I've written before about the US Mint's 1993 Benjamin Franklin Firefighters Medal, but wanted to return to it for a bit more discussion of its path through Congress and what its enabling legislation accomplished.
A bill "in commemoration of Benjamin Franklin and to enact a fire service bill of rights" was introduced in the House of Representatives in May 1991; it was referred to Referred to the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, and further referred to the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage. The bill called for a Gold Half Eagle ($5.00) and a Silver Dollar; each of the coins were to be struck to standard US specifications for their respective denomination. The bill allowed for up to 250,000 of the gold coins and up to 4.0 million of the Silver Dollars.
By the time the bill was reported out by the Subcommittee, it was amended/modified such that the the proposed coins were replaced with a proposal for up to 1.5 million silver medals. The bill was amended to become a medal bill due to the Committee's concerns over the increasing number of the commemorative coin proposals.
It took some time to make its way through Congress, but the amended bill was finally passed on October 3, 1992. It passed with only minor challenge, as it had bipartisan support and 290 cosponsors.
The provisions of the Fire Service Bill of Rights that were included in the original bill, were moved to the beginning of the amended bill to give them more prominence and adjustments were made to the allocation percentages of the collected surcharges; each medal carried a $15.00 surcharge.
The Senate approved the amended bill without issue and it was signed into law by President George Herbert Walker Bush on October 12, 1992.
Here is the Fire Service Bill of Rights the Public Law established by the Act:
(1) America's fire services should be acknowledged as our first responder to domestic emergencies.
(2) Members of America's fire services deserve every protection from the dangers associated with emergency response.
(3) Family members of those in the fire services should be provided for in the event of the service-connected loss or disability of any member of a fire service.
(4) Members of fire services should be educated in the latest fire and life safety sciences, and should have access to ongoing training programs to be able to take full advantage of the latest information.
(5) Fire services should be provided with state-of-the-art equipment and apparatus to handle all emergency situations.
(6) America's fire services deserve to have access to up-to-date fire and life safety programs to enable them to protect the public with minimal risk to the safety of their members.
(7) Responding fire services have a right to know the kind of danger presented by hazardous materials they face in all emergency responses.
(8) Fire services should be fully informed of the threat of infectious diseases their members face during the course of life safety activities.
(9) America's fire services have the right to expect that the American people will be full partners in the struggle to preserve life and property from the ravages of fire and other disasters.
(10) The history of American fire services and the sacrifices their members have made to protect lives and property in communities across the Nation deserve to be commemorated and honored."Total sales for the medal never approached the full amount authorized: the Proof version sold 89,311 examples, and sales of the Uncirculated medal totaled 26,011. The combined total of 115,322 units generated $1,729,830 in surcharge funds. A one-eighth share of this total equals $216,228.75. While not a trivial sum, it's a far cry from the $2.812 million each organization could have received from surcharge funds if the medal had sold out its maximum authorization.
The surcharges were to be equally distributed (12.5% each) between:
1. The
Benjamin Franklin National Memorial for renovation/restorations/capital improvements and educational exhibits at the Memorial;
2. The
Institute of Life Safety Technology and Emergency Management Education to provide grants to colleges and universities for fire training courses;
3. The
International Association of Fire Chiefs Foundation to award scholarships for college level courses in fire science, engineering, and related fields;
4. The
International Association of Fire Fighters Burn Foundation for burn injury research at hospital burn centers and other qualified medical research organizations;
5. The
National Fire Protection Associations' Learn Not To Burn Foundation to deliver public education programs and resources to low income residents in rural and urban communities;
6 The
National Volunteer Fire Council Foundation to establish and maintain programs to promote the health and safety of all firefighters;
7. The
National Association of State Fire Marshals to establish and maintain the `John Heinz Memorial Scholarship Fund to provide educational scholarships to the children and surviving spouses of fallen firefighters and emergency medical personnel; and
8. The
International Association of Arson Investigators Educational Foundation to design and maintain arson prevention programs.
It's likely the program would have sold more units, and generated more in surcharge funds, if the original coin bill had moved forward vs. the amended/medal bill. Still, IMO, the medal is attractive and was well-produced and a worthy inclusion in a set of modern US commemorative pieces. (With the increase in the number of commemorative silver medals being offered by the US Mint of late, I think collectors may begin to seek out the Franklin medal to "complete" their medal sets!)
1993 Benjamin Franklin Firefighters Silver Medal
To read more about the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Fire Fighters Medal, check out:
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1993 Benjamin Franklin Commemoratives-
1993 Benjamin Franklin Firefighters Silver Medal
Posted 01/04/2022 07:02 am
