Time for a Change in our Change

TIME FOR A CHANGE IN OUR CHANGE

THE ISSUE DEFINED

The subject of re-designing United States coinage has been in the news a lot lately - and as most of you already know it is nothing new. There are many who have been clamoring for a re-design of our coins for decades now. On the other hand there are many who could care less if our coins are ever re-designed. But, perhaps the best known effort for this cause was put forth about 10 years ago by Diane Wolf, a New York City activist, with major support from hobby organizations, numismatic publishers and individual coin collectors all around the country. Stubborn opposition by then - U.S. Mint Director Donna M. Pope contributed greatly to that defeat. But, in the end it was Congress who killed the grassroots movement.

Today however we have some Congressional members who are in favor of a coinage re-design. On September 13, 2000 there was a symposium held in New York City. The symposium was organized by Senator Phil Gramm to promote a discussion of how US coin designs "may be improved to signify the distinction and greatness of our Republic." I highly recommend reading the prepared remarks to be found at the link above.

If you wish to see what Congress thinks of coinage redesign and how they react to it - read A report on the SENATE RECORD VOTE ANALYSIS from 1992. It will give you an idea of why your support and your active participation in this effort is so important.

In January of 2001, in an outline of the agenda for the Banking Committee of the 107th Congress, Senator Gramm had this to say - "I think there is a growing consensus on our committee that we need to reform American coinage. Senator Sarbanes and I held a roundtable discussion where we had the Smithsonian, we had the numismatic associations, we had various coin designers and artists. The basic situation we have is that when we started our coinage, it was generally assumed that a coin would change about every 25 years. Our penny design was set in place in 1909. So we're going to take a long, hard look at coinage. We're going to invest some money in trying to develop new composites and new metallurgy that would allow us to produce coins that look and feel like the great coins in American history did."

What's more, the current Director of the Mint, Henrietta Fore is in favor of re-design as well and has forwarded her request for these new designs to the Secretary of the Treasury for approval. So the process has begun anew.

In an article published in Coin World, Secretary of the Treasury, Paul H. O'Neill says - "In the spirit of how things ought to be done in this country, it's worthwhile to pay attention to people who have a view about these things," "I can't imagine my telling people we're not interested in their opinions. I don't expect to exercise my statutory authority without consulting with the appropriate people." So it seems Mr. O'Neill is willing, in fact wants, to listen to the opinions of the people of this nation. I say we let him.

Furthermore, I think we have an opportunity here. We have an opportunity to not only promote a change in our stagnant coin designs; we have an opportunity to see to it that we do not fall into the same rut of stagnation again. I propose that we ask Congress to amend the current law written over a century ago - The Secretary may change the design or die of a coin only once within 25 years of the first adoption of the design, model, hub, or die for that coin; Sec. 5112. - Denominations, specifications, and design of coins. I propose to make it mandatory that our coin designs are changed every 25 years.

Now in order to have any hope of bringing about a change in the US coinage designs it is necessary for our elected officials to be aware of what the public wants. You are after all are the ones who put them in office and they will listen to you as long as you make your voices heard - and in order to do that I have even made it easy for you. But, it will require some effort on your part.

On the LINKS page you will find links that will allow you to directly contact the President and Vice President; any or all of the members of Congress; the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs; the House Committee on Financial Services; any or all of the above's sub-committees; and all of the individual members of these committees and sub-committees, and the Director of the Mint, Henrietta Fore.

On the SAMPLES page you will find sample of various letters to assist you if you are uncertain of how to format one or what to say.

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