The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Silver Bullion Coin will appear as the US Mint’s second of five 2018 releases of the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin™ Program. Shown on the reverse of the silver bullion coin will be a design emblematic of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore of Wisconsin. No official release date for the coin was known at the time of this posting.
Congress authorized this series of silver bullion coins with the passage of Public Law 110-456, originally entitled America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008. The act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 23, 2008.
Initially, the act required that each of these silver bullion coins be struck from five ounces of .999 fine silver to a diameter of three inches carrying designs that were "exact duplicates" of those found on a series of circulating quarter dollars also authorized by the same piece of legislation. Later legislation amended the original law allowing the coins to be "likenesses" of the quarters and offering the US Mint the option to strike them to a smaller diameter. However, the Mint opted to keep with the original specifications.
Shown on the obverse of the coin will be a portrait of George Washington, by John Flanagan. This portrait will actually be featured on the obverse of all of the America the Beautiful related coins and will be surrounded by the inscriptions of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and QUARTER DOLLAR.
The reverse will contain the design emblematic of the site of national interest, in this case Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The reverse of this coin will also contain the inscriptions of APOSTLE ISLANDS, WISCONSIN, 2018 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore of Wisconsin was originally established by Congress on September 26, 1970. It is composed of the 21 Apostle Islands and nearby shoreline with a total area of approximately 69,372 acres.
The area’s biggest draw may be the historic lighthouses found in the region with tours permitted by the National Park Service at some of the locations. Other draws to the area include camping, boating, hiking, etc.
