US Marshals 225th Anniversary Silver Dollar Commemorative Coins Sought

Legislation authorizing the United States Mint to strike silver dollar commemorative coins honoring the 225th anniversary of the founding of the US Marshals Service has once again been introduced in Congress. If passed and signed into law, the new coins would also feature gold and clad varieties.

The legislation is named the United States Marshals Service 225th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act and will allow the US Mint to produce up to 100,000 $5 gold coins, 500,000 silver dollars and 750,000 clad half dollars.

The coins would be released to the public in 2015, appearing one year after the 225th anniversary of the US Marshals. However, a stipulation in the Act would allow the US Mint to issue a limited number of the strikes to employees of the Marshall Service the previous year to aid in their anniversary celebration.

Similar legislation was actually introduced in the House of Representatives in both 2009 and 2010 by then Rep. John Boozman of Arkansas as H.R. 2799 and H.R. 568. However, both bills died in Congress failing to achieve any passage. The new effort to see the Marshals Service commemorative coins is being undertaken on two congressional fronts — in both the House of Representatives as well as the United States Senate. Members of the Arkansas congressional delegation are leading charge.

The Senate version of the bill (S. 431) was introduced by Senator Mark Pryor and was cosponsored by now Senator Boozman. In the House, H.R. 886 was introduced by Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas who was joined by representatives Rick Crawford, Tim Griffin and Mike Ross, also from the same state.

The Arkansas delegation is understandably interested in the new coins as the U.S. Marshals Museum is located there in Fort Smith. Also, a portion of the proceeds raised by the surcharges collected on the sales of the coins would be forwarded to the Museum. Additional recipients of a portion of the surcharges include The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation.

If the Act is approved in both houses and is signed into law by the President, the commemorative coins would contain the standard inscriptions of "Liberty," "In God We Trust," "United States of America," and "E Pluribus Unum." Additional inscriptions would include the mint date of "2015" and the years "1789" and "2014" to mark the 225th anniversary that is being celebrated.

For the obverse of both the silver and gold coins, a design including the United States Marshals Service Star (also known as "America’s Star") would be used. The clad strike would feature a more emblematic design of the Service and the history of it.

Reverse designs for the silver dollars would showcase the "legendary status" of the Service, according to the Act. The gold coin reverse would be emblematic of the service provided by those members of the Service who have lost their life in the line of duty. The clad strike would present a design indicative of the role the Service has played in changing the history of the United States.

Both pending legislative pieces are currently pending action in the appropriate committees of their respective houses.