The National Park of American Samoa Silver Uncirculated Coin will mark the first of five strikes released by the US Mint in 2020 as part of the last full year of the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin™ Program. Shown on the reverse of the silver uncirculated coin will be a design showcasing a portion of the National Park found in the United States territory of American Samoa. As of this posting, a release date for the coin was not known.
Coins in this series first appeared with five 2010-dated strikes and feature a release schedule of five per year until the last one is issued in 2021. At that time, a total of fifty-six unique coins will have been created in the series each featuring a reverse design emblematic of a different site of national interest from around the United States and its territories.
This series was authorized under the authority granted the Secretary of the Treasury in 31 U.S.C. §5111(a) (3) which gives the person in that office the discretion to produce and sell items of numismatic interest. They are based, however, on another US Mint series known as the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin™ Program with these silver uncirculated coins considered the numismatic versions of those bullion strikes.
Shown on the obverse of each America the Beautiful related coin is the same portrait of George Washington. This image of the first President of the United States was originally designed by John Flanagan for use on the 1932 circulating quarter dollar. It has since been seen in one form or another on the quarters since that date. Surrounding the portrait will be the inscriptions of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and QUARTER DOLLAR.
The reverse of the silver uncirculated coin will contain the design emblematic of the park in American Samoa. Final design information will not be known until likely sometime in 2019 but should include the inscriptions of NATIONAL PARK OF AMERICAN SAMOA, AMERICAN SAMOA, 2020 and E PLURIBUS UNUM.
National Park of American Samoa
The National Park of American Samoa was officially created by the Congress of the United States on October 31, 1988. The park is actually spread across three islands of the US territory – Tutuila, Ofu-Olosega, and Ta‘ū.
In total, there is 10,500 acres in the park which was created to protect some of the natural resources of the islands. Of note, this is the only national park of the United States below the equator.
