The United States Mint faced production challenges for the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins, due to the unique characteristics specified under the authorizing legislation. The coins are required to have a 3 inch diameter, which results in extremely thin planchets that are actually bendable by hand. Further, the required incused edge lettering was a challenge to apply without crumbling the edges of the coin.
A new coining press was installed at the Philadelphia Mint on March 1, 2010, specifically to strike the new series. The press was purchased from Gräbener Pressensysteme GmbH & Co. in Germany at cost of $2.2 million.
During an extended period of testing, the United States Mint requested changes to the legislative requirements of the coins. Several months later, a bill was introduced which would have eliminated the requirement for incused edge lettering and modify the diameter requirement to “no less than 2.5 inches and no greater than 3.0 inches”.
Ultimately, the legislative amendments proved unnecessary, as full scale production under the existing requirements began on September 21, 2010. For the first year of release, the United States Mint initially planned production of 100,000 of each of the five designs, but prior to the launch of the program cut the number to 33,000 bullion coins 27,000 numismatic coins for each design. Production levels may be adjusted for future releases of the series.
Design details for the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins are much sharper than the corresponding quarters. This is due to the fact that the Mint is not hubbing dies for the bullion coins, but rather mechanically cutting directly into the die steel from the original models. However, the relief for the bullion coins will be proportionally lower in comparison to the quarters due to the ratio of the thickness to diameter.
The obverse design of each coin features a portrait of George Washington based on John Flanagan’s original design for the 1932 Washington Quarter. The reverse of each coin features a duplicate of the design used for the quarter dollar to represent a National Park or site.
The thickness of each bullion coin is 0.16 inch, with a diameter of 3 inches. The edge lettering on each coin includes “.999 fine silver 5. ounce”.