Gettysburg and Glacier America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin Releases Scheduled

Collectors and investors will soon be able to obtain the first and second 2011 America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coins, according to a memorandum issued today by the United States Mint.

The US Mint in a memo to its Authorized Purchasers (AP’s) said it will be accept orders for the 2011 Gettysburg National Military Park Silver Bullion Coin and the 2011 Glacier National Park Silver Bullion Coin beginning on Monday, April 25, 2011.

As the names of each bullion coin suggests, they honor Gettysburg National Military Park of Pennsylvania and Glacier National Park of Montana.

The releases mark a continuation of the US Mint’s America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins™ Program which debuted last year with five issues launched on the same day. The Gettysburg Silver Bullion Coins and the Glacier Silver Bullion Coins are the first two of five strikes that are scheduled for 2011.

The America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin series features obverse and reverse designs based on the circulating America the Beautiful Quarters® Program, also from the US Mint. However, similar designs aside, each bullion coin is quite different from the related quarter dollars. They are composed from five ounces of .999 fine silver to a diameter of three inches. In fact, the massive size of the silver coins dwarfs any other bullion product currently produced by the US Mint.

As for the designs, all of the America the Beautiful Coins feature reverse themes emblematic of selected sites of national interest from around the United States. Their obverse designs bear the familiar portrait of George Washington, the first President of the United States. A total of fifty-six coins will be issued in the series with one strike honoring a location from each state as well as the District of Columbia and the five US territories.

The US Mint first introduced the bullion coin series last year when it conditionally released all five of the 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins on the same day, December 10, 2010. This was actually a delay of a few days from the Mint’s original scheduled launch date of December 6. The US Mint temporarily suspended the original releases in order to address concerns over what some saw as price gouging. The silver coins were issued on the 10th following a modified terms and conditions agreement put in place on the AP’s by the US Mint.

Since then, the US Mint has indicated that those additional terms will not be required for the 2011 coins. That is because it was able to produce significantly more of these newer strikes than last year’s issues. Each 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin saw a maximum mintage of only 33,000. In contrast, the Mint states that this year’s releases should see a minimum mintage of 126,500 per design. In fact, the Mint indicates that the 126,500 is only the initial quantity that will be available for the first two silver coins and more will be struck based on demand and blank availability.

Aside from the standard bullion agreement, the additional requirement placed on the Mint’s AP’s to participate in the sale of the 2011 coins applies only to those who also participated in the sale of last year’s coins. Those AP’s must certify to the US Mint that they have sold, in compliance with the terms set forth, all of their 2010 allotment before they will be able to participate in the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Program this year.

The US Mint uses the Authorized Purchasers as what it deems the most efficient means of distributing the coins to the public at as close to market prices as possible. The AP’s purchase the coins in bulk from the Mint, then resell them for a small premium above the current market price of silver, plus the additional premium of $9.75 per coin put in place by the Mint. That $9.75 charged by the Mint covers the minting, marketing and distribution costs associated with the sale of the strikes.

Three more America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins will be issued later this year. These coins include the Olympic Silver Bullion Coin, the Vicksburg Silver Bullion Coin and the Chickasaw Silver Bullion coin. These honor Olympic National Park of Washington, Vicksburg National Military Park of Mississippi and Chickasaw National Recreation Area of Oklahoma, respectively.