Yesterday, we talked about the American Eagle silver bullion coins, otherwise known as uncirculated silver eagles. The US Mint sells the bullion coins only to selected dealers and not in the online mint catalog.
In another recent press release (June 23, 2011), the US Mint announced the upcoming availability of the 2011 American Eagle Silver Proof coins on June 30, 2011. Unlike their bullion counterparts, the proof versions of the American Eagle silver coins are sold via the US Mint’s online catalog.
Per their press release, the new proof silver eagles will sell for $59.95 and will be available for sale at noon on June 30.
The 2011 silver eagle coin’s design will be much like the 2010 and the earlier versions back to their start in 1986. The coin’s obverse design will continue to be the Adolf Weinman Walking Liberty design.
In a letter dated May 23, 1916 to the Director of the Mint, R.W. Woolley, Weinman described his Walking Liberty design:
“In my design for the half dollar, I have decided on a full length female figure of Liberty and have represented her enveloped in the folds of the stars and stripes, progressing in full stride toward the glorious dawn of a new day, carrying bunches of laurel and of oak symbolical of civil and of military glory. Her right hand is outstretched in bestowal of the spirit of liberty to the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
The US Mint used Mr. Weinman’s Walking Liberty design for the silver half dollar from 1916-1947. His beautiful obverse design was resurrected in 1986 to grace the front of the American Eagle silver coins containing one troy ounce of .999 fine silver.
Though Mr. Weinman’s half dollar design included an eagle on the reverse (as required by law), the reverse of the American Eagle silver coin uses a heraldic eagle design by former US Mint Chief Engraver John Mercanti.
Mr. Mercanti’s heraldic eagle is more regal and perhaps a more appropriate reverse design for the American Eagle coin as a collectible and as an investment. Maybe Mr. Weinman’s eagle “perched high on a mountain crag” was too informal or too daunting.
Back to the coins, another difference between the proof and bullion versions of the American Eagle silver coins can be seen in the reverse design above. Where the bullion version does not contain a mint mark, the “W” for the West Point mint is located just under the olive branch held in the eagle’s right talons.
Whether the uncirculated bullion or the proof, the American Eagle silver coin exhibits America’s history detailed in the obverse and reverse images on a beautiful coin.