I haven't been able to post much the past few weeks due to some time-intensive family obligations, but I had a few minutes tonight so I thought I'd share another "What if?" story from my research files.In 2010, the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America was marked with a US silver dollar commemorative. It was followed in 2013 with a silver dollar celebrating the centennial of the Girl Scouts of America (though the roots of the organization extend back 1912 not 1913).
But these were not the first attempts to have
US coins issued to mark a milestone anniversary for these long-time institutions.
On February 4, 1984, during the 98th Congress, Representative William E. Dannemeyer (R-CA) introduced a bill to honor each of the organizations with its own commemorative half dollar marking its respective 75th anniversary. Up to 10 million coins of each design were authorized, though the actual mintage for each design was left up to the Secretary of the Treasury, with coins to be struck to meet "public demand." The coins were to be the standard copper-nickel clad composition used for circulating 50-cent pieces.
The bill was a bit ambiguous, however, in terms of whether the coins were to be circulating commemorative pieces or non-circulating pieces targeting collectors. On one hand, it directed the Secretary of the Treasury to sell the coins to the public for 50 cents each - in essence creating a circulating commemorative piece. But it also included language that allowed the coins to be sold at a higher price that would cover their production, promotion and distribution.
Another interestingly element of the proposed legislation was its language specifying that commemorative designs symbolic of each organization's 75th anniversary were to appear on both sides of the 1986-dated coins. Apparently Gilory Roberts' portrait of John F. Kennedy was not to be featured on the special commemorative half dollar!
The bill also specified that all coins struck were to be dated "1986," a year that was not the 75th anniversary year for either organization. The Boy Scouts would celebrate their 75th anniversary in 1985, the Girl Scouts theirs in 1987. Was it a case of being inaccurate for sake of "splitting the difference"?
Regardless of the distribution method for the coins (circulation or NCLT), no surcharges were authorized to be collected. Thus, neither the Boy Scouts nor the Girls Scouts would have received any direct financial benefit from the coins. I suppose each of the organizations could have purchased a quantity of the coins and created custom "special edition" packages for sale at a profit, but as the coins were not approved by the 98th Congress such an option never materialized.
Not to be deterred, Dannemeyer introduced an identical bill in the 99th Congress, but it met with the same fate as his original bill. It was referred to the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs but never reported out for consideration by the whole House.
It's likely that if Dannemeyer's bill had been approved in 1984/85, neither organization would have been able to get its more recent silver dollar commemorative bill passed. That would have meant a significant missed financial opportunity for the Boy Scouts, but a non-issue for the Girl Scouts as sales of their coin were too low to generate any surcharge revenue.
Posted 09/02/2014 6:23 pm
