Billionaire Tax

by: Pink

Wed Jan 09, 2013 at 01:38:25 AM CST

U.S. Mint Announces Reagan Commemorative Series

The Director of the U.S. Mint, Isaac P. Frehley, announced Wednesday that a limited series of commemorative coins will be minted to honor former President Ronald W. Reagan.  The five coin series will be issued annually beginning next month on the 102nd anniversary of the former President's birth and highlight his remarkable life story.

The first coin, to be released February 6, will honor his rise to fame as a Hollywood leading man and his 1951 breakout role as Professor Peter Boyd.

The second coin in 2014 will feature his first venture into public service as a tough union negotiator and President of the Screen Actors Guild.  The 2015 coin will honor his rewarding career as a product spokesman.

The 2016 coin honoring the 40th President depicts him reviewing the American troops returning from the invasion of Grenada in 1983.  

View the coins after the jump... 

The final coin, to be minted in 2017, will depict the afterlife and canonization of Saint Ronnie.

The coins will be 99.9% fine platinum, minted in a one billion dollar coin available to collectors.  The striking will be limited to 1,000 coins each year at the West Point, New York, mint and 500 each from the Denver and San Francisco mints.  The total cost of the 15-coin set including one coin from each mint for the five years is priced at $15 Billion. 

Frehley reported that a dealer in Dubai ordered 100 sets the day the offering was announced. 

"This one order will wipe the entire budget deficit," said Frehley. "By 2017, the U.S. nation debt will be eliminated."

The coins began as an idea to avoid the legally mandated borrowing limit.  The plan was to mint a trillion dollars in platinum coins to avoid the debt ceiling using a loophole in the law. 

"The phone just rang off the hook.  Everyone wanted one," said Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury for Coinage, Seymour Butts.

The first coins will only be available through dealers after the February 6 debut in a ceremony to be held at the Reagan Library.