The American Gold Eagle bullion coin program got a few steps closer in 1983.
It took its first step in February 1983 in the House of Representatives ("House") when Ron E. Paul (R-TX) was back with another gold coin proposal in the 98th Congress. Once again, he introduced his proposal with several co-sponsors (including several 'Repeats' from his 1982 bill): Lawrence McDonald (D-GA) - 'R', George V. Hansen (R-ID) - 'R', James V. Hansen (R-UT), Philip M. Crane (R-IL) - 'R', Gregory H. Brown (R-CO) - 'R', Itimous Thaddeus "Tim" Valentine, Jr. (D-NC) and Daniel B. Crane (R-IL) - 'R').
As with the 1982 Senate bills (see:
American Gold Eagle Program / 1982 Proposals - Part IV, the bill sought to provide for the minting of American Gold Eagle coins pursuant to article 1, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States." The bill was referred to the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs.
The 1983 Paul bill called for two gold bullion coins: a one troy ounce piece and a half-ounce troy ounce coin:
"(1) An "Eagle", having a gold content of one fine 4 troy ounce and a diameter of 1.28 inches;
"(2) A "Half Eagle", having a gold content of one-half fine troy ounce and a diameter of 1.06 inches"Dropped from Paul's bill - reflecting the previous advice of the Treasury Department (see:
American Gold Eagle Program / 1982 Proposals - Part II) - were the "Quarter Eagle" (1/4 ounce) and "Tenth Eagle" (1/10th ounce) coins.
As previously, the planchets to be used for the coins were to be 0.900 pure gold and 0.100 of a TBD alloy.
The bill included design specifications similar to Paul's 1982 bill (For a review, see
American Gold Eagle Program / 1982 Proposals - Part I:
"(1) on the obverse side, a symbolic figure of Liberty such as the design of the 1908 twenty-dollar coin, together with inscriptions specifying the gold content and the year of minting;
"(2) on the reverse side, the obverse of the Great Seal of the United States (the heraldic eagle)"(
While the bill did not set a maximum mintage for either of the proposed coins, it did include a pair of limiting provisions:
"During the first year in which such coins are struck, at least five hundred thousand troy ounces of fine gold shall be struck in each weight of coins authorized by this title."and
"No more than ten million ounces of the gold held by the United States Treasury on the date of enactment of this title shall be minted in American Gold Eagle coins."Delivery of the coins was to start no later than July 1, 1984.
As with previous bills for gold bullion coinage, the Eagles proposed in this bill were
not to be legal tender.
The pricing algorithm for the coins was not exactly specified; it was left to the Secretary of the Treasury to determine. It was, however, mandated to be calculated on a daily basis and include the intrinsic value of the gold (as per "registered commodity exchanges") plus production and distribution expenses.
The bill did not include provision(s) for tax exemptions.
On the same day, Paul introduced a second bill, with the same co-sponsors, that essentially duplicated the provisions of his other bill (described above) except that it added the provision "American Gold Eagle coins shall be subject to taxation in the same manner as other currency and current coins of the United States." This enabled potential capital gains taxes and for sales taxes to be applied.
To continue with the parallel actions in the Senate, see: American Gold Eagle Program / 1983 Proposals - Part IIFor other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other US modern-era US coin stories, see:
Commems Collection
Posted Yesterday 12:23 pm
