A bill recently introduced by Rep. Melvin Watt [D-NC] proposes a 40-coin, eight-year series of circulating quarters to commemorate and be emblematic of "prominent civil rights leaders and important events that have advanced civil rights in America."

H.R. 6701, "Civil Rights Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008," was introduced July 31, and has an already large cosponsor list of 99 representatives.

Most collectors are now familiar with the H.R. 6184, "America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008," which the House passed July 9 and would continue circulating quarters commemorating national parks and sites for at least 11 years. Like it, H.R. 6701 would authorize a large silver version of the coin measuring 3 inches in diameter and weighing a 5 ounces.

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Legislation to change the metallic composition of the penny and nickel to a less expensive copper-colored steel passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 8, 2008.

However, the plunge in base metal prices since could very well end the legislation’s chances of moving forward in the Senate.

The goal of the bill, which it titled Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008 - H.R. 5512, was directed toward saving money after high copper prices pushed production costs of the penny up to about 1.26 cents and the nickel to about 7.7 cents.

Since May, copper prices have fallen to where the melt value of a penny is now under a half cent and the nickel is just slightly higher than 5 cents — the U.S. Mint now makes money issuing pennies and almost breaks even with nickels.

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The United States Mint today announced the introduction of a new coin product named the 8-8-08 Double Prosperity Set. The set includes two, uncirculated one-half ounce gold coins — the 22-karat American Eagle and the 24-karat American Buffalo.

The two-coin set is priced at $1,298.95, and will go on sale at the Mint’s online website on August 1, 2008 at noon (ET).

The prosperity set is the second offering in the United States Mint Celebration Series, which is an experimental program to explore the viability of coins "that are packaged and positioned to celebrate special gift-giving occasions and celebratory events."

The Mint’s first product in the series was launched in February to celebrate the 2008 Lunar New Year with an American Buffalo 2008 Celebration Coin.

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President Bush made the American Veterans Disabled for Life Commemorative Coin Act law with his signature last week. With that, a small mention of its passage in the mainstream media would be expected. But not so. Articles are sparse.

The new law (Public Law No: 110-277) will have the U.S. Mint issue up to 350,000 silver dollar coins in 2010 commemorating disabled American Veterans. $10 surcharges for each coin are to help build an American Veterans’ Disabled for Life Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Those most involved with the coin bill, congressman Dennis Moore [D-KS] and Mark Kirk [R-IL] who introduced it in January of 2007, have offered public praise.

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The House of Representatives passed commemorative coin legislation Tuesday that would issue silver and gold coins honoring NASA’s 50th anniversary this year. The legislation, H.R. 6455, was introduced and passed swiftly in five days.

Praiseworthy speed? Perhaps not… Consider first that H.R. 6455 is nearly identical to H.R. 2750, which the House had already passed in 2007. And for all practical purposes, it’s identical to the Senate’s June passage of S. 2159.

Before getting into why there are three bills, its more important to know what the passage of any one of them means to coin collectors. Each bill would authorize the United States Mint to issue:

• 300,000 one-ounce silver dollars for each of 9 designs depicting the 8 planets, plus 1 coin for dwarf planets (Pluto)

• 50,000 one-ounce $50 gold coins depicting the sun and emblematic of US astronaut sacrifices

The $50 gold coin would only be issued as part of a complete set with the 9 silver commemoratives. All coins would be 2008 dated to honor the 50th anniversary of NASA’s first day of operations on October 1, 1958.

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President Bush today signed legislation that will honor disabled Veterans with commemorative silver dollar coins for 2010.

The designs of the coins are to be "emblematic of the service of our disabled veterans who, having survived the ordeal of war, made enormous personal sacrifices defending the principles of our democracy."

Surcharge funds from the sale of each coin will help build a memorial for disabled veterans.

The American Veterans Disabled for Life Commemorative Coin Act, H.R. 634, was introduced in January of 2007 by Rep Dennis Moore and Rep Mark Kirk.

The House in May and the Senate in June unanimously passed the bill. Rep Moore commented after the House passage,

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The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) will next meet at the upcoming American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money convention in Baltimore. 

In addition to reviewing reverse designs for the 2009 American Eagle Platinum Proof Coin, the CCAC has invited the public to share their views, opinions and suggestions in an open forum.

“Every year the members of the CCAC look forward to meeting at the ANA convention, because it’s a great opportunity to interact with the numismatic community,” noted CCAC Chairman Mitch Sanders. 

“We hope that any interested numismatists will come to our meeting and forum to see the coin design process in action, and especially to let us know their opinions about American coin design.”

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Legislation for circulated, uncirculated, proof and silver dollar coins commemorating national parks and sites flew through the House of Representatives in five weeks and ended with a unanimous "yes" vote July 9.

The House has been ablaze with coin talk this year, handling nearly 20 coin bills. Is their coin fervor resulting from the will/desires of people? And, will it carry over to the slower Senate?

For America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act at least, it would appear so.

When the national park quarter legislation (H.R. 6184) was introduced in the House on June 4, 2008, the Senate didn’t wait for it to pass the House like it could have. Instead, Senator John Barrasso [R-WY] introduced an identical version of the bill (S. 3214) on June 26.

It’s not completely uncharacteristic to introduce similar bills in both houses and so close together, but it does hint at something stronger in play.

The day after H.R. 6184 passed the House, Senator Barrasso released a statement saying,

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America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 (H.R. 6184) sailed through the House easily yesterday with 419 members voting "Yes", and 0 voting "No".

H.R. 6184 would authorize the United States Mint to make changes to the design of the quarter-dollar coin to feature one national park or other national site in each state, the District of Columbia, and each territory beginning in 2010.

During this period, designs for each national park or other national site would replace the eagle design on the reverse side of the George Washington quarter that is scheduled to be used again in 2010 (after the conclusion of the D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarter Program).

Collector proof, uncirculated and silver park quarter coins are also authorized under the measure.

With a rate of issuance set to five quarter-dollars each year, and a clause granting the Treasury Secretary — the ultimate authority over the United States Mint — the discretion to mint a "second round," the American public may see rotating quarter designs for 20 years, or until almost 2030.

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A bill directing the U.S. Mint to issue 350,000 $1 silver commemorative coins in 2010 honoring disabled veterans was officially presented to President Bush yesterday, July 7.

H.R. 634 passed in the House and Senate last month and was cleared for the White House on June 18. With its official move yesterday, no more steps remain for H.R. 634 to become law other than the president’s ink.

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