Silver Coins | The American Silver Eagle

The silver version of the American Eagle appeared simultaneously with the gold version in the year 1968 and has an unchanged motive till today.
The German emigrant Adolph A. Weinman (1870-1952) created the motive of the Statue of Liberty, called “Walking Liberty”, and John Mercanti designed the heraldic figure of an eagle on the other side.
In detail the liberty motive depicts a female figure, covered with the flag of the USA, walking into the rising sun.
In the left hand she holds laurel and oak branches, the right arm is put out forward.
As headgear she wears a Phrygian bonnet, known from the French Revolution, which is supposed to symbolize the human beings aspiration for freedom and happiness.
Next to the circular writing “Liberty”, one can read the date of minting and on the right margin the national motto “In God we trust”.
This motive firstly appeared on the semi- dollar silver coins in the years 1916 to 1947.
On the overleaf eagle motive one can see darts in the left claw, and an olive branch in the right claw.
In the beak the eagle carries a banderole with the inscription “E Pluribus Unum”  (engl:”out of many,one"), which represents the guiding principle of the USA.
Above the head, 13 stars are illustrated, which stand for the original 13 foundation colonies from 1776.
In the transcription one can read the fineness and the nominal value in the wording “1 oz Fine Silver – One Dollar”.
Hardly comprehensible, however, is the arrangement of the two sides of the ounce which is once correct (in the eye of the spectator) and once inverted.
The coins that exclusively get minted in one ounce pieces consist of silver at a grade of 99,93%, and copper, at a grade of 0,07%, whereas the fineness is minted in words and not as a numeric value.
What is remarkable is the number of copies.
With 5.4 million in the first and 11.4 million pieces in the second year, as well as millions of copies in the subsequent years, the “American Eagle” certainly embodies the silver ounce with the widest circulation of all popular silver ounces, ever.
Mostly these ounces get packed in plastic boxes, with a capacity of 20 ounces each box.
What’s less interesting for silver investors, because of the high price, are the silver eagle versions called “Polished Plate”, produced by the West Point Mint.
Contrary to the platinum version, the motive is equal for both coin qualities.
It’s just the mint letter “W” for Westpoint, “S” for San Francisco or “P” for Philadelphia which makes them distinguishable.
The number of copies are relatively high and marked a record in 1968 with 1.45 million pieces.

Also read about other silver coins: Canadian Maple Leaf , Australian Kookaburra , Chinese Panda