Gettysburg Commemorative Coins Proposed

H.R. 2123: Gettysburg Campaign Act

Summary: Proposal for commemorative coins emblematic of the Gettysburg Campaign and Gettysburg Address. The coins would be dated 2013 and include $5 gold, $1 silver, and clad half dollars.

Sponsor: Rep. Todd Platts

Date Introduced: April 27, 2009

Current Status: Referred to Committee (April 27, 2009)

The proposal seeks to recognize and commemorate the 1863 invasion of Pennsylvania, the Battle of Gettysburg, and President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address with commemorative coins. The coins would be issued in 2013 and include gold, silver, and clad coins.

Of note, the Gettysburg Address has already been prominently featured on the 2009 Lincoln Commemorative coin, which includes the last 43 words of the famous speech. The Battle of Gettysburg has also been featured on a silver commemorative half dollar coin issued in 1936.

H.R. 2123 seeks to authorize $5 gold coins with a mintage of up to 100,000, $1 silver coins with a mintage of up to 500,000 coins, and clad half dollars with a mintage of up to 750,000 coins. For each of the three coins, at least one US Mint facility would be used to strike proof coins and at least one other would be used to strike uncirculated coins.

The design of the coins would be emblematic of the history and memory of the Gettysburg Campaign and the Gettysburg Address. The language of the act specifies that the coins should contain motifs that specifically commemorate the 1863 invasion of Pennsylvania, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Gettysburg Address. The designs will be selected by the United States Secretary of the Treasury after consultation with the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Interior, the Commission of Fine Arts, and review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

Required inscriptions would include the value of the coin, the year of mintage “2013″, and the words “Liberty”, “In God We Trust”, “United States of America”, and “E Pluribus Unum”.

Surcharges of $35, $10, and $5 for each gold, silver, and clad coin respectively will be added to the purchase price of the commemorative coins. These surcharges will be distributed to the Army Heritage Center Foundation and the Gettysburg Foundation.