Though considered by many historians to be the United States' "Second War of Independence" and an important milestone in the young nation's development and desire for independence, the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812 was not commemorated via one or more US commemorative coins. True, there are the 2014 gold and silver coins that marked the Bicentennial of the the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner (an event which took place during the War of 1812), but they were not for the War of 1812 as a whole, they were specific to one patriotic act within the War.
In May 2004, Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that called for the Treasury/Mint to strike coins "in commemoration of the battlefields of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and for other purposes." The bill was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services, with a further referral to its Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology.
Holt's bill called for a three-coin program - Gold Half Eagles (up to 300,000), Silver Dollars (up to 1 million) and Copper-Nickel Clad Half Dollars (up to 2 million).
The coins were to feature designs "emblematic of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812" but no individual design assignments were made for any of the coins. Proposed designs were to be developed in conjunction with the Commission of Fine Arts and the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 Battlefields Foundation; the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee was to review the developed designs.
The coins were to be dated "2006" and struck only in 2006.
The coins were to carry surcharges of $35, $10 and $3 for each gold, silver and clad coin, respectively. The collected surcharges were to be paid to the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 Battlefields Foundation "for purposes of the preservation of historically significant battlefields of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 and related historical sites."
The bill was not reported out of Committee nor considered in the House. When the 108th Congress adjourned, the bill faded away. It would rise again, however, in the 109th Congress!
In February 2005, Representative Holt re-introduced his coin bill. The new bill duplicated his previous bill with only a change of dates to reflect "2007" as the coins' date and 2007 as the only year in which the coins could be struck.
As part of his comments that accompanied the introduction of his bill, Holt stated: "The greatest beneficiaries of these two bills [Holt also introduced a bill that cleared the way for appropriations by the Federal Government for the protection of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields] would be future generations of Americans who will be able to relive more of the history of the Revolutionary War era and the War of 1812, the early development of our Nation, and the critically important roles played by the people of New Jersey and the other original thirteen colonies and the Northwest Territory."
Though worthwhile, Holt's 109th Congress coin bill failed to be reported out of Committee - the same fate as his previous coin bill..
Representative Holt was back in the 110th Congress, introducing an essentially duplicate bill in January 2007. The new bill called for the same three coins and sponsor/beneficiary, but with the coins to be dated "2009" and struck during that year.
Once again, the bill failed in Committee.
Representative Holt did not give up, however, re-introducing his coin bill in the 111th (April 2009) and 112th (January 2012) Congresses, with issue date updates to "2011" and "2013", respectively.
Neither bill, however, was reported out of Committee. With the passing of the bicentennial anniversary year (2012), Representative Holt gave up the pursuit of commemorative coins to help preserve American Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields - but you can't fault his persistence!
The Civil War Trust (now the American Battlefield Trust), a group originally dedicated to preserving US Civil War battlefields, expanded its scope in 2014 (at the urging of the National Park Service), and took on the task of working to preserve American Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields.
IMO, Holt's proposal(s) met the "national significance" threshold and would have made for a worthwhile commemorative coin program. Let the countdown begin for the 2062 and the 250th Anniversary!
Here's a privately-struck medal for the War of 1812 Bicentennial that I added to my collection in the absence of a US coin or coins.
War of 1812 Bicentennial Commemorative Medal / Challenge Coin
(For more on the medal, see:
Medals: 2012-2015 War Of 1812 BicentennialFor other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other What If? stories, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 05/09/2025 12:25 pm
