Coin World article: changes in coin laws through the years

[WoodenJefferson]

Link to Coin World I was particularly interested in the changes made to the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter...were laws broken when the design was changed in 1917?

[PerryHall]

An argument could be made that the design was modified or refined rather than "changed".

[WoodenJefferson]

 

That is true Perry, about the SLQ. First time I read about this scenario (indepth) and how it played out;

 

During the designs' 25th year in 1915, Treasury officials erroneously believed they were required to enact design changes the next year because the designs for the then-current dime, quarter dollar and dollar had been introduced in 1892.

 

As noted in the minutes from the Commission of Fine Arts, with which the Mint consults concerning designs for new coins and medals, a Mint official said, "Twenty-five years having nearly elapsed since the adoption of the present designs of half-dollar, quarter dollar and one-dime pieces, under the law coins with new designs will have to be issued."

 

Officials with the Commission of Fine Arts, too, were under the impression that the 1890 law mandated a change every 25 years. In reality, the 1890 law prohibits design change any more frequently than 25 years. It does not require changes at 25-year intervals.

 

Based on this misunderstanding of the 1890 law, new designs for the 10-cent, 25-cent and 50-cent coins were commissioned. Adolph Weinman's Winged Liberty Head dime, and Hermon MacNeil's Standing Liberty quarter dollar and Walking Liberty half dollar replaced the Barber coins in 1916.The Mint's misinterpretation was a bonus to modern collectors, who consider the 1916 designs among the most beautiful in U.S. coinage history and vastly superior to the designs they replaced and to those in circulation today.

[RWB]

A minor correction and comment.

If one reads "Renaissance of American Coinage 1916-1921" one will find that the Treasury, Mint and Commission of Fine Arts all interpreted the law correctly: designs could not be changed more frequently than 25 years without approval from Congress. The Taxay comments and related are based on older, less complete research.

 

Secretary McAdoo and the Wilson Administration were anxious to put their "stamp" on the coinage. Changing designs came up repeatedly in 1914 (from Tom Elder and others; Victor Brenner submitted designs in 1914) and internally to Treasury from Asst. Sec. Malburn in January 1915. Treasury got an opinion from the Solicitor's Office that the law referred to the date of "acceptance" not the date of "issuance." Since the Barber designs were accepted in 1891, the clock started then, not in 1892.

 

Regarding the 1917 quarter redesign, the 1916 "official" description contains general statements that can be interpreted very broadly; however, even the 1916 design fails to conform to the reverse description which mentions an olive branch. The published descriptions of May 1916 are not legal descriptions of the coin – they are simply conceptual descriptions. Only when the coin was issued did the design become “fixed,” and even then the Treasury Dept. felt it had authority to make changes to improve production or wearing characteristics. Every 1916 design was altered for 1917 to improve production, and the mint continued making small changes for several years. Barber's 1892 quarter design was changed within weeks of being issued to improve striking. The Saint-Gaudens designs of 1907 were also altered, as were the Buffalo nickel and the Lincoln cent. Most changes were not noticed at the time, but others, such as changing the reverse of the 1913 nickel (see RAC 1916-21 for Barber’s comments about changes) or recessing the SLQ date.

 

The 1917 quarter legislation just says the Sec. of Treasury is authorized to make slight changes based on drawings by MacNeil and that some elements can be rearranged. Director Baker had shown an experimental piece to Rep. Ashbrook and some coinage committee members, so they knew what they were voting on (see RAC pp.86-87).

[RWB]

One other comment on the CW article:

 

The statement, “Kimball believed the wording in the 1874 act meant that only Congress, not the Treasury Department, could authorize coinage design changes, and he believed his two immediate predecessors had violated the law,” is not completely accurate.

 

The Attorney General determined that only Congress could authorize changes to existing coin designs. Designs for new coins were at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. The standard silver dollar had been discontinued in 1873, then re-authorized in 1878 as a new coin for which the mint could issue a new design. The prohibition on changing existing designs was reinforced in 1887 when Kimball tried to hold a design competition and was prevented by the Attorney General. Hence, the push toward the 1890 legislation. (See RAC 1905-1908 pp.9-11.)

[Zoins]

Things might be more interesting if designs were required to change every 25 years.

[comicAL]

Hi, WoodenJefferson

 

Thanks for sharing this informative article from Coin World! Many interesting aspects of the US coins laws throughtout the years explained!

 

This tidbit was tucked within the article I find very odd.

 

"Also in the Presidential dollar legislation was the creation of the American Buffalo gold coin program. This legislation again mandated very specific designs: "The obverse and reverse of the gold bullion coins struck under this subsection during the first year of issuance shall bear the original designs by James Earle Fraser, which appear on the 5-cent coin commonly referred to as the 'Buffalo nickel' or the '1913 Type 1.'"

It was explicit in requiring the inscriptions of the weight of the coin and the nominal denomination of the coin incused in the portion of the design on the reverse commonly known as the "grassy mound."

After one year, the legislation allows the secretary of the Treasury (in this case, Henry Paulson), to change the design on the obverse or reverse at his choosing."

 

 

How can we continue the American Buffalo gold coin program if the Secretary of the Treasury changes designs whenever he/her feels like it?

AAJ