quarters intended for general circulation with face values of twenty five cents that are produced in the same design as their five ounce silver commemorative counterparts.

The ATB quarter program is a 12-year initiative that will honor 56 national parks and other national sites by 2020.

What’s Coming In 2017?

The Effigy Mound National Monument (IA) and the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (DC) coins will be followed by Ozark National Scenic Riverways (MO), Ellis Island (Statue of Liberty National Monument)(NJ) and George Rogers Clark National Historical Park (IN) coins later in 2017.

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Click to buy the Effigy Mound National Monument Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coin

Because of their limited mintages, the ATB silver coins often sell out quickly and in later years sell for higher premiums over the value of their silver bullion content.

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This article by BGASC is not, and should not be regarded as, investment advice or as a recommendation regarding any particular course of action.