50 Dollars 'American Platinum Eagle' Bullion Coinage

The 2002 Platinum Eagle is part of the "Vistas of Liberty" reverse series that ran from 1998 through 2002, with each year featuring a different American landscape. The 2002 issue — the final year of that thematic run — depicts the Northeast. Congress authorized the American Platinum Eagle program in 1996 under the American Platinum Eagle Act, making it the only platinum bullion coin issued by the U.S. government. Mintage for the one-ounce 2002 proof issue was capped at 12,000 pieces; the bullion strike carried no such statutory ceiling but sold in far lower numbers than the series peak years of 1998 and 1999.