2011-S Gettysburg, Silver Proof

The 2011-S Gettysburg Silver Proof opens the second year of the ATB silver proof slate at San Francisco, struck on 90% silver, 10% copper planchets at 6.25 grams under the .900 fine standard. Joel Iskowitz's reverse renders the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Monument, an upraised soldier flanking a stone obelisk on the Union line near the Copse of Trees, the focal point of Pickett's Charge on the third day of the July 1863 battle. The Mint reported 524,681 silver proof sets sold for 2011, a roughly ten-percent drop from the inaugural 2010 figure of 585,401 and the production anchor for every 2011 silver proof issue. The figural composition gives the proof dies more device area to frost than the landscape-only reverses of the 2010 group.

Authentication on the issue starts with the 6.25-gram weight against 5.67 grams for the parallel clad proof, the easiest non-destructive separation between silver and clad in the absence of a holder insert. The reeded edge reads solid silver across the perimeter without the reddish copper-core line a clad strike shows at an angle. PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, and NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, label the slab insert with Silver or the S/Ag abbreviation alongside the proof designation. Cameo (CAM) and Deep Cameo (DCAM) are the two contrast tiers, and DCAM is the dominant outcome on the issue because the working dies are chemically frosted before each press run. The relief on the infantry soldier's uniform detail and the obelisk's carved inscription face are the strike grading diagnostic points; the figural composition makes strike sharpness more visible at higher grades than the 2010 landscape reverses.

The collector market treats the issue as the year-set or design-set anchor of the 2011 silver slate, priced against the silver-content floor with PR69-DCAM examples a modest premium over the 0.1808 ounce silver-weight value and PR70-DCAM examples a tier above. Gettysburg's status as the most-visited Civil War battlefield gives the design stronger single-design buyer demand than the year's other four reverses, slightly compressing the year-set discount common across the silver run. Silver proof set mintage softness through 2011 left the issue with a thinner print run than the 2010 group while pricing remains modest by modern proof standards. For the broader story of the ATB Silver Proof program and the series' production arc, see the Washington ATB series history.