Commems Collection Modern: 1994 Women In Military Service

I previously posted about the unsuccessful proposals for a commemorative coin program to honor women who had served in the US military. (Read them here: What If? 1993 Women In Military Service - Part I and What If? 1993 Women In Military Service - Part II.)

This post is about the 1994 Women in Military Service Silver Dollar that followed the original multi-coin proposals.

The objective of the bills proposing the subject coin was to pay tribute to the women veterans of the US military via a design "symbolic of women's service in the Armed Forces of the United States."

Rather than consider a separate bill for a Women in Military Service commemorative coin, Congress moved forward with bills that combined multiple commemorative coin proposals. In November 1993, Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-MA) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives, it included proposals for a 1994 Prisoners of War Silver Dollar, a Women Service in the US Military Silver Dollar, a Vietnam Veterans Memorial Silver Dollar and a Thomas Jefferson-Monticello Silver Dollar. The multi-coin bill was referred to the House Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs.

A few days later, Representative Kennedy requested that the Committee be discharged from further consideration of the bill and that the House consider a new version of his bill. The second bill repeated the coin provisions of the first, but added a call for a US Capitol Bicentennial Silver Dollar.

There was no objection to Kennedy's request, so the old bill was tabled and the new bill was brought up for consideration; it was passed without issue (as had the original version). The bill was also passed by the Senate and subsequently signed into law by US President William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton on December 14, 1993.

The coins could be issued starting May 1, 1994, with an end date of April 30, 1995; all coins struck/issued were to bear the date "1994". The issue price of the coin - Proof: $31 Pre-Issue, $35 Regular Issue and Uncirculated: $27 Pre-Issue, $32 Regular Issue - was to include a $10 surcharge, designated for the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Inc. for "the purpose of creating, endowing, and dedicating the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. The Law authorized a silver dollar with a diameter of 1.5 inches, a weight of 26.73 grams and an alloy composition of 0.900 silver and 0.100 copper.

The obverse of the silver dollar presents five servicewomen, in conjoined profile, each representing one of five branches of the US Military. (The five branches at the time were: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard - no Space Force yet!) US Mint Sculptor-Engraver T. James Ferrell was the designer of the obverse. (Note: Ferrell passed in May 2020 at the age of 80.)

The coin's reverse reflects an old-and-new theme as it depicts the approved design for the Women In Military Service for American Memorial. US Mint Sculptor-Engraver Thomas D. Rogers engraved the Memorial's design on the reverse.

A few notes on the coin's Memorial design:

The design presents a portion of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial - the Hemicycle - found in Arlington, Virginia. The "old" aspect of the design comes in via the facade itself which was dedicated in 1932 as the ceremonial entrance to the Arlington National Cemetery. The original structure was never fully completed, however, and had been left in an uncompleted state until being purchased by the Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation (WIMSA) in 1986.

The structure was updated, expanded and renovated to create appropriate gallery/exhibit hall space and opened as the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in 1997; it was re-branded as the Military Women's Memorial in 2019.





The silver dollar had a maximum authorized mintage of 500,000, and was authorized to be struck in Proof and Uncirculated versions. Actual sales totaled 311,138 (~62% of Maximum), with 241,278 Proof coins and 69,860 Uncirculated sold. (I purchased my example as part of the the Mint's three-coin Uncirculated Set - total sales of 42,684 (included in the figures above). The three-piece set also included the 1994 Vietnam Veterans Silver Dollar and the 1994 Prisoner of War Silver Dollar.)




To learn more about the prior unsuccessful attempts to secure a Women in US Military Service commemorative coin program, see:

- What If? 1993 Women In Military Service - Part I, and

- What If? 1993 Women In Military Service - Part II.)


For more of my stories about commemorative coins and medals, including more modern US commemorative coin stories, see: Commems Collection.