The Basketball Hall of Fame commemorative coins are a series of coins to be issued by the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

in 2020. The coins were authorized by

Public Law Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct ...

115–343 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

History

Following the success of the

National Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

commemorative coins of 2014, H.R.4592 was introduced to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in 2016. It proposed the production of a series of coins commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. However, it did not make it past the House. The production of Basketball Hall of Fame coins was proposed again in 2017 with H.R.1235, this time with production scheduled for 2020. Unlike the previous proposal, H.R.1235 passed the House and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, and was signed into law by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

on December 21, 2018, becoming Public Law 115–343.

Legislation

Public Law 115–343 calls for a maximum mintage limit of 750,000 clad half dollars, 400,000 silver

dollars Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, Un ...

, and 50,000 gold

half eagle The half eagle is a United States coin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since 1983. Composed almost entirely of gold, its face value of five dollars is half that of the eagle coin. Produ ...

s. It also calls for the coins to be dome-shaped and for the reverse to feature a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

Designs

The US Mint launched the Basketball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Design Competition on March 19, 2019, calling for artists to submit obverse designs to the

Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (or CCAC) was established in 2003 to advise the United States Secretary of the Treasury on coinage-related issues, replacing the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee (CCCAC). See also * Citizens' ...

. The chosen designs were unveiled on September 6, 2019. The obverse, designed by Justin Kunz, will feature three players reaching for a ball. The reverse, designed by Donna Weaver, will feature a basketball falling into a net. Some of the designs not chosen for the Basketball Hall of Fame coins were later submitted to the CCAC for the reverse of the 2020 Massachusetts American Innovation dollar.

Colorization

On July 17, 2019, April Stafford, the chief of the Office of Design Management, stated that the Mint was considering colorizing the half dollar and silver dollar coins. The Mint confirmed later that year that those coins would be colorized, becoming the first such coins released from the Mint. The idea of colorized coins brought mixed responses from the

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

community. One reader of ''

Coin World ''Coin World'' is an American numismatic magazine, with weekly and monthly issues. It is among the world’s most popular non-academic publications for coin collectors and is covering the entire numismatic field, including coins, paper money, med ...

'' opined negatively that the Mint would be mimicking the

Royal Canadian Mint }) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada. The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures ...

's "plan of turning out trinkets". However, some welcomed the prospect of coloring.

References

{{Portal bar, Money, Numismatics, United States Modern United States commemorative coins Basketball in the United States

commemorative coins Commemorative coins are coins issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collectors items only, although some countries ...