2013-S Great Basin, Silver Proof

San Francisco struck 467,961 pieces of the 2013-S Great Basin silver proof for the 2013 Silver Proof Set, the figure matching U.S. Mint product-sales records for that year's silver-set distribution. The coin is the third of five 2013 designs and falls in the stable 460-thousand-piece silver-proof band that defined the 2013-2015 stretch. Don Everhart's reverse renders a Great Basin bristlecone pine, the rugged twisted-grain conifer native to the Snake Range in eastern Nevada, with the gnarled trunk and limbs dominating the field and a single dwarfed seedling at the base for scale. Bristlecones are among the longest-lived organisms on the planet, with documented Nevada specimens dating beyond four thousand years. The 90% silver composition (.1808 troy ounces of pure silver, 6.25 grams total weight, 24.26-millimeter diameter, reeded edge) is the pre-2019 standard alloy for ATB silver proofs.

Authentication on the coin starts with a weight check: 6.25 grams against the 5.67-gram clad-proof reading clears the question in seconds on a calibrated scale, and the edge reads as a uniform silver-gray reeded band rather than the copper-core sandwich a clad proof shows. PCGS and NGC apply a "Silver" attribution to the slab label on top of the numeric grade and the Cameo or Deep Cameo contrast designation, where Cameo (CAM) marks moderate frosted-device contrast and Deep Cameo (DCAM) marks the higher-contrast tier and serves as the default outcome on the issue. Grade distribution clusters at PR69-DCAM and PR70-DCAM with population counts running into the thousands at the top tier. The design-specific diagnostic is the bark-texture and twisted-grain detail on the bristlecone trunk, which renders cleanly only when full press pressure is applied; soft strikes blur the texture into a featureless surface.

The coin trades in the modern silver-proof band with pricing that tracks silver spot more than collector premium. PR69-DCAM examples sell for a small step over melt plus slab cost and PR70-DCAM examples carry a modest tier above that, with most acquisitions routing through 2013 Silver Proof Set assembly or design-set completion rather than standalone pursuit. The 467,961 silver-proof print run sits at roughly 38 percent of the 1.23 million 2013 clad-proof figure for the same design, giving the silver version a structural scarcity edge against its clad sibling. Bristlecone-pine and Great Basin topical collectors provide modest crossover demand. For the broader story of the ATB Silver Proof program and the series' production arc, see the Washington ATB series history.