United States Mint Unveils Designs for 2010 Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar Commemorative Coin

Mint SealWASHINGTON – The United States Mint today unveiled designs for the 2010 Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar.  The Boy Scouts of America Centennial Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 110-363) authorizes the United States Mint to mint and issue silver one-dollar coins to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner approved the coin’s designs on September 16, 2009.  The obverse (heads side) design, by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Donna Weaver, depicts a Cub Scout in the foreground with a Boy Scout and female Venturer in the background saluting.  The Venturer represents how the Boy Scouts of America organization has evolved over the past century to serve all the youth of America, including girls.  Inscriptions on the obverse are CONTINUING THE JOURNEY, 1910, 2010, IN GOD WE TRUST and LIBERTY.

The reverse (tails side) design, sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Jim Licaretz, features the universal emblem of the Boy Scouts of America.  Inscriptions on the reverse are UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA, BE PREPARED, E PLURIBUS UNUM and ONE DOLLAR.

The United States Mint will mint proof and uncirculated versions of the 2010 Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar in 90 percent silver.  Mintage is limited to 350,000 coins across all product options.  Surcharges collected from sales of the coin are authorized to be paid to the National Boy Scouts of America Foundation, which will make funds available to local councils in the form of grants for the extension of scouting in hard-to-serve areas.

Images of the 2010 Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar are available at http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=photo.  Additional information about the 2010 Boy Scouts Centennial Commemorative Coin Program is available at http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/commemoratives/index.cfm?action=2010BoyScouts .

American Buffalo Proof First Week Sales & More

Yesterday the Mint announced sales of 19,468 American Buffalo Gold Proof coins through November 1, nearly equaling the entire 2008 production of 19,591 in one week of sales. No limits are in place for production or orders of the Buffalo coin, so it seems likely 2009 could surpass the 58,998 sales in 2007 for second highest mintage since the 246,267 coins sold in 2006, the first year they were offered.

The Mint also announced the 2009 US Virgin Islands First Day Coin Cover will be available for purchase Tuesday, November 10. The US Virgin Islands quarter is the last in the series of D.C. and the 5 US territories released this year. The First Day Cover will be limited to 20,000 units.

US Virgin Islands Quarter Launched

The Mint launched the US Virgin Islands quarter on Friday with a ceremony on the island of St. Thomas. The reverse design includes: an outline of the territory’s three major islands; the Bananaquit, the official bird of the United States Virgin Islands; the Yellow Cedar or Yellow Elder, its official flower; and a Tyre Palm Tree.  Inscriptions on the coin’s reverse are U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS and United in Pride and Hope. The Virgin Islands quarter is the fifth of six in the series of US territories and Washington, D.C. The sixth and final design, honoring the Northern Mariana islands will be released in late November.

If the previous four issues in the series are any indication, this will be another tough one to find in circulation, at least for a while. Total mintage of 82 million ties the American Samoa quarter for lowest production this year, less than half of the 172 million Washington, D.C. quarters produced to begin the series.