Coin Sales to Aid Disabled Vets Memorial
February 25, 2010
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
A new commemorative coin honoring disabled veterans goes on sale today from the U.S. Mint that will help defray the cost of building a memorial to troops disabled for life.
The 2010 American Veterans Disabled for Life Silver Dollar was the brainchild of the Disabled Veterans' LIFE Memorial Foundation, which formed in 1998 and two years later was authorized by Congress to establish the memorial on a two-acre site just south of the Capitol, says Cliff Northup, director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs for the U.S. Mint.
Sales of the coin have the potential to raise $3.5 million toward the memorial, which will be in southwest DC across from the U.S. Botanic Garden.
Art Wilson, president of the foundation, said the memorial will be different because it will honor living veterans.
"This memorial not only honors those veterans who are deceased, but honors those – over three million today – who still live and survive in this country," he told Military.com.
Wilson said the foundation hopes to break ground this year on the memorial, which will be of glass and marble and feature a reflecting pool and a single eternal flame.
"We've made a lot of progress," he said. "You have to have all the money ready to go before you can break ground, but people understand the need for the memorial, and this coin is part of that."
The coins will cost $33.95 for a matted version – which has the dull finish – and $39.95 for the polished one.
Northup said the mint will produce for sale 350,000 of the coins, and will collect and bank a $10 surcharge on the sale of each. Once the sales program ends and the foundation shows they have raised an amount matching that brought in from coin sales, the escrowed sales charges are turned over to the foundation, Northup said. The coins are 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper and carry a $1 purchase value, according to the mint's Website.
Congress only authorizes two commemorative coins to be stamped each year, Northup said.
"That's in part because the coin collecting community likes to purchase everything we do, and two a year seems to be a comfortable amount for this," he said. In any year Congress may review anywhere from six to 10 bills for commemorative coins. Under congressional committee rules, the two coins ultimately selected need to have at least two-thirds support in a bipartisan vote, he said.
Northup said the Disabled for Life Silver Dollar has a very good chance of selling out at 350,000. "It will be a pretty good coin," he said.
Wilson also is very positive about the coin sales.
"The coin honors those who sacrificed their lives and bodies for our freedoms," he said. "It's not a token. It's a symbol of respect and gratitude."
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