Today, January 17, 2012, the United States Mint released its third numismatic product of the year, the 2012 United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters Proof Set™.

This new proof set should not be confused with the silver quarters set issued just last week. This latest set’s quarters have a clad composition (8.33% Ni and Balance Cu), like circulating coins, while the silver set’s quarters are made from 90 percent silver. Additionally, this proof set is priced at $14.95 versus the more costly silver set which is listed at $41.95.

Aside from those details and differing packaging, the two sets look familiar and contain the same type of coins — San Francisco minted America the Beautiful Quarters each with an “S” mint mark. (Coins struck for everyday circulation are manufactured in either Denver or Philadelphia.)

The 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Proof Set includes the El Yunque National Forest Quarter for Puerto Rico, the Chaco Culture National Historical Park Quarter for New Mexico, the Acadia National Park Quarter for Maine, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Quarter for Hawaii and Denali National Park Quarter for Alaska.

As a collector piece, the 2012 America the Beautiful Quarters Proof Set may be ordered directly from the US Mint website at http://catalog.usmint.gov/. The set comes packaged within US Mint black and brown wrapping which surrounds a protective plastic lens holding the five coins. This collectible product has no set mintage limit, meaning collector demand generally dictates how many are produced.