Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin Tuesday announced the members of the Dollar Coin Advisory Committee established to recommend a design concept for the heads (obverse) side of the new dollar coin.
The nine members of the committee are: Chairman, U.S. Mint Director Philip N. Diehl (non–voting member); The Honorable Michael N. Castle, U.S. Representative from the State of Delaware and Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy; Constance Berry Newman. Under Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Vice Chair, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities; Arthur Houghton, President, American Numismatic Society, Hilario Candela, Fellow and President of Spillis, Candela and Partners, Inc., architects, and member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities; artist and sculptor Edward Vega; Gail Shaffer, Executive Director, Business and Professional Women, U.S.A., and Ms. Patricia McGuire, President of Trinity College.
The United States Dollar Coin Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–124) requires the Treasury Department to place into circulation a new dollar coin similar in size to the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, golden in color with a distinctive edge. The law requires the Treasury Secretary, in consultation with. Congress, to select the designs for both sides of the new coin, although the design on the tails (reverse) is required under the statute to depict an eagle.
The statute directs the Treasury Secretary to decide on the image to be depicted on the heads (obverse) side of the coin, and Secretary Rubin has determined that the design should be a representation of’ one or more women and cannot depict a living person.
The advisory committee will meet June 8 from 11 a.m. until 5:15 p.m. EDT and June 9 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. EDT at the Federal Reserve Building, 10 Independence Mall, Philadelphia. The committee will make its recommendation to Secretary Rubin at the conclusion of their meeting. The meeting will be open to the public. However, due to limited space, seating will be on a first–come basis.
Members of the public wishing to schedule an oral presentation for the meeting on June 8 should submit their request in writing no later than noon EDT, on Monday, June 1 to Michael White, U.S. Mint by facsimile at (202) 874–4083 or by e–mail to dollarcoin@usmint.treas.gov or by mail at 633 3rd Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20220.
The request should identify the name of the individual and/or organization who will make the presentation and include an outline of the merits, background and historical significance of the concept that will be advocated. Presentations will be limited to five minutes each. Presenters will be notified by no later than June 5, if they have been selected for presentation. An additional thirty minutes will be set aside during the first day of the meeting for unscheduled presentations. Members of the public who have not been selected in advance for presentation may sign up on the first day of the meeting on June 8, between the hours of 11 a.m. and noon EDT, in the back of the meeting room. Requests for an unscheduled presentation will be reviewed on a first–come basis.
Members of the public also are invited to send their design suggestions to Michael White at the above mailing address, by e–mail or by calling (202) 874–7565 by June 1, 1998.
The law requires the new dollar coin to go into circulation once the supply of Susan B. Anthony dollar coins is depleted, estimated to be after 1999.
May 19, 1998
RR–2464
202–622–2960