Three major collector sets with national site and national park quarters for 2016 are now available. Today, March 30, the United States Mint released its 10-coin set of uncirculated quarters.
Before then, the agency issued a silver set of proof quarters in early March and in late February it relaunched a regular set of proof quarters — the first set originally debuted in January but the Mint suspended their sales after discovering a printing error on the packaging.
By product, here are the collector sets of quarters that have been released:
| Release Date | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| America the Beautiful Quarters 2016 Proof Set | Feb. 23 | $14.95 |
| America the Beautiful Quarters 2016 Silver Proof Set | Mar. 7 | $31.95 |
| America the Beautiful Quarters 2016 Uncirculated Coin Set | Mar. 30 | $12.95 |
These three sets are popular for coin collectors who want all numismatic editions of a year’s five quarters. None of them are delivered to banks so they won’t be found in change.
In terms of basic differences between the proof, silver and uncirculated quarters:
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Proof quarters have frosty foregrounds and mirror-like backgrounds. They’re made at the San Francisco Mint using special dies and hand-polished coin blanks.
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The silver proof quarters are made the same way and from the same place but they’re struck in 90% silver and 10% copper.
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Finally, pairs of uncirculated quarters are made at the Denver and Philadelphia Mints. They’re most similar in appearance to the coins you’ll find in change but they’re also uniquely struck so they tend to show a bit more detail.
There is one more upcoming set that is wholly dedicated to quarter-dollars. A 10-coin set of circulating quarters is scheduled to launch in November for $5.95. Those quarters will be just like those that appear in change, although they obviously will not have circulated.
2016 quarters commemorate Shawnee National Forest in Illinois, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, and Fort Moultrie in South Carolina.
Only the Shawnee quarter has entered circulation to date. The U.S. Mint is already selling rolls and bags of them. On April 4, the U.S. Mint will begin selling rolls and bags of Cumberland Gap quarters. (See the quarter’s release schedule.)
If you’re looking for more encompassing U.S. Mint collector sets that include not only quarters but also dollars, half-dollars, dimes, nickels and cents, then there are the upcoming:
| Release Date | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 Proof Set | Apr. 1 | $31.95 |
| 2016 Silver Proof Set | Apr. 18 | $52.95 |
| 2016 Uncirculated Coin Set (Mint Set) | TBD | $26.95 |
To order quarter products, visit the United States Mint’s online store at catalog.usmint.gov/coin-programs/america-the-beautiful-quarters-program/.