Continuing the National Women's Hall of Fame commemorative coin story...If you haven't yet reviewed the story of the initial attempt at Women's Hallf of Fame coins, check it out here:
What If? 2020 National Women's Hall of Fame - Initial Attempt.
In September 2020, during the Second Session of the 116th Congress, Joseph D. Morelle (D-NY) introduced an updated version of his bill for the National Women's Hall of Fame. It had the same intent as his previous bill, but incorporated several notable differences:
I. Section 3 of "Findings" was updated/corrected (compare to Section 3 in the "Initial Attempt" post):
(3) The involvement of women in the Nation's history is inadequately chronicled, commemorated, and celebrated as reflected in the following:
(A) Fewer than 5 percent of the 2,596 national historic landmarks chronicle women's achievements.
(B) Only nine of the 112 statues in the Capitol's Statuary Hall are of women.
(C) The National Park Service notes that only three of the 130 national monuments in the United States are dedicated to historic female figures.
(D) Of the 5,575 outdoor sculpture portraits of historical figures in the United States, 559 portray women according to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's online inventories catalog.
(E) Six of the 89 National Historic Sites commemorate women.
(F) Only 219 United States Postal Stamps were issued to commemorate women.II. The requested mintage for each of the original coins was altered: Gold Half Eagle (new bill: up to 50,000 vs. previous up to 75,000), Silver Dollar (new bill: up to 400,000 vs. 500,000) and Copper-Nickel (CuNi) Clad Half Dollar (new bill: up to 750,000 vs. 1,000,000).
III. A new coin (I affectionately call it a "hockey puck") was added: a three-inch diameter, five-ounce Silver Dollar with a mintage of up to 100,000 Proof coins; Uncirculated versions weren't included.
IV. The open Design Competition was dropped, and replaced with a design specification for the Mint that the coin designs were to "be emblematic of the impact that women have had on mathematics, geography, education, sciences, medicine, military, government, civil rights, economics, industrial technology, arts, and communication." (A fairly tall order for just four coins!)
The Secretary of the Treasury was to consult with the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Commission of Fine Arts regarding the designs. The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) was to serve in a design review role.
V. The coins were to be dated "2023" and struck only in 2023 (vs. 2020).
VI.The bill no longer had a provision specifying the use of a common design for the obverse and reverse, and no longer required the reverse design to be representative of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The dropping of these provisions certainly made the requirements of Item IV (above) a bit more manageable!
VII. A surcharge of $50 was to be collected on the sale of each five-ounce Silver Dollar.
VIII. The bill was introduced with 34 co-sponsors, and ultimately gained 72 vs. 3 and 57, respectively, for the previous bill.
Morelle's new bill continued the previous surcharge amounts to be collected for the Gold, Silver Dollar (standard size) and Clad Half Dollar, and continued to specify the National Women's Hall of Fame as the beneficiary.
Upon introduction, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. It was not reported out or considered further in the House.
In March 2021, during the First Session of the 117th Congress, Representative Morelle was back with a re-introduction of his September 2020 coin bill for the National Women's Hall of Fame - it continued the provisions of the previous bill. Morelle had recruited 73 co-sponsors at the time of introduction and eventually gained support from 87.
The bill was referred to the House committee on Financial Services where it stalled (again!).
About six weeks after Morelle introduced his bill, in April 2021, Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced a companion bill to Morelle's in the Senate. It was essentially a duplicate of Morelle's bill, including the same "Findings" section, coin specifications, mintage limits, design considerations, surcharges, beneficiary, etc. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, but it progressed no further.
So, four attempts, bills in both chambers of Congress, zero successes. As of the date of this post, Morelle is still a member of the House of Representatives, so there's always a chance his coin bill could resurface.
Fortunately for the National Women's Hall of Fame, the lack of surcharge funds from the failed coin proposals has not kept the Hall from moving ahead with its Mission and Objectives. It does, however, actively solicit donations to keep its operations viable. You can learn more about the Hall here:
National Women's Hall of Fame Web Site.
National Women's Hall of Fame Building in Seneca Falls, NY
(Image Credit: National Women's Hall of Fame Web Site.)Before closing this story, I want to review one noteworthy provision that was common to all four coin bills - it was the "Sense of Congress" statement:
It is the sense of Congress that, to the extent possible without significantly adding to the purchase price of the coins, the coins minted under this Act should be produced in a fashion that provides a more dramatic display of the obverse design chosen.The 2014 National
Baseball Hall of Fame coins implemented a similar "Sense" via coins that were curved/domed and brought attention to the spherical nature of the baseball it depicted. The 2019 Apollo 11 50th Anniversary coins featured a curved/domed planchet which was meant to connect with the curvature of the visor incorporated into the Apollo astronaut's helmet. I wonder how "a more dramatic display" would have been fashioned by the designs of the Women's Hall of Fame coins?
See:
What If? 2020 National Women's Hall of Fame - Initial Attempt for the story of Representative Morelle's first attempt at securing a commemorative coin program for the National Women's Hall of Fame.
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other Modern Issue What If? stories, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 06/27/2025 7:50 pm
