Dollar Coin Legislation
19Lyds
Posts: 26,492 ✭✭✭✭
I've had a nagging question floating around in my head for the past month or so that I'm hoping someone can answer.
So often I've heard, and even unjustifiably repeated, that the US Mint continues to produce the Kennedy Half Dollar because they are required to by law.
This got me to thinking about the Susan B. Anthony. Certainly the US Code was changed to require the production of these coins yet the series was totally and completely PULLED after only 3 years! Circulation quality coins plus proofs for the first two years and then only for mint sets and proofs on the third year and then nothing.
What legislation was passed to end this coin and could the same thing occur with the Golden Dollar coins?
So often I've heard, and even unjustifiably repeated, that the US Mint continues to produce the Kennedy Half Dollar because they are required to by law.
This got me to thinking about the Susan B. Anthony. Certainly the US Code was changed to require the production of these coins yet the series was totally and completely PULLED after only 3 years! Circulation quality coins plus proofs for the first two years and then only for mint sets and proofs on the third year and then nothing.
What legislation was passed to end this coin and could the same thing occur with the Golden Dollar coins?
I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.
The name is LEE!
The name is LEE!
0
Comments
Read (b) and it is obviously written for the golden dollar.
<< <i>The dollar coin shall be golden in color, have a distinctive edge, have tactile and visual features that make the denomination of the coin readily discernible, be minted and fabricated in the United States, and have similar metallic, anti-counterfeiting properties as United States coinage in circulation on the date of enactment of the United States $1 Coin Act of 1997. >>
looking into previous laws will be time consuming....
<< <i>19Lyds....don't forget about the proofs of 1999 also...!! >>
Exactly my point. Obviously these coins were still governed by public law yet the US Mint had stopped producing them. Was it because the Federal Reserve stopped "ordering" them?
Yet, the federal Reserve stopped "ordering" Kennedy half dollars back in 2002 but the US Mint continues to produce them as "collectibles".
I don't know where the heck I'm going with this but I know I'll never again state that the US Mint continues to produce Kennedy Half Dollars because they are required to "by law" as this is simply not true.
I also expect that once legislation gets modified, the production for the Presidential Dollars AND the Native American Dollars will drop to the current levels of the Kennedy Half.
The name is LEE!
1997... interesting...
Check out "Sec. 5"
SEC. 4. UNITED STATES DOLLAR COINS. <<NOTE: United States $1 Coin Act of
1997. 31 YSC 5101 note.>>
...(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``United States
$1 Coin Act of 1997''.
...(b) Weight.--Section 5112(a)(1) of title 31, United States Code, is
amended by striking ``and weighs 8.1 grams''.
...(c) Color and Content.--Section 5112(b) of title 31, United States
Code, is amended--
......(1) in the first sentence, by striking ``dollar,''; and
......(2) by inserting after the fourth sentence the following:
``The dollar coin shall be golden in color, have a distinctive
edge, have tactile and visual features that make the
denomination of the coin readily discernible, be minted and
fabricated in the United States, and have similar metallic,
anti-counterfeiting properties as United States coinage in
circulation on the date of enactment of the United States $1
Coin Act of 1997.''.
...(d) Design.--Section 5112(d)(1) of title 31, United States Code, is
amended by striking the fifth and sixth sentences and inserting the
following: ``The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the
Congress, shall select appropriate designs for the obverse and reverse
sides of the dollar coin.''.
...(e) <<NOTE: 31 USC 5112 note.>> Production of New Dollar Coins.--
......(1) In general.--Upon the depletion of the Government's
supply (as of the date of enactment of this Act) of $1 coins
bearing the likeness of Susan B. Anthony, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall place into circulation $1 coins that comply with
the requirements of subsections (b) and (d)(1) of section 5112
of title 31, United States Code, as amended by this section.
......(2) Authority of secretary to continue production.--If the
supply of $1 coins bearing the likeness of Susan B. Anthony is
depleted before production has begun of $1 coins
which bear a design which complies with the requirements of
subsections (b) and (d)(1) of section 5112 of title 31, United
States Code, as amended by this section, the Secretary of the
Treasury may continue to mint and issue $1 coins bearing the
likeness of Susan B. Anthony in accordance with that section
5112 (as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of
this Act) until such time as production begins.
(3) Numismatic sets.--The Secretary may include such $1
coins in any numismatic set produced by the United States Mint
before the date on which the $1 coins authorized by this section
are placed in circulation.
...(f) <<NOTE: 31 USC 5112 note.>> Marketing Program.--
(1) In general.--Before placing into circulation $1 coins
authorized under this section, the Secretary of the Treasury
shall adopt a program to promote the use of such coins by
commercial enterprises, mass transit authorities, and Federal,
State, and local government agencies.
(2) Study required.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall
conduct a study on the progress of the marketing program adopted
in accordance with paragraph (1).
(3) Report.--Not later than March 31, 2001, the Secretary of
the Treasury shall submit a report to the Congress on the
results of the study conducted pursuant to paragraph (2).
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. <<NOTE: 31 USC 5112 note.>>
Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be
construed to evidence any intention to eliminate or to limit the
printing or circulation of United States currency in the $1
denomination.
<< <i>I don't know where the heck I'm going with this but I know I'll never again state that the US Mint continues to produce Kennedy Half Dollars because they are required to "by law" as this is simply not true.
I also expect that once legislation gets modified, the production for the Presidential Dollars AND the Native American Dollars will drop to the current levels of the Kennedy Half. >>
I'm getting the impression you are right...
lots of leeway with the word "may" instead of "shall:
<< <i>(a) The Secretary of the Treasury may mint and issue only the following coins: >>
compared to:
<< <i>(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall mint and issue, in quantities sufficient to meet public demand, coins which—(silver bullion) >>
as it reads... at least back then... they minted to demand. If that is still true today.... wth are they doing?
(PS: The last line of the next to last paragraph is killer. a must read.)
and here are the notes on the Section 5112
knock yourself out on the amendments to Section 5112.....
There is some good reading in there though. Unfortunately, not all public laws are on cornell's site.
Only Congress or the Treasury Secretary can end a series, and I think only Congress can end a denomination. When a new series is passed and signed into law (with amendments), it supercedes and ends the previous series when it takes effect. In the case of the Sacagawea dollar coin, that was January 2000. That's why, when in 1999 the dollar coin inventory was finally depleted and the Mint needed to strike more dollar coins, they had to be SBA's.
Half dollars have not been struck for circulation since 2001 because there is no demand for them. There is a small collector demand for them, and the Mint fulfills that by issuing bags and rolls to collectors only. They are not required by law to do it.
The 50 State Quarter program, Territorial Quarter program, National Parks Quarter program and the current dollar coins are a different story. The laws authorizing each one require(d) that they be struck for circulation whether demand is (was) there or not. The mintages can vary, but they have (had) to be struck. The demand for the dollar coins is very small, and that's why they are piling up in inventory.
SBA's - mintage was suspended for many years at a time.
Sac's - Has now become a small mintage for collectors only. This technique was once against mint policy.
Native American - Mintage required by law as a set fraction of Presidential dollar mintage.
Presidential - Mintage and distribution through banking system required by Act of Congress.
This brings up the question -- will collectors in the year 2100 be buying GSA Richard Nixon dollars?
Stewart Huckaby
mailto:stewarth@HA.com
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<< <i>This brings up the question -- will collectors in the year 2100 be buying GSA Richard Nixon dollars?
Since there is no precious metal content (currently but who knows, manganese and copper could go through the roof!) I would not expect the GSA to get involved. Well, unless they were selling them by the ton that is.
I guess the whol point of the thread is that since the SBA was still a viable and authorized coin (by law) which the mint resumed minting 18 years later in 1999, I wonder why these were not simply included in proof sets and mint sets? Pehaps thats a dumb question since the majority of folks really hate the SBA but those high grade coins demand significant premiums.
As I stated earlier, I'll not use that "required by law" comment anymore because it just doesn't seem to be the case. The Feds quit ordering Kennedy's so it stands to reason that the mint quit making all up production runs. However, the popularity of the coin (despite their attempts at killing the desing through constantly lowering the relief) meant that there was still a collectors market out there for what was produced.
The name is LEE!
They have the unexpressed right to maintain production of them so as to include them in numismatic products, such as Proof and Uncirculated sets, if they think that sales would suffer were the largest diameter coin in the sets be discontinued. There is precedent for this. Starting in 1878 production of dimes, quarters and halves fell sharply as quantities of these coins returned to America from Central and South America. The Mint could have struck none at all in 1879, but chose to make a limited quantity of business strikes so as to justify selling Proofs to collectors. THis practice continuied on dimes for a few years, for quarters for a little longer, and for halves until 1891.
TD
A hundred years from now, the huge hoards of "golden" Presidential, Native American, and Sacagawea dollars will probably have long been dispersed--be it through eventual demand, hyperinflation, or the Cybernetic eGSA. But, I'd be very surprised (assuming I'm around to be surprised, in one form or another) if there weren't some pretty valuable gems hidden among the "dreck" of the 2000s to 2040s.
and it got me thinking... are they? could they be?
Section 5112 (a) 1 & 5112 (b) create the golden dollar. But there is no mention of whether they are Presidential, Sacagawea, or Native American.
Section 5112 (n) creates the Presidential dollar.
Section 5112 (r) creates the Native American dollar.
reading 5112 (n)... go to the very bottom of it:
<< <i>(9) Reversion to preceding design.— Upon the termination of the issuance of coins under this subsection, the design of all $1 coins shall revert to the so-called “Sacagawea-design” $1 coins. >>
reading 5112 (r)(2)B(ii)... contain the so-called “Sacagawea design” and the inscription “Liberty”.
So, they seem to be treated differently in the law, but as I read it... at least the Presidential Dollars were meant to replace the Sacagawea design and the Native American dollars to simply incorporate the obverse design.
So, I'm thinking the Mint can't make the pre-NA Sacagawea dollars as the Presidentials replaced them.
It'll be interesting what is done once the Presidential dollars come to an end.... do they make Sac's again? Or am I wrong about all of this?
where is "Liberty" on the Presidential Dollar Coins?
<< <i>The SBA's (and Sac's) are a completely different case than the Presidential and Native American dollars altho each of the 4 have unique mintage quirks. The government did not have to mint Sacs in the absence of demand. The new dollars have mintage mandated by law. Native American dollars are not required to be distributed by the Federal Reserve and banks and hence, are not. Presidential dollars are required to be distributed. Mintage required by law is a quite unusual feature for modern US coins.
SBA's - mintage was suspended for many years at a time.
Sac's - Has now become a small mintage for collectors only. This technique was once against mint policy.
Native American - Mintage required by law as a set fraction of Presidential dollar mintage.
Presidential - Mintage and distribution through banking system required by Act of Congress. >>
I can see where the Presidential and Native American Dollars have to be minted, but I do not see where they have to be minted in such large quantities. If demand is low for them I don't see why they cannot do what they are already doing for the Kennedy Half Dollars.... mint a minimum amount to satisfy collector demand.
It's a big statue on the reverse.
<< <i><<where is "Liberty" on the Presidential Dollar Coins?>>
It's a big statue on the reverse. >>
Correct...
5112 (n) 2 D
<< <i>(D) Inscriptions of “liberty”.— Notwithstanding the second sentence of subsection (d)(1), because the use of a design bearing the likeness of the Statue of Liberty on the reverse of the coins issued under this subsection adequately conveys the concept of Liberty, the inscription of “Liberty” shall not appear on the coins. >>
<< <i>
<< <i>This brings up the question -- will collectors in the year 2100 be buying GSA Richard Nixon dollars?
Since there is no precious metal content (currently but who knows, manganese and copper could go through the roof!) I would not expect the GSA to get involved. Well, unless they were selling them by the ton that is.
I guess the whol point of the thread is that since the SBA was still a viable and authorized coin (by law) which the mint resumed minting 18 years later in 1999, I wonder why these were not simply included in proof sets and mint sets? Pehaps thats a dumb question since the majority of folks really hate the SBA but those high grade coins demand significant premiums.
As I stated earlier, I'll not use that "required by law" comment anymore because it just doesn't seem to be the case. The Feds quit ordering Kennedy's so it stands to reason that the mint quit making all up production runs. However, the popularity of the coin (despite their attempts at killing the desing through constantly lowering the relief) meant that there was still a collectors market out there for what was produced. >>
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>This brings up the question -- will collectors in the year 2100 be buying GSA Richard Nixon dollars?
Since there is no precious metal content (currently but who knows, manganese and copper could go through the roof!) I would not expect the GSA to get involved. Well, unless they were selling them by the ton that is.
I guess the whol point of the thread is that since the SBA was still a viable and authorized coin (by law) which the mint resumed minting 18 years later in 1999, I wonder why these were not simply included in proof sets and mint sets? Pehaps thats a dumb question since the majority of folks really hate the SBA but those high grade coins demand significant premiums.
As I stated earlier, I'll not use that "required by law" comment anymore because it just doesn't seem to be the case. The Feds quit ordering Kennedy's so it stands to reason that the mint quit making all up production runs. However, the popularity of the coin (despite their attempts at killing the desing through constantly lowering the relief) meant that there was still a collectors market out there for what was produced. >>
>>
Sorry, I hit the "Reply to Thread" too soon. Your question is not dumb at all. The reason the 1999 SBA's were not included in the proof and mint sets is because they were struck later in the year, after the proof and mint sets were released.