By Hubert Walker for CoinWeek ….
As of noon Eastern Time today, the 2015 American Eagle One-Ounce Platinum Proof Coin is available for purchase from the United States Mint.
Each coin features a Proof finish and consists of one troy ounce (31.1 grams) of .9995 fine platinum. It bears the ‘W’ mint mark for West Point and has a reeded edge. A face value of $100 is inscribed above the mint mark on the reverse. Encircling the top half of the reverse design is the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Along the rim on the bottom are inscriptions denoting the weight and fineness of the precious metal.
Artist Joel Iskowitz (View Designer’s Profile) created the initial design for the reverse, which was recommended to the Treasury Secretary with modifications by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) in 2014. Entitled “Liberty Nurtures Freedom”, Lady Liberty is portrayed standing on the left of the coin, perhaps caught mid-stride, and holding a torch in her upraised right hand. Her left hand reaches out as if to feed the eagle (representing Freedom) that sits atop a globe, wings raised as if about to take flight. Behind then both and centered on the exchange is the sun, its multitudinous rays slender and pinnate.
Iskowitz’s initials are inscribed in an exergue-like space beneath Liberty.
Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill (View Designer’s Profile) engraved the reverse; her initials are found on the globe at the end of the word PLATINUM.
Former Chief Engraver of the United States Mint John M. Mercanti (View Designer’s Profile) designed the obverse portrait of Liberty, in use since 1997.
The reverse is the first in a two-part, two-year series within the Platinum Eagle program. The coin comes in a special presentation case, which will allow both the 2015 and 2016 American Eagle Platinum Proof coins to be displayed side by side.
A mintage and product limit of 4,000 units is in effect, and an order limit of one per household is currently in place. The 2015 American Platinum Eagle Proof Coin retails from catalog.usmint.gov for US$1,200.
All 4,000 of these coins quickly sold out within the first 7 minutes of their launch. This year’s mintage of only 4,000 American Eagle One-Ounce Platinum Proof Coins is the lowest since their annual mintage began declining each year from 2011.