To catch up on the first part of this story, see: Part I.Representative Patterson offered a revised version of his LA Olympics coin bill in March 1982. Though it shared some elements of his previous coin bill, the new bill was definitely a significantly revised proposal.
A major change related to the number of coins requested; the new bill requested fewer total coins and fewer total designs:
- Up to
25 million (vs. 30) Copper-Nickel (CuNi) Clad Dollars -
one design (vs. five), Uncirculated coins only
- Up to
15 million (vs. 22.4) Silver $10 coins - four designs in each of
three (vs. four) series (12 total), Uncirculated and Proof
- Up to
1.0 million (vs. 2.4) Gold $50 coins - one design in each of
two (vs. four) series (2 total), Uncirculated and Proof
- Up to
1.0 million (vs. 1.6) Gold $100 coins - one design in each of
two (vs. four) series (2 total), Uncirculated and Proof
A quick tally of the numbers yields the potential for
17 (vs. 29) designs with
33 (vs. 53) coin versions (not counting potential different mint mark options). The program's potential face value would be $325,000,000 (vs. $534,000,000). Still a large program, but not as large as the first proposal!
An interesting note about the Silver $10 coins - the new bill called for a Sterling Silver composition (i.e., 92.5% silver) vs. the previous bill's 90% silver composition. Such would have been a novel composition for
US coinage as its standard was traditionally 90%. FYI: Sterling Silver was the standard composition for circulating coins in the United Kingdom prior to 1920, but is often used today by
The Royal Mint for modern British commemorative coins.
As with his previous bill, Representative Patterson specified that the Mint/Treasury was to provide the coins to the LAOOC for them to sell/distribute with all coins delivered between January 1, 1983 and December 31, 1984. The new bill, however, went a step further and provided details on the engagement of a third-party marketing company to handle marketing, sales and distribution on a world-wide basis.
In its outline of required marketing organization contract terms, a provision was included that stated that the selected marketing group had to guarantee to pay the LAOOC a minimum of $30 million in coin sale proceeds. Such a provision would help ensure that the selected marketing organization would not be able to "cook the books" and cut out the LAOOC from benefiting from sales of its coins. IMO, it was a smart provision that would carry the weight of law and help protect the interests of the coin program's planned beneficiary.
Related to the $30 million guarantee, the bill also enabled the Secretary of the Treasury to reduce the number of designs produced for any denomination as long as it would not negatively impact the potential net proceeds of the coin program for the LAOOC and cause overall net proceeds to drop below $30 million.
Patterson's revised bill was referred to the House Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, with a referral to its Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage. As with his previous LA Olympics coin bill, it stalled in Committee. Its 60+ co-sponsors weren't enough to push it forward.
I'll discuss the bill that authorized the LA Olympics coin program, and a closely related coin bill, in an upcoming post.For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more modern US commemorative coin stories, see:
Commems Collection 
Posted 11/04/2025 12:31 pm
