I. Issuing and Approving Institutions for American Gold and Silver Commemorative Coins
The commemorative currency of the United States belongs to the legal currency, but the issue of commemorative coins is different from the issuance of general currencies, not to provide a medium of exchange, but to commemorate specific people, places and events. The face value of a commemorative coin has little to do with its market value. In general, the commemorative coin value of nickel-copper alloy is 50 cents, the face value of silver coin is 1 dollar, and the face value of gold coin is 5 dollars or 10 dollars. The United States Department of the Mint (US Mint) is responsible for the manufacture and sale of commemorative coins. Members of the Senate or the House of Representatives submitted a bill to Congress to propose the issuance of a commemorative coin to commemorate specific people and events. After the Senate and the Senate both passed and the President signed it, the U.S. Manufacturing and sales. The United States Communal Coin Reform Act 1996 stipulates that the United States cannot issue more than two commemorative coins each year.
The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) is responsible for reviewing the design plan and reporting directly to the U.S. Treasury Secretary. The committee is established by the National Assembly and is affiliated to the Ministry of Finance. It has 11 members, 4 of whom are members of the House of Representatives and the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, 3 members are representatives of the public, and 4 members are experts in sculpture, American history, and money collection. The CCAC can also recommend to Congress in its annual report the theme of the commemorative coin issue.
Second, the United States gold and silver commemorative coins sales channels and price determination
The US Department of Finance Mint is responsible for the sales of its commemorative coins. There are mainly three types of sales channels. First, the mint sells commemorative coins to dealers at discounted prices, and retails to the public by distributors. The public directly mailed commemorative coin subscription forms and cheques to the mint to purchase commemorative coins. Third, the public purchased commemorative coins on the Mint website through the Internet. At present, the third sales channel is developing rapidly, and the number of commemorative coins sold through the Internet is constantly rising.
The sales price of commemorative coins consists of three dimensions: face value, casting cost, and premium. The congressional bill contains clear provisions on this, including the amount of premium and the composition of costs. In general, costs include design costs, metal materials, labor, mold, management and marketing expenses, and shipping costs. The final selling price is determined by the mint. The congressional bill generally stipulates that the mint must wholesale commemorative coins to dealers at a reasonable discount.
Third, the history of the release of the United States gold and silver commemorative coins
In 1892, the National Assembly authorized the issuance of a half-dollar commemorative coin to commemorate the United States Expo. Since then, between 1892 and 1954, the United States had issued a total of 53 sets (157 total) commemorative coins.
As early as 1925, many members of the National Assembly expressed in their motions that the commemorative currency was merely a memory of local events and was not in the interest of the state. After holding a large number of hearings, Congress held that there was a phenomenon of commemorative coin abuse. Therefore, Congress passed a bill on August 5, 1939, which prohibited the issuance and casting of commemorative coins and stopped issuing commemorative coins that had already been approved by the National Assembly. Before 1982, only the 1946 Iowa Centenary and Booker T. Washington (famous Afro-American educators), the George Washington Carver Memorial issued in 1951 (George Washington Carver, a famous African-American agronomist) has been approved by Congress as a special case. In the nearly 30 years since then, the United States has not issued any commemorative coins.
Until 1982, with the release of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Washington’s commemorative coins, the United States officially resumed the issuance of commemorative coins. Since then, the Congress has approved many successful commemorative coin distribution projects, such as the Statue of Liberty commemorative coin, Jefferson commemorative coin and Buffalo commemorative coin. Later, the United States Congress passed the "Commemorative Reform Act of 1996", which not only limits the number of commemorative coins issued per year to more than two, but also limits the number of commemorative coins issued. Nickel-copper alloy commemorative coins must not exceed 750,000, It must not exceed 500,000 pieces and gold coins must not exceed 100,000 pieces, unless the U.S. Department of the Treasury proves that the existing circulation cannot meet public demand, otherwise it cannot exceed the bill's regulations on circulation.
IV. Distribution of sales premium for gold and silver commemorative coins
The commemorative currency reform bill clearly stipulated the beneficiary units and uses of the commemorative coin sales premium. In general, the premium of sales will support the public welfare of some memorials or museums, such as the "Capitol Hill Tourist Center Commemorative Coin Release Act" stipulates that the premium for the sale of commemorative coins must be used for the construction of the Visitor Center in Shandong Square in Parliament; The Commemorative Coin Release Act stipulates that the premium for commemorative coin sales must be used for the maintenance and repair of the Wright Brothers National Memorial Park.
Prior to the implementation of the Commemorative Reform Act of 1996, regardless of whether the mint's production and sales costs were recovered, it must pay a premium to the beneficiary units specified in the bill, and the beneficiary units do not need to be audited. However, the "Commemorative Reform Act of 1996" changed the requirements and plans for the distribution of the US commemorative coin premium. The Ameriean 5 Cent Coin Design Continuity Act of 2003 made a more detailed request for this.
The “Commemorative Reform Act of 1996” stipulates that the payment of premiums for the payment of commemorative coins to beneficiary units must satisfy four preconditions. First, the beneficiary must be able to privately raise funds that are at least equal to the commemorative coins to obtain a premium; second is to The privately raised funds must also be used for the purpose specified in the commemorative currency issuance bill; thirdly, the US Department of Finance Mint must recover the full cost of commemorative coin manufacturing and sales; Fourth, the beneficiary must accept the financial audit and the audit result It is submitted to the Ministry of Finance to prove that it meets the conditions for accepting premiums, and to reasonably use premium income for the purposes specified in the Issuance Act.
Funds raised from private individuals must include cash, and other forms of assets can include stocks and real estate, but donations that cannot be converted into cash, such as volunteer work hours and free professional services, are not counted as private funds. Private funds raised for a commemorative coin item cannot be used for the premium distribution of other commemorative coin items. The beneficiary must provide the Mint with an audit report on the amount and use of privately raised funds within the specified time. If the Mint thinks that the beneficiary unit is in compliance with the provisions of the “Commemorative Reform Act of 1996” regarding private fundraising, approval documents will be issued to the beneficiary; otherwise, the beneficiary will be notified that the acceptance of the commemorative coin sales premium will not be met, unless it benefits The entity submitted a qualified audit report on private fundraising to the Mint, otherwise it could not pay the sales premium. Under normal circumstances, six months after the issuance of the commemorative coin, the Mint began to pay a premium to the beneficiary, and the schedule of premium payment was decided by the mint itself.
The beneficiary starts accepting premiums in the first year and will be audited every fiscal year. Its purpose is to ensure that the premium funds are used for the purposes specified in the bill for the issuance of commemorative coins. As long as the beneficiary is still accepting premium funds each year or has not yet transferred the premium funds to a special trust fund, the beneficiary units will be subject to annual audits and the results of the audit will be reported to the Ministry of Finance.
