The 2020 Salt River Bay America the Beautiful Silver Uncirculated Coin will be released by the United States Mint as the third of five 2020-dated strikes of the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin™ series. A design on the reverse of the coin will be emblematic of Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve located in the United States territory of the US Virgin Islands.
This Salt River Bay Silver Uncirculated Coin will also mark the fifty-third to be released in the series which is struck by the US Mint as the numismatic version of the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins™. As such, both this series of uncirculated coins and the related bullion strikes feature the same basic specifications as well as designs.
As for specifications, each is struck from five ounces of .999 fine silver. Each also features the extremely large diameter of three inches.
The designs used for both series are originally created for a third US Mint coin series – the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program. This includes an obverse portrait of George Washington, by John Flanagan, seen on circulating quarter dollars (with minor variations) since 1932.
The reverse design of each coin is emblematic of a different site of national interest. One site was chosen from each state, the District of Columbia and the five US territories for a total of fifty-six locations to be honored.
Since both the uncirculated coins and the bullion coins feature similar specifications and designs, the only definitive way to tell coins of the two series apart is to look for a mintmark. A ‘P’ mintmark on each uncirculated coin indicates it was struck at the US Mint’s facility in Philadelphia. The bullion coins are also struck in Philadelphia but contain no mintmark.
Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve
The Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve is located on the island of St. Croix in the United States territory of the US Virgin Islands. It was officially established on February 24, 1992.
This site is of historical significance because it is the only known location where members of the Columbus expedition set foot on soil now a part of a US territory. It also offers many prehistoric and colonial-era archeological sites.
In addition, the preserve offers much for nature lovers including a wide variety of features ranging from coral reefs to forests.
The National Park Service offers this descriptive paragraph for the park:
"Come Explore 2000 Years of Human History in the Caribbean"
"Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve uniquely documents the human and natural Caribbean world from the earliest indigenous settlements in the central Caribbean to their clash with seven different colonial European powers to the present day."