June 2019 Numismatic Legislation Review
Even while other things were going on, Congress found time to introduce and vote on numismatic-related legislation during the mother of June. The most significant development was the passing of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act (S. 1235) by unanimous consent.
If passed by the House of Representatives and signed by the President, the bill would create a commemorative silver dollar in 2020 with a surcharge of $10 per coin that will go to the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative.
When this bill was sent out of committee to the floor for a vote, the media was all in a twitter (pun intended) about the bipartisan nature of the bill’s support. The bill was introduced on April 30, 2019, by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and cosponsored by every female senator. Subsequently, male senators added their support to where the bill had 82 cosponsors. While we live in very partisan times, those of us who watch numismatic-related legislation understands that these bills are not controversial and tend to gain bipartisan support.
The bill is being held at the desk in the House of Representatives and not assigned to a committee. Although a call to the House did not provide answers, a source says that it is being held for procedural reasons.
According to the source, an objection was made by a member because the member believes that the bill violates the constitution. According to Article I Section 7 of the United States Constitution, it says that “All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” Since commemorative coin bills raise revenue for private and public (seigniorage) sources, someone believes that the Senate overstepped its bounds.
There was no report as to who filed the objection.
S. 1235: Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act
H.R. 3155: 75th Anniversary of the End of World War II Commemorative Coin Act
S. 1794: CENTS Act
H.R. 3483: To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the integration of baseball.
S. 1954: A bill to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the integration of baseball.
S. 2042: A bill to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor.
DGS To Start Grading In May
Earlier this week, John Feigenbaum, President of David Lawrence Rare Coins announced that Dominion Grading Service, a new grading service started from DLRC’s purchase of PCI, is now accepting submissions for their opening on May 1.
It appears that after reviewing the recent reputation of PCI, DLRC decided that it was better to rebrand the service than try to repair its reputation. Feigenbaum was quoted as saying, “we had initially planned to keep the PCI brand name, but we quickly realized that it would be impossible to overcome the confusion that would ensue as we endeavor to recalibrate the [PCI] grading standards. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue the PCI brand in favor of an all-new grading company named Dominion Grading Service.”
DGS claims that it will use Photograde and the American Numismatic Association grading standards and has indicated that when submitting PCI encapsulated coins for cross-over grading may grade lower.
DGS will continue to use the old PCI slabs with a newly designed label. Included on the reverse of the new label will be an indication noting the coin was imaged and stored online. The service DGS calls AuthentiVIEW.™ AuthentiVIEW is a free imaging service for all coins DGS grades valued at over $100 that DGS will save on their site. The purpose is to help those trading DGS slabs identify the coin that is supposed to be in the slab. It is DGS’s attempt to fight the counterfeiting of grading holders.
Other services will be a Visual Population Report using the images from the AuthentiVIEW service and Net Grading of problem coins.
The capitalist in me notes that competition is good. Although AuthentiVIEW and their willingness to marry technology to the process, DGS has a long way to go to reach the reputation of the recognized second-tier services. I wish them luck and look forward to see how the industry receives their service.
NGC Launches Coin Encyclopedia
Numismatic Guarantee Corporation sent an email to customers announcing the launch of the NGC Coin Encyclopedia. The free online resource was developed by NGC Research Department, directed by David W. Lange.
The Coin Encyclopedia provides the history and stories behind each denomination along with NGC Photo Proof images. Each article has an extensive bibliography and a link to NGC’s census for each coin. Aside from circulation coins, entries exist for colonials, commemoratives, American Eagles, patterns and trial coins, and others.
While the resource is extensive for US Coins, the World Coin section only has a few sections for Canada, Great Britain, and South African gold coins. It gives the resource an area to grow.
It looks like a good resource. The layout is intuitive and easy to find the well written information. The search is helpful and the pictures of the various coins enhance each entry. NGC’s Coin Encyclopedia has been added to my bookmarks for future reference.
The Collector Market
As the first weeks of spring and the fiscal quarter, there seems to be a lot of activity in the numismatic markets. Even as the precious metals market is fluctuating like a running roller coaster, the numismatic market seems to be going like gang busters. Numismatic News is reporting that Heritage Auction Galleries will auction an original, not restrike, 1804 dollar at the next Central States Numismatic Society convention. The coin is certified MS65 by NGC and is expected to be sold for the highest price for a silver dollar.
A reader sent an email asking if I thought the growth was pushing the ordinary collector out of the market. My initial reaction was to look at what the trade press was writing about high end, rare coins, and think that I could not afford those coins. Even the “low end” coins selling over $100,000 is out of my price range. I was ready to answer “yes, the ordinary collector is not part of this market.”
Then I looked at my own collecting activities. After all, I consider myself an ordinary collector. As the market grew and the economy turned, rather than gather many collections, I am concentrating on a few item types. For example, my New York connection was able to add some nice items from a variety of sources. All are interesting and inexpensive collectibles.
When I answered, I told my correspondent that maybe the generalist collector could be priced out of the market, but a collector with a passion and goal can still find affordable numismatic items for their collection. There is nothing wrong with creating specific collecting goals and I encourage you to find yours.
Happy Collecting!
NYC: Fun Time, No Finds
New York City is my hometown. I was born in Brooklyn and was moved to Long Island when it was time for me to go to school. Like everyone, I like to go home now and then just to keep connected. Sure, I read the New York Times online, but there is nothing like being there… there is nothing like staying at a midtown hotel and watching the active life on the streets as the taxi drops me off at 11pm.
With New York being America’s crossroads to the world, I thought I would find something interesting in my pocket change. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I should have expected that since I did not go to many tourist areas, preferring to visit friends. I was not there long enough to visit any of the local coin stores either.
It was a fun trip even though my pocket change did not yield any surprises.
Civil Rights Act Commem Passes House
On April 1, 2008, the House of Representatives passed HR 2040, Civil Rights Act of 1964 Commemorative Coin Act by a voice vote. If the bill passes the Senate and is signed by the president, the bill authorizes the US Mint to issue a one-dollar silver commemorative coin to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in 2014.
Although the bill does not specify a design or a theme, the bill requires the Mint to undergo the same bureaucratic review by the Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. It is possible that a different design could be used for the proof and uncirculated coins.
Sales of these coins will include a $10 surcharge that will be given to the United Negro College Fund.
HR 2040 was introduced by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) in April 2007. In the year since its introduction, the bill gained 313 co-sponsors . Because of the number of bipartisan co-sponsors and the work of Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, to work with Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), the bill was brought to the floor without committee hearings. The forty minute debate included accolades to the people who worked on getting this bill to the floor including Rep. David Scott (D-GA).
Now the bill goes to the Senate for their consideration. The Senate may choose to act on the House version or may consider S. 1437 was introduced in May 2007 by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) with 13 cosponsors. It would be unlikely that the Senate will vote on their version since both versions are identical. Passing both versions would force the congress to form a conference committee to reconcile any differences and send it back to the chambers for up-or-down votes. That is too much work for an idea that should pass without further discussion.
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