Appearing as the last strike in 2012 of the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin™ Program will be the Denali National Park Silver Uncirculated Coin. Shown on the reverse of Denali Silver Uncirculated Coin will be a design emblematic of Denali National Park of Alaska. A release date for the coin was not known at the time of this posting.
The silver uncirculated coins of this series are each struck from five ounces of .999 fine silver to a diameter of three inches like the associated America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins™ they are struck to resemble. However, whereas the bullion coins are struck for investors, the US Mint produces these silver uncirculated coins for collectors.
Both the bullion and the uncirculated coins are actually based on another US Mint strike – the Denali National Park Quarter. That is because the bullion coins were authorized as part of the same act as the quarters known as the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008, which became Public Law 110-456,. and were were required to look like the quarters. The silver uncirculated coins were authorized by the Treasury Secretary to be the numismatic versions of the bullion coins under the power granted him in 31 U.S.C. §5111(a) (3).
All three series feature the same obverse image of George Washington, the first President of the United States. This portrait was originally designed by John Flanagan. The obverse will also include the inscriptions of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and QUARTER DOLLAR.
Shown on the reverse of the Denali Silver Uncirculated Coin (as well as the other two series) will be a design emblematic of the national park. Also shown will be the inscriptions of DENALI, ALASKA, 2012 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.
Denali National Park in Alaska
Denali National Park of Alaska was originally created as Mount McKinley National Park on February 26, 1917. It remained as such and was joined by Denali National Monument in 1978. Congress joined the two national sites together and renamed them Denali National Park in 1980 to better reflect the wishes of the local people.
Today, the park consists of over 6 million acres, over 2 million of which have been designated a wilderness. The vast array of landscape and wildlife draws over a million visitors annually despite being relatively remote.
