August 2019 Numismatic Legislation Review
Like many here in Washington, Congress goes on vacation in August. They usually adjourn the last full week in July and return right after Labor Day. The August vacation has been an ongoing fact of Congress since the 1950s.
Like the rest of our lives, Congress has found ways of replacing paper-based processes with an online equivalent. One of those areas is when a member wants to submit a bill. Rather than typing it on paper and dropping it into a physical hopper, the member creates an electronic version of the bill and submits it to the clerk of their respective chambers.
In August, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) did that by submitting the Women’s History and Nineteenth Amendment Centennial Quarter Dollar Coin Program Act (S.2427). If passed, the bill will success the America the Beautiful Quarter Dollar Program to honor historical women on U.S. quarters.
S. 2427: Women’s History and Nineteenth Amendment Centennial Quarter Dollar Coin Program Act
In July, the Senate passed the Christa McAuliffe Commemorative Coin Act (S.239), and in June, they passed the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act (S.1235). Both bills remain held at the desk in the House of Representative because of an objection.
Previously, a source said that a freshman member of the House made the objection based on constitutional grounds. Another source claims the constitutional argument is being used to mask other political reasons. The source said that if the Senate wants to block bills passed by the House, then the House was going to do the same to the Senate.
In other words, tantrums on both sides of the Capital continues to cause gridlock on the most mundane legislation. Your government at work.
Mint Suspends Sales of Gold Buffaloes
The US Mint sent a letter to authorized dealer announcing sales of the American Buffalo Gold Coins have been suspended.
“Demand has exceeded supply for American Buffalo 24-karat gold one-ounce bullion coins, and our inventories have been depleted. We are, therefore, temporarily suspending sales of these coins,” the Mint said in a memorandum to authorized American Buffalo dealers.
The Mint had resumed sales of American Eagle Gold Coins and said that they had a sufficient supply for dealers.
This announcement does not include collectible coins, which can be purchased via the US Mint’s online catalog.
Four New Tails
The US Mint held a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to unveil the four new reverse designs for the 2009 Lincoln Cent.
The four reverse designs were part of the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-145 [GPO: TEXT, PDF]) to celebrate the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial. The law calls for four reverse designs to honor Lincoln’s birth and early childhood in Kentucky, his formative years in Indiana, his professional life in Illinois, and his presidency in Washington, DC.
The obverse of the coin will continue to have the portrait of Abraham Lincoln that was designed by Victor David Brenner and first released in 1909.
New coin designs will be release quarterly with the Early Childhood reverse being released on February 12, 2009.
These new coins will circulate with the District of Columbia and United States Territorial Quarters. Additionally, do not forget the 2009 scheduled Presidential $1 Coins honoring William Henry Harrison (our 9th president), John Tyler (10th), James K. Polk (11th), and Zachary Taylor (12th).
Click image to enlarge.
Half Dimes 70-Percent Off
Representative Frank Lucas, a Republican who represents Oklahoma’s 3rd District and a coin collector, introduced H.R. 6942 “to provide for the return of the half-dime as the new 5-cent circulating coin.”
The text of the bill is very simple, it calls for the removal of “Paragraph (5) of section 5112(a) of title 31, United States Code” (31 U.S.C. §5112(a)) that describes the current nickel as “a 5-cent coin that is 0.835 inch in diameter and weighs 5 grams.” In its place, the bill calls for “a clad half-dime that is based on the size and shape of the half-dime or 5-cent coin produced in the 1870s.”
If the bill is not buried in committee, more exacting standards will have to be added when it goes through mark-up.
The half-dime that Rep. Lucas refers to are the Liberty Seated half-dimes designed by Christian Gobrecht. Liberty Seated half-dimes were in production from 1837-1873. Those coins weighed 1.34 grams and were 15.5 millimeters (0.610 inch) in diameter with reeded edges. Half-dimes of that era were struck in .900 silver and .100 copper.
Shield Nickels, designed by James B. Longacre, were put into circulation in 1866 using the .750 copper and .250 nickel composition still in use today.
The purpose of the bill is aimed at lowering the price to strike 5-cent coins so that their production does not cost more than their face value. In this case, rather than a 5-gram coin that is .750 copper and .250 nickel whose metal values are approximately $0.0477 (based on the market close as of September 19), it would be a smaller coin made with .9167 copper and .0833 nickel—clad coinage is a .750 copper and .250 nickel cover around a pure copper core. The metal value of the new coin would be $0.0146, or approximately 70-percent less than the current coin in the cost of metals.
As with any change to our change, there will be resistance. Aside from the social impact, the most significant resistance could come from the vending machine operators who would have to worry about accepting the new coins. Banks and coin counting services could complain about the increased cost in handling a new coin type.
H.R. 6942 has little chance of passing, regardless of any merits. It was introduced on September 18, 2008, with no co-sponsors and referred to the House Financial Service Committee. The introduction came during a week that congress was asked to approve a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry.
Congress is scheduled to go into recess on September 26 so that members can conduct their campaigns. They will not return to Washington until after the November election. At that time, the lame duck congress will have to resolve any budget issues not passed before the fall recess. I doubt any “non-essential” bill will be considered before the final adjournment of the 110th Congress.
Auction for Counterfeiter’s Coining Equipment
Police auctions are not new. Since laws were enacted that allowed law enforcement to seize property used as part of commercial enterprises or purchased with ill-gotten gain, auctions of this property has become as common as some of the arrests. But in Warwick, Rhode Island, the state police will be auctioning seized coining equipment that was used by a convicted forger.
In 1998, Louis B. Colavecchio, nicknamed “The Coin,” was convicted for striking near-perfect counterfeit tokens that were so good the U.S. Mint hired him as a consultant.
Colavecchio was arrested again in 2006 when high-quality counterfeits turned up in east coast casinos. His coining machines and surprised was seized as part of this arrest. On Saturday, September 20, everything goes up for auction sponsored by the Rhode Island State Police.
In addition to seized cars and other items by creditors of bankrupt businesses, the Colavecchio coining equipment includes:
Hansvedt EDM Machine with H Pulse 201E power supply, MMD Milano hydraulic press, Watson-Stillman hydraulic press, Durston electric roller mill, Barker surface grinder, Speedaire 10 gallon air compressor
If you are in the Warwick, Rhode Island area, you can attend the auction at the offices of SJ Corio Company at 22 Dewey Avenue. Those that do attend are welcome to write a report. I will consolidate the notes and post them here.
Image courtesy of SJ Corio Co.
Millions of Nickels Cover I-95
Over 3 million nickels were strewn all over the southbound lanes of I-95 in Brevard County, Florida after two trucks collided on Wednesday. The truck that caused the accident was carrying the nickels from the US Mint in Philadelphia to the Federal Reserve in Miami for public distribution. The Miami facility is a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
The crashed caused the closing of the southbound lanes for over 5 hours.
Reports say that the truck carrying the nickels struck another truck from behind causing both semis to jack knife. The accident killed William Sherman, 61, the guard who was sleeping in the back of the cab. William Rohrman, 54, was driving and was taken to a local hospital. The driver of the other truck was not hurt.
Florida State Troopers protected the scene until the U.S. Secret Service arrived. They estimated that $185,000 in nickels spilled out onto the roadway.
The report said that the U.S. Mint uses private haulers in regular trucks to transport money so that they blend in with the rest of traffic for security reasons. The private company is responsible for all of the money they haul.
Image courtesy of WFTV-9 of Orlando, Fla.
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