US Coins

2016 Proof quarters sets back on Mint schedule

By Paul Gilkes

Published: Feb 4, 2016, 8 AM

Proof sets containing five America the Beautiful quarters for 2016 are back on the U.S. Mint’s product schedule after a packaging delay.

Original images courtesy of U.S. Mint.

2016-america-the-beautiful-quarter-box-back

Thousands of boxes for the Proof 2016-S America the Beautiful quarters set had to be scrapped because the image second from left representing the Cumberland National Historical Park actually depicts Cumberland Falls State Resort Park and not the national park

Image courtesy of U.S. Mint.

Release dates for two numismatic products whose sales were interrupted because of a mistake in the packaging were announced by the U.S. Mint.

The 2016-S America the Beautiful Quarters Proof set goes back on sale at noon Eastern Time Feb. 23, at $14.95 per set. Sales began Jan. 11 but were suspended a week later after the problem was discovered.

The 2016-S America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof set goes on sale at noon Eastern Time March 7, at $31.95 per set.

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The coins for both five-coin sets are struck at the San Francisco Mint and bear the S Mint mark.

The regular Proof set contains coins struck in copper-nickel clad composition. The coins have outer layers of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel, bonded to a core of pure copper.

The coins in the America the Beautiful Quarters Silver Proof set are struck in 90 percent silver composition, with the balance of the alloy currently copper.

The reverse designs in both sets represent Shawnee National Forest in Illinois; Cumberland National Historical Park in Kentucky; Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia; Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota; and Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument) in South Carolina.

Product delay

Both of the quarter dollar Proof set options were originally scheduled for release in January.

U.S. Mint officials pulled the numismatic products from the schedule after determining that an image used to depict scenery at Cumberland National Historical Park on the box containing the coins illustrated the wrong park.

The park landscape rendered on the original packaging depicts Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. The packaging had to be scrapped and new packaging produced.

Established on June 11, 1940, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is located at the border between Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Cumberland Falls State Resort Park is southwest of Corbin, Ky., and is contained entirely within the Daniel Boone National Forest.

The 2016 America the Beautiful quarter dollars are the 31st through 35th of 56 quarter dollars depicting national parks or historic sites representing the 50 states, District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories — Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.

The coins are being released in the order in which each park or historic site depicted was congressionally recognized by statute.