The new year means new coins for circulation and for collectors, and the United States Mint started the year by releasing images of the Proof versions of the 2017-S America the Beautiful quarter dollars during the first week of 2017.

While the Mint had announced the winning designs previously and released line art of the five coins on Sept. 1, 2016, the new images are the first of the actual coins. The photos were released about a day before the Mint’s first numismatic product of 2017 — the America the Beautiful Quarters 2017 Proof set — went on sale.

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Over the years, the Mint has expanded the number of annual sets it offers to customers, from annual editions of the standard Proof set, Silver Proof set, and Uncirculated Mint set. With the State quarter dollars program in 1999, the Mint began offering an annual Proof set containing just the copper-nickel clad State quarter dollars. In 2004, it added another Proof set, this one containing the year’s five State quarter dollars in the 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper composition. The Mint has continued offering the two separate quarter dollars Proof sets since, through the end of the State quarters program into the 2009 District of Columbia  and U.S. Territories quarter dollars program, and the 2010 to date America the Beautiful quarter dollars series.

The 2017 set contains five coins, as follows:

??Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa: depicts an aerial view of Native American mounds in the Marching Bear Group; designed by Artistic Infusion Program designer Richard Masters, sculptured by U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Renata Gordon.

??Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, D.C.: depicts Frederick Douglass seated at a writing desk with his home in Washington, D.C., in the background; designed by AIP designer Thomas Hipschen and sculptured by Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill.

??Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri: reflects Alley Mill, a steel roller mill built in 1894. This merchant mill was used to convert wheat into flour. Much of the original milling equipment is still in place, and visitors to the park can tour the mill; designed by AIP designer Ronald D. Sanders, sculptured by Gordon.

?Ellis Island National Monument (Statue of Liberty) for New Jersey: depicts an immigrant family approaching Ellis Island with a mixture of hope and uncertainty. The hospital building can be seen in the background; designed by AIP designer Barbara Fox and sculptured by Hemphill.

?George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Indiana: depicts George Rogers Clark leading his men through the flooded plains approaching Fort Sackville. Designed by AIP designer Frank Morris and sculptured by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Michael Gaudioso.

Multiple versions of each

The 2017 America the Beautiful quarter dollars will be issued in multiple versions: in circulation-strike quality versions struck at the Denver and Philadelphia Mints for release into circulation via the Federal Reserve and for collector sales by the Mint in roll and bag quantities; in circulation-strike quality versions struck at the San Francisco Mint for numismatic sales in roll and bag quantities; in the aforementioned copper-nickel clad and silver Proof versions in various sets; and in numismatic and bullion versions of the 5-ounce .9999 fine silver coins in each design.

For details, contact the U.S. Mint.