Much to the pleasure of many coin collectors, an image of Lady Liberty could once again grace U.S. dimes, quarters and half dollars, but only if newly introduced legislation becomes law.
So as not to eliminate former Presidents on coinage and seal better support for the bill, numbered H.R. 2535, a threshold is outlined stating Liberty-themed designs would appear on at least 40% of new circulating commemorative coins but not more than 50%. Remaining dimes, quarters and half dollars would continue to feature the traditional Presidential portraits and designs.
New Liberty-Themed Obverse Designs and New Reverse Designs
This bill, entitled the American Liberty Coinage and Deficit Reduction Act of 2013, was introduced in the US House of Representatives by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) on June 27, 2013. Under the terms of the Act, obverse or head side designs emblematic and allegoric of the concept of ‘American Liberty’ would appear on coins as soon as 2015. They would also sport new reverses that:
- depict an American bald eagle;
- depict a fasces emblematic of civil governance;
- depict the torch of knowledge;
- are emblematic and allegoric of ‘The Union’; or
- depicts one or more of the American values and attributes of freedom, independence, peace, strength, equality, democracy and justice
Each would bear the traditional obverse and reverse inscriptions, including ‘LIBERTY’, ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’, the year of minting, ‘UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’, ‘E PLURIBUS UNUM’ and the face value.
As is standard with modern American coinage, all designs would be reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and selected by the Secretary of the Treasury after consultation with the Commission of Fine Arts.
Alternating Issuance of Liberty Dimes and Liberty Quarters
Liberty dimes and Liberty quarters would be issued by the United States Mint in alternating years, with the dime leading the change beginning in 2015.
Liberty half dollars would not alternate. 50-cent pieces would get struck annually with the designs changed every 10 years. For them, the bill includes specific language requiring the consideration of the 1977 Liberty mini dollar design that was prepared by former United States Chief Sculptor and Engraver Frank Gasparro. Gasparro created a Liberty Cap design for the 1979 dollar, but it was replaced by the portrait of Susan B. Anthony.
Versions for Coin Collectors
Bags and rolls of the dimes and quarters at face value plus issuance costs would be made available for numismatic purposes. Other numismatic versions would also be allowed, including proof and uncirculated Liberty coins, as well as some struck from 99.9% fine silver.
H.R. 2535 Requirements and Status
H.R. 2535 requires the Secretary of the Treasury to complete a study on the effects of Liberty coins on the Federal budget deficit over a ten-year period. This study would need to be reported to Congress within 90 days after the Act became law. The bill stipulates that new Liberty coins would only get struck if the study determines a reduction in the deficit of at least $100 million, or if the Secretary of the Treasury failed to submit the study to Congress within the 90-day window.
Along with making money from sales of collectible versions of coins, the government could garner revenue in increased seigniorage if Americans pulled Liberty coins from circulation and saved them in large quantities like they famously did with 50 State Quarters.
The American Liberty Coinage and Deficit Reduction Act started with some bipartisan support. Cosponsoring the bill are Rep David Loebsack (D-IA), Rep Mark Meadows (R-NC), Rep Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Rep Ted Yoho (R-FL).
H.R. 2535 has been referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. For the bill to become law, it must pass both chambers of Congress and be signed by the President of the United States.
Deliberately LIBERTY, undoubtedly the best Ideal and unanimously approved back when? 1792 ? Personally I liked the Pole to Cap Large Cents from 1794 to about 1799. Real silver currency, and cheap booze sometimes, lol. Good Beer is a must have, and G & D’s PIZZA from Cadillac, MI 49601 should also be on the menu. Oh, Let’s not forget Betsy Ross sewing the strips of cloth together making the Flag, our forefathers fought & protected, that gave us LIBERTY, to begin with. Lastly, the Soldiers “Proud of our SOLDIERS”, should really be the MOTTO.
Forget lady liberty, lets get Girl Freedom from the AOCS coins
This is the spark we all need. I for see great things from the United States Mint. The Lincoln Cent would become even more valuable. I would buy them now while they are still available in higher grades. This is the time to buy all Lincoln cents!!!
Replace 40% to 50% of current designs? How does that cut the deficit? Do it anyway if they don’t get the report in 90 days? What foolishness. This bill should go straight to committee black hole. If they want to cut costs the first thing Congress needs to do is get rid of the penny and the dollar. Get Congress to cut the deficit that way first and then they can start thinking about messing with the designs on our money.
those lady liberty coins are great and beautiful. i support it.
Yes, Jim the Dollar bill cost more to make than the dollar coin. That’s why Canada is using the dollar coin. The penny does not cost more to make. It is a great way to interact with your family and talk about the history of Lincoln.
I also support it. jimmy
Looks like she’s shocked at what she’s looking at and can’t keep her mouth shut. They can do a better design than that.
Also from all that I’ve seen and read it costs more to make a penny than what it’s worth. That’s why Canada got rid of their penny.
If they can’t vote away the Presidential designs, then I vote nay on this proposal. There are enough Presidential coins in circulation that they will NEVER go away. The “political necessity” of keeping Presidents on the coins, especially considering most of them also appear on the paper currency is ridiculous. Co-circulation is not a good idea. I’d rather have the status quo than a gimmick. Every current design is well past its retirement age…let the Presidents go. They were a good idea and appropriate for the World War II generation but it’s time for the younger generations to get their… Read more »
Every penny cost the Mint two pennies last year.
I support it. Get rid of those Kennedys! Running out of pages for my dansco album and going to need a hoist to lift them real soon!
I like the idea of “Lady Liberty”. It is time to modernize our coins. FDR, on the dime? I doubt if many citizens, not in my generation, really know who he is and why so famous. The Kennedy Half Dollar, it’s not a coin at all. Since it’s not meant for circulation and it isn’t bullion, it’s simply a gimmick to raise funds. It should never have been pulled from circulation, it’s a denomination that would be most useful. I’d rather carry one half, not 2 quarters. Problem is, too many anti-Kennedy people. So, it’s just waiting to accommodate the… Read more »
Geez, forgot the greatest design of all. The Buffalo nickel ( I’m sorry Lady Liberty) or the new caricature of Jefferson? I think Thomas would be embarrassed.
I agree with steve on the rest of the coins. The Lincoln cent should not be eliminated. We do not want to round are change out. Either way it would still make it more valuable for collectors. It is already hard to find these coins in MS66 and up. Old banked wrapped rolls are very hard to find unsearched. Most of them have already been searched and are for sale as unsearched. If you find Lincoln cent rolls that have not been searched you should find some good coins. Graded Lincoln cents are a far better bet if your looking… Read more »
Does it really matter what is on the coins when they are just made of crap metals? The whole point of money is that it has value. You trade value for value. Our coins, unless they are silver or gold are just fakes- counterfeits if you please. They are accepted because people no longer understand what money really is. The mlnt could make them out of steel or zinc with numbers on them- if you ever had to depend on them having an equivalance of value, you are out of luck. They profit because they are selling coins that have… Read more »
In the early 1960s the “roll boom” in U.S. coins was exacerbated by speculation in 1950-D nickels (in particular), by the debut of Coin World in April 1960, and the sensation created that same year by the appearance of Small and Large Date variants of the 1960 Philadelphia and Denver Lincoln cents. After Coin World published the story, bank-wrapped $50 bags of 1960 Philadelphia Small Date rolls soared to more than $12,000
I have declared the winner for the design of the United States of American Quarter Dollar. It’s my very pretty friends, and their approval was granted. But I See no methods of putting the design here in the public forum. What shall we do next? Oh, I’ll edit my website with the coin first, so the thumbnail catches your eyes… Thanks.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w5OliotdqKOrryqJ1Z3sZriZAjfLbuazkf2zGjUa22E/pub
Steve, half-dollars WERE meant for circulation. I was a kid in the early 1960s and remember that the coins circulated regularly until 1964. So many people held the Kennedy coins as keepsakes that they vanished almost as soon as they went into circulation. Then some genius at the mint decided to keep minting them out of (OK, debased) silver after dimes and quarters were changed to clad. Anyone who wasn’t hoarding halves for the image of JFK was keeping them for their silver content, so the denomination was basically gone by 1971. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the denomination. Half-dollars… Read more »
Maunzen: I didn’t make myself clear. I know the Kennedy was once a circulated coin, I lived through it. It was stopped in 2002. The Ike was also a circulated coin, I also know that, a far better (and much larger) dollar than we have today. The Kennedy died it’s death thanks to the mint. Releasing it as a 90% silver in ’64 and reducing that metals content until “71 helped make it a collectible. Once it became a clad, the era of collection slowed down. We did fine with the Franklins and could have managed with the Kennedy also,… Read more »
Maybe they should try that on the penny, then?
If it were the penny, that’s to be upgraded, then things would definitely cost less. Unfortunately that’s not the case. I’ve heard rumor from uppers in the military as recently as a month ago, that the penny’s days are numbered. Everything I’ve described in my coin design is coming full tilt. you can check progress here. http://tinyurl.com/cpcxmo2
The military? What has the military got to do with this? Congress makes that decision, not the military.
Jim: I also feel the penny should be removed from production. It is a silly coin that does little in product cost except allow advertisers to use $29.99 gimmick. In fact most small stores now have a bowl at their cash register area full of them where both customers and owners keep them to allow change to be given down to the nickel level. If a penny more is needed, it comes from that bowl, if a penny is given in change, it goes into that bowl. As to production cost, though, I once agreed with you. I also believed… Read more »
Per the US Mint, the penny cost is .0200 each per 2012 figures. The nickel was a dime plus. Both costs actually decreased in 2012 over 2011.
Be a nice retirement gift to see Gasparro’s design on the Halves for the rest of his life, with all the good work he did for us. And the mint said these new designs are IN ADDITION to current designs. New designs on the Dimes first in 2015, 2017, 2019 and so on. And perhaps in three roll sets with P and D, as well as S. Or maybe two rolls as well, with the S roll available singularly as the ATB is now. Be great to see a new Liberty quarter, with the astonishing S Quarters being minted now… Read more »
Well said
Steve: thanks for your elaboration. We’re actually coming from the same direction. I too used to go to the bank and get as many halves as I could and spent them everywhere possible. Around 1990 I finally gave up because (a) almost no local banks stocked halves anymore (“special orders only”) and (b) I got tired of clerks refusing to take them because they thought the denomination had been withdrawn / I was scamming them with a foreign coin / pick any other random piece of misinformation.
I hope they do let this happen. Our change needs a change. I also hope this is the last year they make the 1 cent coin. I visited the Bahamas a couple of years ago, their 1 cent coin is smaller than the United States dime. If we insist on keeping the penny, we should make it really small, like they do in the Bahamas.
Collectors and Investor’s: It is a time for a change in our change! The public / new potential collectors have lost interest. Pocket change is what people see and if it is interesting enough they will look further and find other coins offered by the US mint. When the first sets of 5 state quarters were released it caused a stir. Parents and Grandparents bought kids coin books to fill and an estimated 140 million people were again collecting coins. It started out great but then faltered. Why? One of the problems was the 10 year length of the program.… Read more »
“Pocket change is what people see.” Yes, and if they only see dead Presidents on that change they will be led to think that the laws are made by Presidents instead of being executed and obeyed by them. If we bring back Liberty we may restore the Constitution and the Republic.
Thanks RBG. 5-10% could be the start of something bigger. I couldn’t agree more.
The day after that happens hoarding will begin in earnest. Each coin will see the light of day only once before disappearing forever.
It might make the dollar bill superfluous. No one would want them any more. Might create a dual price structure for goods- that might make the central banks panic…
Great things are about to happen.
I work as a cashier and give out half dollars in change. People take them and accept them readily (the rejection rate is about 2%). What they do with them afterward I have no idea. Despite having put literally thousands of them over the years “back into circulation” I don’t see evidence of them getting spent again. They’ve got to figure out what to do about banks that don’t keep adequate supplies of half-dollars, dollar coins, and $2 bills on hand. Since the public cannot do business with the Federal Reserve, we have no choice but to do business with… Read more »
I think that’s the problem – the public isn’t demanding half dollars, dollar coins, and $2 bills. The banks won’t have half dollars since they’re only minted and sold to collectors at a premium. $ coins are probably more readily available but it’s been a while since I went to the bank to get any. I think you’ll find $2 bills at race tracks where they are used – don’t know for sure since I haven’t been.
But there’s still hundreds of millions of half dollars sitting around. The bank I use still carries them and offers them in the quantities I want be it just a roll or several hundred dollars. It’s why I closed my accounts elsewhere. I would be told when I asked for halves or $2 bills that “Nobody wants them” and would stand there unamused as someone who’s clearly contradicting this assertion of the teller’s. If my bank will not serve my needs, why should they have the privilege of lending out my savings? Even if demand is relatively light, I don’t… Read more »
Try to get penny rolls from your bank, They are tight with all rolls when it comes to the public.
Lady Liberty on the front and the torch on the back? Sounds like Bernard von NotHaus and his (NORFED) American Liberty Dollars – which are made of REAL silver, by the way – was right all along.
I used to sell two-dollar bills at face value.
I once had a woman ask me three questions:
Are they real?
How come I never see them?
How much do they cost.
Two-dollar Bil is my nickname.
The mint needs to make the penny out of copper again because zinc does not stand up well to water. Then the price of copper will rise to what silver is then my copper penny hoard will make me very rich.
What a great idea. Modern coin minting and collecting in the United States is boring compared to Canadian and Australian coins (just to name several countries that understand that people want to collect coins as well as spend them. I hope this bill passes through congress.
I love the idea of returning Lady Liberty to our coinage, but I think feminists will end up killing the bill on the grounds of “objectification of women” and insisting that Lady Liberty be replaced by dead feminist women. This is the reason we were saddled with the Susan B. Anthony dollar in 1979, and it will be the reason we’re saddled with, say, Andrea Dworkin quarters and Carrie Nation dimes. *shudder* I’d rather stick with the Presidents, thank you very much.
The dime has been the same for too long. I think they should make it bigger and with a picture of the flag on one side and Clinton on the other or Al Gore. I don’t know why living presidents or vice presidents can not be on coins. Also it should be made like a nickel 75 copper and 25 nickel to give it actual value. No switching to some tuna fish can metal like they want.
Speaking of half dollars I use only cash to buy stuff and I might get a half dollar in my change once every 5 years. Its like a purple elephant occasion. Where are all these great coins? I would gladly take $20 worth of them right now. Just copper clad. Something is wrong with the money supply.
I think all the Presidents should be removed from our coinage. As great as these Presidents were it’s way past time for change. Coin designs based on the conceps of Liberty, Justice, and other “American” themes would be a welcome change!!! I doubt this will happen as I see politics will get in the way again!! 🙁
Lets have a modern walking liberty half dollar and mercury dime.
Don’t really care for the design especially the hair but we do need a new design. Atleast it would be different.
Remember the movie Titanic. When Kate Winslet handed Leonardo Decaprio the dime for the naked portrait. The dime she handed him was the Roosevelt dime that want in exsistance.
I would personally love to have some new designs but ones with presidents