2015 Kisatchie 5 oz Silver ATB — NGC MS69 DPL First Day of Issue

Certified 2015 Kisatchie National Forest five-ounce .999 silver America the Beautiful coin, graded NGC MS69 Deep Prooflike with the First Day of Issue pedigree, cert 4267023-037. One example available, photographed in hand.

The Kisatchie National Forest five-ounce silver quarter is the Louisiana entry in the 2015 America the Beautiful series, and it is the one collectors reach for first. The reverse places a wild turkey in mid-flight through the longleaf pines of the Kisatchie Ranger District — a design with more motion in it than almost anything else in the series, and one that rewards the three-inch canvas the five-ounce format provides.

This particular coin is certified NGC MS69 Deep Prooflike. Deep Prooflike is a step beyond the ordinary Prooflike designation: the fields must be mirrored deeply enough to reflect at a distance, which on a three-inch bullion planchet is genuinely difficult to achieve and correspondingly uncommon in the census. Add the First Day of Issue pedigree, which can only be earned in the first day of the Mint's release and can never be added to a label afterwards, and you are looking at a narrow subset of an already finite issue.

Five ounces of .999 silver alone carry $346.95 at today's spot of $69.39 per ounce. What you are paying above that is the grade, the Deep Prooflike surfaces, the pedigree, and the fact that there is exactly one of these on our shelf. Sealed in the original NGC holder; the coin in the photographs is the coin that ships to you, fully insured, signature required.

The America the Beautiful five-ounce silver series exists because of the Quarter Dollar Coin Redesign Act of 2008, which authorised the United States Mint to strike three-inch, five-ounce .999 fine silver versions of the circulating quarter designs — the largest silver coins the Mint has ever produced. Striking a planchet that size required specially built presses at Philadelphia and a fabrication process the Mint had never used before.

The 2015 Kisatchie issue honours Kisatchie National Forest, Louisiana's only national forest, established in 1930 across more than 600,000 acres of longleaf pine. The reverse, designed by Justin Kunz and sculpted by Michael Gaudioso, shows a wild turkey in flight above bluestem grass with a longleaf pine in the foreground — the Mint's own description notes the intent to capture the forest's restored ecology rather than a landmark. John Flanagan's 1932 Washington portrait appears on the obverse.

In the secondary market the Kisatchie is valued on surface quality. NGC's Auction Central records an MS69 Deep Prooflike example at $141.00 in a Heritage internet session on May 21, 2017, when silver traded near $17 an ounce — roughly 1.7 times the melt value of that day. GreatCollections sold a First Day of Issue MS69 DMPL example in July 2024, and top-graded First Day of Issue Kisatchies have carried retail asking prices of $399 and above while silver sat near $30. Every one of those data points was set in a far cheaper silver market than today's.

Highest recorded sale: $141.00 · Heritage Auctions (NGC MS69 Deep Prooflike) · May 21, 2017 — silver near $17/oz

At $69.39 silver, the metal in this coin is worth $346.95. The remaining premium is not a markup on bullion — it is the certified MS69 Deep Prooflike grade, the First Day of Issue pedigree, the original sealed NGC holder, and the plain fact that one example is available. Certified Deep Prooflike America the Beautiful coins have traded at 1.7x to 2.4x melt in every silver market since 2015. Our confirmed $479.00 is 38% over melt, inside the researched $409-$529 band rather than at the top of it.

MS69 is one point from perfect: fully struck, original surfaces, at most a trace mark under magnification. Deep Prooflike goes further than Prooflike — the fields must mirror an object held at a distance, not merely up close. On a three-inch planchet that level of reflectivity is difficult to strike and easy to lose to handling, which is why DPL and DMPL designations stay scarce relative to the issue.

Certified numismatic coins are sold on a non-refundable basis. Because a graded coin can be swapped, cracked out of its holder or substituted after it leaves our hands, we do not accept returns or exchanges on metals of any kind, and a change of mind is not grounds for a return. Every piece is photographed in hand before it ships and insured in transit, so you know precisely what you are buying before you confirm.

Certified semi-numismatic pieces are not IRA-eligible the way plain bullion is. If you are funding a retirement account we will show you which products qualify with Preferred Trust Company or GoldStar Trust Company and keep pieces like this one on the personal-ownership side of your plan.