Commems Collection Modern: American Gold Eagle Program / 1982 Proposals - Part IV

In addition to the House bill previously discussed, the Senate was also active in 1982 with an American Eagle gold bullion coin program.

On April 1, 1982, Harrison Hagan Schmitt (R-NM) for himself and Alfonse Marcello D'Amato (R-NY), Theodore ("Ted") Fulton Stevens (R-AK), Paula Hawkins (R-FL), Mack Francis Mattingly (R-GA) and Charles Ernest Grassley (R-IA), introduced a bill in the United States ("US") Senate that called for the minting of the American Eagle gold coin pursuant to article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States.

Note: Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution states: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States"

The bill authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to mint gold coins that were to be referred to as "American Eagles." Four distinct gold coins were to be minted:

"(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;

"(3) A "Quarter Eagle", having a gold content of one-quarter fine troy ounce and a diameter of 0.879 inch; and

"(4) A "Tenth Eagle", having a gold content of one-tenth fine troy ounce and a diameter of 0.65 inch."

The planchets used for the coins were to be 0.900 pure gold and 0.100 of a TBD alloy.

Design specifications were also included in the bill:

"(1) on the obverse side, the design of the 1908 double eagle, together with inscriptions specifying the gold content and the year of minting;

"(2) on the reverse side, the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States"

If these provisions sound familiar, it's because they are essentially the same as in the Ron Paul bill of 1981. For a review, see:

- American Gold Eagle Program / 1982 Proposals - Part I

Mintage of the coins was limited to 20 million troy ounces of gold - with the exception of gold deposited by the public for coin exchange.

Pricing of the coins was to be determined daily via the previous day's gold price sold on the Commodity Exchange, Inc. ("COMEX"), plus the Mint's production and distribution expenses. While a daily price adjustment was likely manageable, it had inherent potential financial drawbacks via unintended profit taking. (See American Gold Eagle Program / 1982 Proposals - Part II for a discussion - search COMEX.)

To help avoid such potential financial issues, the bill also gave the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to:

"regulate or suspend the quantity of coins made available for distribution or suspend sales of coins authorized by this Act, as he deems necessary to avoid manipulation of gold prices or coin prices."

(Good planning ahead, IMO!)

The coins were not to be legal tender, and were to be exempt from capital gains taxes, as well as sales taxes, personal and excise taxes. (Keep these provisions in mind.)

The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Finance, but did not proceed further.

In June 1982, Senator Schmitt introduced a follow-up bill that largely mirrored the provisions of his earlier bill, but with one significant change - it did not include the tax exempt provisions. This was in response to the growing opposition to this scenario. (The coins, once again, were not to be assigned legal tender status.)

The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The Committee requested comment from the Bureau of the Mint, but did not proceed further. (The Committee on Finance that reviewed Schmitt's previous bill also requested comment from the Treasury Department, but from the Office of Budget and Management within the Treasury.) Neither bill received comment that caused it to proceed with consideration.


Next up, a look at the progress toward the American Gold Eagle program in 1983.


For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other US modern-era US coin stories, see: Commems Collection