Legislation has been proposed in the United States House of Representatives that would authorize the United States Mint to strike up to 100,000 $10 gold coins in 2015 honoring the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Marine Corps Aviation.
Titled the Marine Corps Aviation Centennial Commemorative Coin Act, the bill was introduced by Rep. John Kline of Minnesota as H.R. 1621. It seeks to commemorate the establishment of the first Marine Corps Aviation company which was authorized by the Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1915. It should be noted that 2012 is the actual centennial for the birth of Marine aviation, as described in H.R. 1621.
Congressman Kline is a 25-year Marine Corps veteran who served as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. He also served in several other posts during his military career, including flying "Marine One," the Presidential helicopter, and commanding all marine aviation forces of Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.
If approved and signed into law, the Marine Corps Aviation Centennial Commemorative Coin Act authorizes the United States Mint to produce the $10 gold coins to the standard specifications used for recent gold commemoratives, including a composition of 90% of the precious metal, a diameter of 0.850 inches and a weight of 8.359 grams. The proposed Act is vague as to their design, requiring only that each of the gold coins be "emblematic of the warrior ethos of the United States Marine Corps."
The commemorative coins would also have inscriptions of 2015, $10, Liberty, In God We Trust, United States of America, and E Pluribus Unum.
The gold coins would be struck by the U.S. Mint in proof and uncirculated qualities with the price of each to include a $35 surcharge. That surcharge would be forwarded to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation for the purposes of construction of the Marine Corps Heritage Center of Quantico, Virginia.
The branch of the U.S. Armed Forces was last honored in 2005 with a Marine Corps silver dollar which celebrated the founding of the Corps 230 years earlier. 600,000 were sold by the United States Mint, making it one of the few modern commemorative coins able to claim the distinction of a sell out.
The proposed Marine Corps Aviation Centennial Commemorative Coin Act was referred to the House subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Technology with two dozen co-sponsors currently listed to its credit.
Let me know if they do this, I want to get a couple.