This coin is part of the America the Beautiful silver bullion coins (abbreviated ATB) - a series of 56 silver bullion coins with a face value of a quarter dollar. The coins in the series contain 5oz (five troy ounces) of silver, making them the largest silver bullion coins issued to date by the United States Mint. The design of the coins duplicates exactly - though much enlarged - each of the America the Beautiful quarters. They were issued from 2010 to 2021.
All coins in the series feature a common obverse depicting George Washington in a restored version of the portrait created by John Flanagan for the 1932 Washington quarter, while the reverses feature five individual designs for each year of the program (one in 2021), each depicting a national park or national site - one from each state, federal district, and territory.
The Great Sand Dunes National Park quarter design is the fourth to be released in 2014 and the 24th overall in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program; it was released on 25 August 2014 and represents the state of Colorado.
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has the tallest dunes in North America as the centrepiece of the site’s diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, conifer and aspen forests, alpine lakes, and tundra. These can be experienced through hiking, sand sledding, splashing in Medano Creek and watching wildlife. The Great Sand Dunes National Park was first established as a national site on March 17, 1932 (47 Stat. 2506). |