America the Beautiful Quarters

The new America the Beautiful Quarters will launch in 2010. The program follows the popular 50 State Quarters Program with a similar format that will feature rotating reverse designs depicting a National Park or National Site from each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and each United States Territories.

The new program will continue the use of rotating coin designs to highlight the diversity and beauty of the United States of America. New quarters will be released at a rate of five designs per year, meaning that the series will run from 2010 to 2021. This site provides information about the quarter program and details of each coin design and release.

America the Beautiful Quarters Program

America the Beautiful Quarters are authorized under Public Law 110-456 America’s Beautiful National parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008. The authorizing legislation was introduced on June 4, 2008 as H.R. 6184 and signed into law on December 23, 2008 by President George W. Bush.

The Act provides for the “redesign and issuance of quarters dollars emblematic of National Sites in each state, the District of Columbia, and each territory.” Guidelines are provided for the selection of sites, the design selection and approval process, the schedule of release, and the period of issuance.

The Secretary of the Treasury is also provided with the option of extending the series to a second round of designs, which he may exercise prior to the ninth year of the series.

America the Beautiful Quarter Designs

The reverse design for each quarter is developed through cooperation of the United States Mint and the Federal entity responsible for the supervision, management, or conservancy of each site. A liaison is appointed to provide the US Mint with source documents that will be used to prepare candidate designs.

Design proposals are reviewed by the Commission of Fine Arts, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, the governor of each jurisdiction, and the Secretary of the Interior. The final designs are selected by the United States Secretary of the Treasury, taking into account the feedback provided by the reviews and the recommendations of the United States Mint.

The obverse design of each quarter will feature a portrait of George Washington. It will be a restored version of the original design used when the original Washington Quarter series was launched in 1932.

Schedule and Release Dates

By law, the Secretary of the Treasury was required to selected the 56 National Parks and Sites to be featured for the entire series within 270 days of enactment. On September 9, 2009, the register of sites for the entire program was released. Coins are released in the order the sites were first established as a national site.

The five quarters to be released in 2010 feature Hot Springs National Park of Arkansas, Yellowstone National Park of Wyoming, Yosemite National Park of California, Grand Canyon National Park of Arizona, and Mount Hood National Forest of Oregon. Specific release dates for each quarter are yet to be announced.

View the full America the Beautiful Quarter Release Dates.

America the Beautiful Silver Bullion

The authorizing legislation for the new quarter series also provided for a unique silver bullion coin program. For the duration of the series, over sized silver bullion duplicates of each quarter will be produced by the United States Mint. Each coin would contain 5 ounces of .999 fine silver and have a diameter of 3 inches.The designs would be an exact duplicate of each quarter, including the denomination “quarter dollar.”

The silver bullion coins will be available during the calendar year of release for the corresponding quarter. The coins will be sold through the US Mint’s network of authorized bullion dealers. The National Park Service will also be given the opportunity to purchase the coins for resale to the public, possibly repackaged as a unique collectible.

Read more information about America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins.