Congress is always deliberating, stalling or passing bills in which something on U.S. coinage may be included.

Many of these bills either die in committee, see the numismatic part cut as a compromise of what the politicians consider to be more important or are not signed into law by the president. Since few of us want to read the Congressional Record and follow these bills either to realization or to their death, many times these items don’t grab headlines even when something of interest to hobby participants occurs.

Such is the case with a recent bill signed into law by President Clinton to strike a United States Capitol Visitor Center Commemorative Coin. The United States has been producing non-circulating legal tender commemorative coins like popcorn since the early 1980s. Another commemorative at this point should draw more yawns from collectors than interest.

This one really is different. It calls for the first bimetal coin to be struck since the cows came home back in the 1790s by the United States. The law calls for 200,000 $10 gold and platinum ringed bimetal coins to be struck in 2001. Since Congress never bothered to see if the U.S. Mint can strike such a complex coin, the law does have a provision allowing 100,000 $5 gold coins to be struck if the Mint determines it doesn’t have the technology to produce the ringed bimetal coins.

The surcharge from either of these coins is $35 to be paid to the U.S. Capital Preservation Commission to aid in the construction of a visitor center. The coin is to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the present seat of government and the first meeting in the Capital Building in November 1800.

The coin should grab more headlines than it has. The rest of the world, including Canada to our north and Mexico to our south, has been using golden or yellow color and ringed bimetal coins for years to distinguish high denomination coins from their "pocket change" counterparts. During 2000, the United States finally is beginning to play catch up by introducing the golden color Sacagawea dollar coin to circulation.

The ringed bimetal coin, even if it is a commemorative, is a step in the direction towards circulating coins of the same or similar compositions in the future. Italy introduced the modern ringed bimetal coin 20 years earlier.

Where has the United States been during this time?

Although Italy and many other countries have struck ringed bimetal coins of base metals for circulation, France produced a ringed bimetal coin of gold and platinum for collectors during the mid-1980s. The technology to strike such a coin exists. The bigger question may be if the U.S. Mint can obtain and set up such technology on short notice to accommodate the new coinage bill.

Colonial coins are known with a plug of a different metal in them which makes them ringed bimetal. Many collectors are not aware the 1792 Birch 1-cent coin is composed of copper with a silver plug in the center, again making it a ringed bimetal coin. The concept was to provide some intrinsic value to this minor coin denomination by adding some precious metal to it.

Ringed bimetal coins may have been re-introduced by Italy in recent history, but ringed bimetal coins date from the 3rd century Roman Empire. The next coins of this conception were struck in the 1600s. By the 1800s, English model penny patterns, medals and patterns of this nature were being produced at different places around the world.

Ironically, the U.S. is just catching up with the rest of the world not only with off-color composition coins but with bank note technology as well. Unfortunately, as long as Congress decides what the Mint will produce, the Mint is in no position to experiment with changes and recommend such changes in our coins as new innovations to Congress.