The 2018 America the Beautiful Silver Uncirculated Coins mark the ninth year of releases from the United States Mint as part of its America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin™ series. Designs showcased on the reverse of these coins and other coins of the series are emblematic of sites of national interest from around the United States and its territories.
The America the Beautiful Silver Uncirculated Coins scheduled to be issued in 2018 and the states they represent are:
-
Michigan – 2018 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Silver Uncirculated Coin
-
Wisconsin – 2018 Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Silver Uncirculated Coin
-
Minnesota – 2018 Voyageurs National Park Silver Uncirculated Coin
-
Georgia – 2018 Cumberland Island National Seashore Silver Uncirculated Coin
-
Rhode Island – 2018 Block Island National Wildlife Refuge Silver Uncirculated Coin
These five coins represent the forty-first through forty-fifth for the silver uncirculated coin series.
Sites chosen for the program include one from each state, the District of Columbia and the five US territories. This totals fifty-six sites equaling fifty-six coins to be issued in the series.The program debuted with five 2010-dated coins and are issued at a rate of five per year until the last one is scheduled to be released in 2021.
The United States Mint created this series as the numismatic versions of the America the Beautiful Bullion Coin™ Program. The bullion program itself was created by Congress as large bullion versions of the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program. Thus, all three series feature the same basic designs.
This includes an obverse portrait of George Washington, by John Flanagan. The image of the first President of the United States was initially created for use on the 1932 circulating quarter dollar. With minor variations, it has appeared on quarters ever since.
The reverse of each coin contains the design emblematic of the selected sites of national interest. Since these designs, as well as all corresponding inscriptions, are originally designed for the quarters, an edge inscription is used on the bullion and uncirculated coins to indicated their content. This inscription reads "999 FINE SILVER 5.0 OUNCE."
As indicated by that inscription, each bullion and uncirculated coin is struck from five ounces of .999 fine silver. They also feature an extremely large diameter of three inches.
Details on the chosen 2018 America the Beautiful Silver Uncirculated Coin sites are shown below:
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore of Michigan
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is located along the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan. It stretches for 42 miles along that shoreline between Munising, Michigan and Grand Marais, Michigan.
The lakeshore takes its name from the 15 miles of colorful sandstone cliffs found within the area. These cliffs rise up to 200 feet above the lake level below.
The coloring of the rocks comes from the large amounts of minerals present in them.
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is found along the shores of Lake Superior in the state of Wisconsin. The national lakeshore also includes the twenty-one islands from which the site takes its name – Apostle Islands.
Visitors to the lakeshore are treated to a variety of sites and activities. It is perhaps best known for its collection of historic lighthouses.
However, visitors also find old-growth forests, sandstone sea caves and many water related activities.
Voyageurs National Park
Voyageurs National Park is found in Minnesota along the boundary waters of the United States and Canada. It takes its name from the French-Canadian fur traders who were the first European settlers to frequent the area.
Unlike most other national parks, the primary feature of Voyageurs is water. In fact, the park consists of 344 square miles of water.
This gives visitors the opportunity for many water related recreational activities including boating and fishing. In the winter, the lakes freeze over allowing for ice fishing and snowmobiling.
Cumberland Island National Seashore
Cumberland Island National Seashore is found along the Atlantic coast of the state of Georgia. The seashore encompasses most of Cumberland Island, the largest of Georgia’s Golden Isles.
Most know the seashore for its water related sites including the beaches, lakes and marshes. However, visitors can also find historic properties located within the boundaries of the seashore.
A couple of examples of these are the ruins of Dungeness and the Plum Orchard estate.
Block Island National Wildlife Refuge
Block Island National Wildlife Refuge is located off the Atlantic coast of the state of Rhode Island. The site was originally established in 1973 with the transfer of 28 acres of land from the United States Coast Guard.
The refuge has grown today to be 127 acres in size. The purpose of the refuge is to provide habitat for many different species of wildlife.
Looking at just birds, the refuge typically hosts over 70 different species of migratory songbirds each fall.