Yesterday, I posted about one of the two coin series proposed in a bill introduced by Senator James A. McClure (R-ID) (on behalf of himself and Steven Douglas Symms (R-ID). You can read it here:
What If? 1984-86 Morgan Silver Dollar.
Here, I take a closer look at the bill's 'Liberty' series of silver coins.
The bill's language makes it clear that the 'Liberty' series was meant to be a silver bullion vehicle vs. a traditional coin: it was not to feature a denomination as part of its design, it was to be packaged for sale in tubes of between 25 and 100 pieces and its sale was to be targeted at "primary dealers in bullion coins." Such dealers were, at a minimum, to be dealers that "have the financial resources and expertise necessary both to, establish effective distribution systems and to make a viable two-way market for the coin." Without explicitly stating it, the bill was focused on marketing the piece to larger coin dealers with potential national connections vs. small/local coin dealers.
Each 'Liberty' Series piece was to feature a "liberty design" (details not stated), include one troy ounce of silver, weigh 31.103 grams and have a diameter of 1.6 inches or 40.64 millimeters. (Sounds alot like an American Silver Eagle bullion coin!) The bullion pieces were to include the standard
US coinage inscriptions: "Liberty", "In God We Trust", United States of America", "E Pluribus Unum" but replace the "One Dollar" denomination with "Contains One Troy Ounce".
The striking of up to 90 million pieces - combined - during 1984, 1985 and 1986 was to be authorized. The bill did
not include provisions for the striking of Proof and/or Uncirculated coins for collectors - it appears the release was to be purely a bullion coin.
The silver for the Series was to come from the National Defense Stockpile.
Net proceeds from sales of the coins were to be deposited in the National Defense Stockpile Transaction Fund. Costs related to the minting, distributing and promoting/marketing of the coin were to be recovered from sales and credited to the US Mint appropriation fund - the Mint's Public Enterprise Fund did not start operation until Fiscal Year 1996, and it was thus still reliant on appropriations from the US Congress for its operating funds.
Note: The Stockpile Transaction Fund was a fund into which the net proceeds from sales of material from the National Stockpile would be held and made available for future purchases for the National Stockpile vs. being used for unrelated purposes.As noted in my previous post (referenced above), the bill was included in a Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Hearing in April 1983 but did not proceed beyond the Committee.
A similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives ("House") in April 1983 by Larry Craig (R-ID). It was jointly referred to the the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs (with further referrals to the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage, and the Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization), and the House Committee on Armed Services (with a further referral to its Subcommittee on Seapower and Strategic and Critical Materials).
The House bill called for coin production to take place in 1985, 1986 and 1987 vs. the Senate bill's 1984, 1985 and 1986. As did the Senate bill, the House bill stalled in Committee.
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more What If? stories, see:
Commems Collection
Posted Today 5H 47M ago
