2010 - 5-Ounce Quarters Now Available

The 5-Ounce America the Beautiful Quarters finally went on sale Monday, December 6, 2010.

To everyone's surprise, the mintages have been considerably lowered. Initially, the Mint set the 2010 5-Ounce Quarter mintages at 100,000 for each design. Now, the new mintages are set at 33,000 for each design.

The Mint has already sold over 32 million Silver Eagles this year alone, so 33,000 of each 2010 5-Ounce Quarter design seems like a very small number considering the coins' popularity. The coins have a lot going for them, as they are the largest coins ever struck by the U.S. Mint (see image for size comparison next to a Dime). They hold more silver than any other U.S. coin. They are a one-time limited design, and they now have very low mintages.

Unfortunately, the 2010 5-Ounce America the Beautiful Quarters will only be available to U.S. Mint Authorized Bullion Dealers. The Dealers will have to pay $9.75 over the post price of silver for each coin. Since the Mint Authorized Bullion Dealers will buy the coins to resell, no one really knows what the markup will be in the secondary market.

Already, there have been numerous pre-sales at $300 a coin. Will the price hold or go even higher? To answer, go to the PCGS Blog .