[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5077 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5077

   To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide a clear line of 
  demarcation with regard to private ownership of any coin, medal, or 
 numismatic item made or issued by the United States Government before 
  January 1, 1933, that is not in the possession of the United States 
   Government, to establish certain guidelines and requirements with 
respect to the inventory, preservation, public display, and disposition 
of certain United States coins, medals, and numismatic items that were 
    struck or made after December 31, 1932, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 4, 2006

  Mr. Lucas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 31, United States Code, to provide a clear line of 
  demarcation with regard to private ownership of any coin, medal, or 
 numismatic item made or issued by the United States Government before 
  January 1, 1933, that is not in the possession of the United States 
   Government, to establish certain guidelines and requirements with 
respect to the inventory, preservation, public display, and disposition 
of certain United States coins, medals, and numismatic items that were 
    struck or made after December 31, 1932, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Numismatic Rarities Certainty Act of 
2006''.

SEC. 2. DISPOSITION OF CERTAIN UNITED STATES COINS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 51, United States Code, 
is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 5123. Inventory and disposition of certain United States coins, 
              medals, and numismatic items
    ``(a) Coins, Medals, and Numismatic Items Made Before 1933.--Any 
coin, medal, or numismatic item made or issued by the United States 
Government before January 1, 1933, that, as of the date of the 
enactment of the Numismatic Rarities Certainty Act of 2006, is not in 
the possession of the United States Government shall not be considered 
to be property of the United States, unless the coin, medal, or 
numismatic item is reacquired by the United States Government for value 
given in a sale or exchange.
    ``(b) Coins, Medals, and Numismatic Items Made After 1932.--
            ``(1) In general.--In the case of any coin, medal, or 
        numismatic item that--
                    ``(A) was struck or made by the United States 
                Government after December 31, 1932;
                    ``(B) was never issued by the United States 
                Government; and
                    ``(C) comes into the possession of the United 
                States Government,
        the coin, medal, or numismatic item shall be transferred to the 
        Secretary of the Treasury, if not already in the Secretary's 
        possession, and the Secretary shall take the appropriate action 
        required with respect to such coin, medal, or numismatic item 
        under paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Disposition of coins, medals, or numismatic items.--
                    ``(A) Determination of available items.--Upon 
                taking possession of any coin, medal, or numismatic 
                item under paragraph (1), the Secretary of the Treasury 
                shall make a determination of the number and condition 
                of the coins, medals, or numismatic items of the same 
                denomination, quality, type, and year of production as 
                the coin, medal, or numismatic item referred to in such 
                paragraph, taking into account the most recent 
                inventory conducted in accordance with subsection (c).
                    ``(B) Historic preservation and public display.--
                The Secretary shall ensure that an appropriate number 
                of any coin, medal, or numismatic item of the same 
                denomination, quality, type, and year of production 
                that are or come into the Secretary's possession--
                            ``(i) are retained for historical purposes; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) are made available for public 
                        viewing at such times and places as the 
                        Secretary, in the sole discretion of the 
                        Secretary, determines to be appropriate.
                    ``(C) Sale of excess at public auction.--
                            ``(i) In general.--If the Secretary 
                        determines that the number of any coins, 
                        medals, or numismatic items of the same 
                        denomination, quality, type, and year of 
                        production that are in the Secretary's 
                        possession exceeds the number that are 
                        appropriate for historic preservation and 
                        public display under subparagraph (B), the 
                        Secretary may dispose of such excess, or such 
                        portion of the excess as the Secretary 
                        determines to be appropriate, at public 
                        auction.
                            ``(ii) Proceeds.--The proceeds from any 
                        auction conducted by the Secretary under clause 
                        (i) shall be deposited in an endowment fund for 
                        the National Numismatic Collection at the 
                        Smithsonian Institution.
                            ``(iii) Rule of construction.--No provision 
                        of this section may be construed as authorizing 
                        the United States Mint to establish a national 
                        museum of money or any other museum.
                    ``(D) Standards.--In making any determination with 
                regard to any public auction of coins, medals, or 
                numismatic items under subparagraph (C)(i), the 
                following standards shall be taken into account by the 
                Secretary:
                            ``(i) Maximum return to the Government.
                            ``(ii) Interest of the numismatic community 
                        in the sale and in the items to be offered for 
                        sale.
                            ``(iii) Interest of the general public in 
                        the items to be offered for sale.
                    ``(E) Destruction of unsold excess.--Any coins, 
                medals, or numismatic items that--
                            ``(i) were determined by the Secretary, 
                        under subparagraph (C)(i) to be in excess of 
                        the number of such coins, medals, or numismatic 
                        items that are appropriate for historic 
                        preservation and public display under 
                        subparagraph (B); and
                            ``(ii) remain unsold following an auction 
                        under such subparagraph, or were withheld from 
                        such auction by the Secretary in accordance 
                        with subparagraph (C)(i),
                may be treated as obsolete and disposed of in the 
                manner provided in section 5120.
    ``(c) Inventory.--
            ``(1) In general.--By January 1, 2007, and every 5 years 
        thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall conduct and 
        compile an inventory of all coins, medals, or numismatic items 
        that are in the possession of the United States Government or 
        that are on loan to, or were at any time presented to or 
        retained by, any person or entity (other than in accordance 
        with a specific requirement of an Act of Congress) regardless 
        of when such coin, medal, or numismatic item was struck or 
        made.
            ``(2) Report on inventory.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
        shall submit the inventory together with a report containing 
        any findings, recommendations, or conclusions of the Secretary 
        with respect to the inventory to the President and the Congress 
        before January 31, 2007, and every 5 years thereafter.
    ``(d) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`numismatic item' has the same meaning as in section 5134(a)(3) (which 
includes dies, test pieces, and other products relating to such items). 
''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 51, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 5122 the following new item:

``5123. Inventory and disposition of certain United States coins, 
                            medals, and numismatic items.''.
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