Commems Collection Classic: "Did You Know?" Statehood Centennials #10

In June 1947, the House Committee on Banking and Currency, the committee within the House of Representatives to which commemorative coin bills were referred for consideration, reported back to the full House its favorable opinion regarding HR 1180, a bill that would have authorized a half-dollar to mark the 100th anniversary of Wisconsin's statehood. Though the bill would be approved by the House and Senate, it would ultimately be vetoed by President Harry S. Truman.

An interesting inclusion in the report was a discussion of the general failure of many past commemorative coins. The report included a table showing all previously approved coins along with the number of coins authorized, coined and melted. The Committee divided the previous commemoratives into two groups: Statehood Celebrations (7 coins) and Other (44 coins).

Looking at the 44 non-statehood related coins, they put forth that only about 50% of the coins authorized for these celebrations were actually requested by their sponsors and, of the coins struck, 42% were returned for melting. In contrast, most of the statehood coins showed stronger sales performance. Sponsors of the Illinois, Maine and Iowa coins sold all of the coins delivered by the Mint, and the Alabama and the Arkansas sponsors returned fewer than 9% of the coins they received. It appears the Committee conveniently overlooked the Missouri and Texas coins, however, as the sponsors of these coins returned 59% and 44%, respectively, of the coins struck and delivered by the Mint.

In any case, the Committee recommended that all future commemorative coins be limited to those of "statehood centennials, or multiples thereof" to avoid the commemorative coin abuses of the past as well as future presidential vetoes. Ironic that the recommendation came in a report tied to a favored statehood centennial coin that was ultimately vetoed by the president!

I'm glad the Committee's recommendation never gained any traction in Congress, as I believe there is much more to commemorate in our history than statehood centennials.