Denali National Park 5 Oz Silver Uncirculated Coin Released

The United States Mint today released the 2012-P Denali National and Preserve Park Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin for $229.95.

This new issue contains five ounces of .999 fine silver, has a three inch diameter and shares the same designs as the Denali National Park Quarter — also released today. Its initial price however, is $25 more than the starting price of the previous releases due to the price increase last month for numismatic silver coins.

The Denali uncirculated coin honors the national park and preserve that spans six million acres in Alaska. It is the fifteenth collectible issue of the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin™ series and the final one for 2012.

2012-P Denali National Park Silver Coin Ordering Details

Buyers can purchase the 2012-P Denali National Park Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin directly from the U.S. Mint online store located here, or by phone at 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). Hearing- and speech-impaired customers with TTY equipment may order at 1-888-321-MINT (6468).

A shipping and handling fee of $4.95 applies to all domestic orders.

Mintage and Sales Expectations

Denali silver uncirculated coin mintages are kept to a maximum of 25,000 and there are no household ordering limits. The silver coins dated 2010 sold out with mintages of 27,000 each but each of the 2011 issues remain available and have a higher per design mintage of 35,000.

Demand since October has increased for both the collectible and related bullion five ounce silver coins. The first three 2012-dated five ounce uncirculated coins registered debut sales around the 6,500 area. The last one, honoring Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, logged much higher opening one-week sales of 9,186. After the first several days, new sales generally retreat significantly.

The latest sales figures for the 2011-2012 America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coins and the sites they commemorate are listed below. The "as of date" for these sales is October 29, 2012.

Uncirculated Coin Specifications and Designs

As mentioned earlier, the Denali silver uncirculated coin shares the same designs as the Denali quarter right down to the inscriptions. The reverse features a close-up of a Dall sheep and Mount McKinley rising in the background. Inscriptions of DENALI, ALASKA, 2012 and E PLURIBUS UNUM surround the artwork.

The obverse features an image of former President George Washington by John Flanagan and the inscriptions, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN GOD WE TRUST, QUARTER DOLLAR and LIBERTY. This arrangement is shared by all of the strikes in the America the Beautiful coin series.

A special characteristic of the five ouncers though are their edge lettering of .999 FINE SILVER 5.0 OUNCE. This was quite a feat when the U.S. Mint was first preparing these extra-large coins because their thickness is 0.16 inches.

All collector specimen in the program display the "P" mint mark of Philadelphia, are capsulated to protect the uncirculated finish and come packaged in a black presentation case with a Certificate of Authenticity.

In all, 56 sites under the management of the National Park Service will be honored in the America the Beautiful coin series that began in 2010 and will finish in 2021. Every state, U.S. territory and the District of Columbia will be represented with a coin bearing a design on its reverse emblematic of the site being honored.