Continuing from Part IFollowing Representative Allard was the testimony of Admiral Yost; Yost was the Chairman of the James Madison Fellowship Foundation ("Foundation"). The Admiral gave the most "nuts and bolts" live testimony at the Hearing. He let it be known that following the bill's introduction in the House, Foundation representatives met with US Mint representatives and Staff members of the appropriate House and Senate committees, as well as individuals from the coin collecting community, to discuss the proposed legislation and seek feedback on it. As a result, Yost stated that the Foundation was revising its coinage requests as follows:
1. Reducing the mintage of the Gold Half Eagle from 400,000 to 300,000.
2. Reducing the mintage of the Silver Dollar from 1,000,000 to 900,000.
3. Adding up to 1,000,000
Silver Half Dollars.
In addition, the changes would include:
4. Reducing the Gold Half Eagle surcharge from $35 to $30 (per coin).
5. Reducing the Silver Dollar surcharge from $7 to $6 (per coin).
6. Including a surcharge of $3 per coin for the Silver Half Dollar.
Regarding the changes, Yost stated:
"These new numbers are the lowest authorized mintage of any commemorative coin since the commemorative coin program was reinstated in the early 1980's . We are hopeful that the U.S. Mint will be successful in completely selling out these coins. These lower numbers should encourage a great deal of support from coin collectors because of the strong likelihood that all of the coins will be sold.
"Lowering the surcharge on the coins is a direct response to the concerns of coin collectors who have expressed these concerns about the price of commemorative coins. We fully expect the Mint to market these coins at a price which fully reflects these lower surcharges .
"The Mint has indicated that at the lower mintage levels, the coins are likely to sell out so that the Mint's marketing costs will be lower . The funds saved from these lower costs will be passed along to the coin purchaser."Following his coin-specific testimony, Yost presented the Subcommittee with information on the Fellowship Program, its plans and its financial needs.
After Admiral Yost had completed his prepared remarks, Druie Douglas Barnard, Jr. (D-GA), a member of the Subcommittee, raised the potential issue of multiple existing 1993 commemorative coin programs and raised the possibility of delaying the Bill of Rights coin program to 1995, for example. He asked if Yost believed a delay would be a detriment to the coin program's success.
Admiral Yost replied:
"I think it would lose significance in relation to the Bill of Rights bicentennial [a 1992 event]. I also believe that it would delay awarding the fellowships that after all is done in commemoration of the bicentennial of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It would delay that to 1995 or 1996, by the time we got the money in, and what have you.
"So, yes, it would be a significant setback. We attempted to get this bill before the subcommittee last year, in 1991, but it was our view there were just too many bills in 1991. If we wait until 1995, we would see there are too many bills in 1995 as well . We are competitive, we think we can market this coin."Barnard also questioned the funding model to be used by the Foundation for the Fellowship program. Admiral Yost discussed the original $20 million "seed" money provided by Congress, which assumed additional funds would be raised from the private sector.
Yost described the "Catch-22" situation the Foundation was facing: Congress had not funded the Foundation to the level it needed to support its active implementation, and the private sector was not willing to donate to an endowment that was not in active operation. So, not enough money to go "live" and no outside funding unless "live." As a result, the Foundation was faced with a need for additional funds from a source other than the private sector - hence, the proposed commemorative coin program.
As Admiral Yost had indicated during his testimony, the Senate bill - when introduced by Edward M. Kennedy in August 1991 - included the mintage and surcharge revisions as outlined in the Hearing (listed above).
Neither the House nor Senate bill, however, progressed in Congress. Barnard's influence? Good news for the James Madison Fellowship Program was on the horizon, however - a topic for a follow-up post!
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more modern issue What If> stories, see:
Commems Collection 
Posted 11/17/2025 06:40 am
