PUBLIC—NO. 233—63D CONGRESS
S. 6039
January 16, 1915
An Act For the coinage of certain gold and silver coins in commemoration of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause to be coined at the United States mint at San Francisco not exceeding three thousand gold coins of the denomination of $50 each, ten thousand gold coins of the denomination of $2.50 each, twenty-five thousand gold coins of the denomination of $1 each, and not exceeding two hundred thousand silver coins of the denomination of 50 cents each, all of legal weight and fineness; said coins to be struck in commemoration of the Panama Pacific International Exposition. The words, devices, and designs upon said coins shall be determined and prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and all provisions of law relative to the coinage and legal-tender value of all other gold and silver coins shall be applicable to the coins issued under and in accordance with the provisions of this Act; and one-half of the issue of $50 gold coins herein authorized shall be similar in shape to the octagonal $50 gold pieces issued in California in eighteen hundred and fifty-one; and the entire issue of said $50, $2.50, and $1 coins herein authorized shall be sold and delivered by the Secretary of the Treasury to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company at par, under rules and regulations and in amounts to be prescribed by him. The coinage shall be executed as soon as may be and the delivery of said coins to begin not later than the day of the opening of the exposition. Said 50-cent coins herein authorized shall be issued only upon the request of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company, and shall be delivered to it by the Secretary of the Treasury, at par, during the period when said Panama-Pacific International Exposition shall be officially open.
SEC.2. That medals and diplomas, with appropriate devices, emblems, and inscriptions commemorative of said Panama-Pacific International Exposition and of the awards to be made to the exhibitors thereat, shall be prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury at the United States mint at Philadelphia and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, said medals and diplomas to be delivered to said Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company subject to the provisions of section fifty-two of the coinage Act of eighteen hundred and seventy-three and upon payment of the cost of the material composing said medals or diplomas.
SEC.3. That the 50-cent silver coins herein authorized may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, be coined or finished and issued from the machinery to be installed as a part of the exhibit of the United States mint at said exposition, and for the purpose of maintaining the exhibit as an educative working exhibit at all times the coins so minted may be remelted and reminted. All of said 50-cent silver coins herein authorized not issued to and at the request of said Panama-Pacific International Exposition, whether the same are coined as a part of said working exhibit or coined at the mint in San Francisco, shall be remelted upon the official closing of said exposition. All provisions hereof in regard to the coinage, finishing, or issue of said 50-cent silver coins from machinery installed as a part of the said exhibit shall be coined, finished, and issued under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause to be prepared a suitable souvenir medal (of such metal or composition of metals as he may prescribe), to be struck off by the machinery in said mint exhibit, and all of said medals shall be delivered to said Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company upon payment of the cost of the material composing the same, and all other souvenirs which may be coined, stamped, printed, or otherwise issued from any portion of the United States Government exhibit shall be delivered to said exposition company upon payment of the cost of the material composing said souvenirs, and said souvenir medals and other souvenirs shall be delivered to said Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company subject to such regulations as to disposition thereof as the Government exhibit board may prescribe. All provisions, whether penal or otherwise, of the laws prohibiting the counterfeiting or imitating of coins or securities of the United States shall apply to the medals, diplomas, and souvenirs provided for under sections two and three of this Act.
SEC.4. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to obtain suitable designs for the coins and medals herein authorized, and the sum of $5,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to defray the cost of said designs: Provided, That the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company shall reimburse the Treasury Department for the amount thus expended.
Approved, January 16, 1915.