Back in 2014, I posted a What If? about a failed 1960s commemorative coinage bill that would have resulted in a program that issued a circulating commemorative half dollar for each state in the order it joined the Union. The coins would have continued to feature the recently-started use of John F. Kennedy's portrait on their obverse, but with a new reverse design for each state. I viewed the proposed program as a distant forerunner to the
State Quarters Program of 1999-2008.
That potential program, however, was not the first time a bill was proposed in Congress that would have resulted in a commemorative coin for most, if not all, of the US States.
In 1957, Senator Edward John Tyhe (R-MN) introduced a bill in the Senate that called for "the Director of the Mint to honor one request from the legislature of each State for a commemorative coin." Its language was very "loose" in that it did not specify an order for the coins to be issued, thus allowing for an ad hoc release schedule based on the date of "an event of particular significance or any matter of interest to any such legislature, or its authorized committee." The bill did, at least, limit each State to one coin.
The bill also lacked a specification of which denomination was to be used for the commemorative coins. Considering its date of introduction, it would seem likely that the 50-cent coin would have been the "go to" denomination, but it seems just as likely that with the freedom to choose, some states would have opted for some other denomination in order to be different and set their coin apart from the norm.
The bill did require the states to pay for all costs associated with the dies and manufacturing of the coins, but did not place any limits on the number of coins that could be requested by a state or on when/how often a state could request its coins. Based on the language that gave the individual states the authority to decide how many coins were to be produced, it appears the bill was envisioning not-intended-for-circulation (NIFC) coins for collectors vs. regular circulation pieces.
The coinage proposal was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency upon its introduction, but was not seriously considered - it died for lack of action. If the bill had passed and its language hadn't been tightened up in Committee, I could imagine a very messy program and one that had the potential of being very frustrating to collectors. IMO, it was a good thing this one didn't go anywhere in Congress.
It appears to my eyes, that, with this bill, Senator Tyhe was making one more attempt at getting a coin issued for Minnesota's 1958 Statehood Centennial. In the previous Congress, he, along with several Representatives in the House, introduced a bill calling for commemorative half dollars to mark the State's centennial. None of the bills gained traction, however, and all died quietly. Had this new bill been authorized, I'm sure Minnesota would have been among the first, if not the first, in line for a coin!
You can read about the 1960s bill I referenced above here:
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What If? 1960's Statehood Half Dollar Series.
For other of my What If? posts, check out:
Read More: Commems Collection.
Posted 07/01/2021 3:58 pm
