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U.S. Mint Set To Release Second America The Beautiful Coin of 2016

Silver News
New America The Beautiful 5 Ounce Cumberland Gap Historical Park Silver Coin Now Available For Pre-Order

The United States Mint is set to release the next in a series of five 2016 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. The next “quarter” in the ATB series is The Cumberland Gap National Historical Park coin that honors the park bearing the same name. The Cumberland National Park is situated in a mountain pass along the Cumberland Mountains in southern Kentucky near the state lines of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.

On April 11, 2016, the U.S. Mint will release the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter commemorating Kentucky’s national park. United States Senators from Kentucky, Messrs. Paul and McConnell have been invited to the coin’s launch ceremony to be held at the Middlesboro Elementary School in Kentucky.

On the Back of the Coin

The Cumberland Gap coin features a pioneer with a rifle looking westward through the Cumberland Gap. The words “first doorway to the west” are emblazoned on the coin, a nod to the region’s frontier heritage. The coin’s reverse was designed by Barbara Fox and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Joseph Menna.

cumberland gap BGASC
The Cumberland Gap Historical Park coin is the second in a series of five America The Beautiful coins to be released in 2016.
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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.

On the Front of the Coin

The ATB silver bullion commemoratives 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.

America the beatiful obverse
Pictured above is a quarter dollar that is also a five ounce silver coin!

Limited Mintage

The widely anticipated Cumberland Gap coin follows the Shawnee National Forest coin that commemorated Illinois’ southern wilderness woodlands. Since 2010, the five ounce ATB silver coins have seen very limited mintages. Mintages have ranged from a low of 20,000 to a high of 126,000. Just 105,000 Shawnee National Forest coins were minted.

Last year the U.S. Mint produced just 212,000 ATB coins from the five different designs. In contrast, the U.S. Mint produced 47 million one ounce American Silver Eagle coins in 2015.

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

Later this year, the U.S. Mint will release three more ATB designs: Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Fort Moultrie at Fort Sumter National Monument.

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This article does not necessarily reflect the explicit views of BGASC, nor should it be construed as financial advice.

 

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This article does not necessarily reflect the explicit views of BGASC, nor should it be construed as financial advice.