The revamped US Silver Eagle soaring onto new coins

The UK has its Britannia, Canada has its Maple Leaf, and Australia has the Kangaroo. Of course, I’m talking about bullion coins, and not just any coins, the most heralded and collected bullion coins in the world. And alongside these titans of the bullion market is the US’s Silver Eagle.

It was in 1986 that the US Mint began their now worldwide famous American Eagle coin programme. They quickly achieved global fame for their beauty and guaranteed precious metal weight, content, and purity.

The heraldic eagle design echoes the Great Seal of the United States, and has remained unchanged for 35 years – that is, until now…

To mark the 35th anniversary of the American Eagle coin programme, the design has been revamped and will be available for collectors later this year.

High demand is expected – this newly designed coin will be a piece of US numismatic history! If you’d like to be kept up to date on the release of the new design US eagle coin, simply sign-up at the end of this blog. We’ll then make sure you’re the first to know when you can get your hands on this new coin!

Blog Image 1 - The revamped US Silver Eagle soaring onto new coins
The old US Silver Eagle reverse design that’s due to be updated later in 2021. Image courtesy of Coin World (www.coinworld.com).

New design for the 35th anniversary – piece of US history

Back in 2020, the US Mint received the green light to move forwards with plans to revamp the existing US Silver Eagle design that’s appeared on all US Silver Eagle coins since 1986.

The selection of the new Eagle design fell to the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), who did not have an easy job. In total 39 different designs were proposed, each one depicting a reimagined eagle or eagles. 

After much deliberation, the new design, by Emily Damstra, was unveiled in October 2020, and features a more contemporary depiction of an eagle in flight, coming into land on a branch.

As this is the first time ever that the Silver Eagle design has been changed, this new coin design is a piece of US numismatic history!

Blog image 2 - The revamped US Silver Eagle soaring onto new coins
The new reverse design for the US Silver Eagle. It will appear on coins later in 2021. Image courtesy of Coin World (www.coinworld.com).

Ulterior motive – new security features

But the revamp is not just about refreshing the designs – the Mint has an ulterior motive.

Part of this move is to accommodate the use of anti-counterfeiting technology at the production stage, to enhance the security of the American Eagle silver and gold bullion coin programme.

It’s believed that the most commonly counterfeited coin encountered in the US market is the American Eagle 1oz gold bullion coin!

The Mint plans to introduce the new security features when the proof and other collector versions of the Eagle coins are released – until then, the details of the new features are being kept tightly under wraps, for obvious reasons.

Register your interest for updates

This year – in a very exciting move for US coin collectors – the Silver Eagle will be issued in TWO designs, both dated 2021: one featuring the old reverse, and the other featuring the new reverse.

Here at The Westminster Collection, we’re working hard with our suppliers in the US to try and bring both 2021-dated designs to the UK, to allow collectors to secure both the last and first year of issue of each design.  

If you’d like to be kept up to date on the availability of these coins, simply sign-up below.

We’ll then make sure you’re the first to know when they’re available so you can add this piece of US numismatic history to your collection. We will only contact you with regards to this launch, your details will not be used for any other purposes.


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2 Comments

  1. Richard Steiger on June 6, 2021 at 7:35 pm

    Also holds its value in bullion.

  2. Richard Steiger on June 6, 2021 at 7:30 pm

    Love the bald Eagle! It stands out more than most coins. A symbol of Power and prosperity.

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