Bicentennial half dollars

No because all of the 40% silver Ikes were type 1, high speed press or slower speed.

 

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I thought of that, but the earlier post from Cladking said that the high-speed runs were produced in 76 from new dies. That suggested the possibility for type 2 dies on the high-speed runs. I found a high-speed run set over the weekend, and it did have the type 1 Ike. Thanks

 

Sorry.

I misremembered.

In actuality it was in 1975 that the mint suddenly came to believe they had to mint 15,000,000 of each coin and they went on sale July 4th.

They did prepare new dies to run them off on the high speed presses but it was in '75. There is no difference in these coins other than the poor strikes, low quality,and excessive marking which are all atypical for the numismatic pieces run off first.

 

OK, that makes sense. You're not kidding about ugly. The Ike in the set I bought over the weekend looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. The other two coins are not too bad, but the Ike - WOW! I don't know if its possible to grade an uncirculated coin as less that MS-60, but this one sure deserves it.

 

It wasn't a matter of coming to believe they had to strike them, the authorizing law REQUIRED the entire 45 million coins to be struck. It wasn't a case of "may strike up to 15 million sets" it was "Shall strike 15 million sets."

Public law 93-127 sec 4
Notwithstanding any other provision of law with respect to design of coins, the Secretary shall mint prior to July 4, 1975, for issuance on or after such date. 45 million silver clad alloy coins authorized under sec 101(a) of the coinage act of 1965.....

It also authorized him to strike an additional 15 million coins if demand required them, which of course it didn't.

 

My understanding was...they misread the law. The law said they MUST...and then they realized that late in the game and had to mint a ton at the last minute. Is that not accurate?

 

I suppose that is a possibility. But considering they had been involved with the passage of the legislation and had testified before congress about it, you would assume they knew what it said.

 

You would certainly think so...but if they knew it all along why did they have to use the high speed presses at the last minute. You would think they would have planned it out so they didn't have to rush.

Could there have been a die shortage resulting in the last minute minting dash?

 

I find it highly unlikely that the executive branch cared what the law said they must do, even in the idyllic 70s.

 

The law was passed by the legislative branch, not the executive branch. But, the mint must do as they are ordered through laws...they have no ability to pick and choose the laws they obey. Their job is simply to do what they are told.

 

The mint is part of the executive branch, not the legislative. Everyone picks and chooses which laws to obey, including mint employees. The idea that people, let alone unaccountable bureaucrats, even attempt to obey all laws is laughably utopian.

 

The law came from congress...which is the executive branch. However, you can believe whatever you want. The mint clearly produced a ton of these at the last minute to fulfill their legal obligations (coins that took years to sell)...so clearly, they followed the law.

 

Congress is part of the legislative branch not the executive. The mint reports to the treasury which is part of the executive branch. The mint produces coins, not congress.

 

LOL, I totally mistyped. I meant to say legislative branch with Congress. I think I was reading your post while typing and few wires in the brain got crossed. My bad.

My original point was, I have never heard of an instance where the mint failed to fulfill a Congressional order. I'm not talking about other aspects of government, simply the mint and Congress. If you can provide an example of the mint not following these instructions, I'm willing to listen.

 

Here are two instances:
http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/536.cfm

(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall mint and issue, in qualities and quantities that the Secretary determines are sufficient to meet public demand, coins which...
There is no ambiguity here and there are no provisions in the law for the Treasury Secretary to stop sales or ration silver coins. The ONLY determinate of the Secretary in the law is that he MUST supply sufficient coins to meet public demand. That is clearly NOT being done at present and this must be rectified.

http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/1136.cfm

"shall sell the coins minted under subsection (e) to the public at a price equal to the market value of the bullion at the time of sale, plus the cost of minting, marketing, and distributing such coins (including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and promotional and overhead expenses)."
Where does it say that the US Mint can "markup" the coins any amount they wish?
They CAN'T and they are in violation of the Law AGAIN!