By David L. Ganz, Numismatic News

As the 110th Congress sprinted to a Memorial Day recess, a number of numismatic measures were passed by the House of Representatives May 15.

They now go to the Senate. Some deft parliamentary maneuvers and stealth actions are part of the package.

Foremost on the list is H.R. 5614, a bill whose initial appearance and very title gave the impression that the Mint was being asked to enter mainline production and reproduce a Saint-Gaudens ultra-high-relief gold double eagle. (The original bill’s name was worded this way: “This Act shall be known as the ‘Original Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle Ultra-High Relief Bullion Coin Act’).

The name suggests a gold coin that was fabled a generation ago as a production nightmare that took seven bold strikes on the Mint’s coining presses to bring up the design. The real purpose of the bill, however, was the working miners of Montana who produce palladium - the stealth nomenclature opts for that design with the new metal for the Mint to produce.

A gold 27mm pattern replica is the design choice. As the bill’s legislative history notes, “a 34-millimeter version was hand-struck on a standard double eagle planchet using a medal press and, because manufacturing and technical limitations prevented mass production of these pieces, this production resulted in low mintage, with fewer than two dozen specimens of the 34-millimeter version known to be in existence today.”

It goes on to note that “a second, 27-millimeter, version was struck using two stacked $10 eagle planchets,” which is the coin being reproduced in gold for collectors. But the real purpose of the bill is not gold but to produce palladium coinage.

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