H. R. 2872

One Hundred Ninth Congress

of the

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and six 

An Act 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of Louis 

Braille.

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 ‘‘Louis Braille Bicentennial—

Braille Literacy Commemorative Coin Act’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

The Congress finds as follows: 

(1) Louis Braille, who invented the Braille method for 

reading and writing by the blind that has allowed millions 

of blind people to be literate participants in their societies, 

was born in Coupvray, a small village near Paris, on January 

4, 1809. 

(2) Braille lost his sight at the age of three after injuring 

himself with an awl in the shop of his father Rene, a maker 

of harnesses and other objects of leather. 

(3) A youth who was both intelligent and creative and 

was blessed with dedicated parents, a thoughtful local priest 

and an energetic local schoolteacher, Braille adapted to the 

situation and attended local school with other youths of his 

age, an unheard-of practice for a blind child of the period. 

(4) At the age of 10, when his schooling otherwise would 

have stopped, Braille—with the aid of the priest and schoolteacher—was given a scholarship by a local nobleman and 

went to Paris to attend the Royal Institute for Blind Children 

where he became the youngest pupil. 

(5) At the school, most instruction was oral but Braille 

found there were books for the blind—large, expensive-toproduce books in which the text was of large letters embossed 

upon the page. 

(6) Soon Braille had read all 14 books in the school, but 

thirsted for more. 

(7) A captain in Napoleon’s army, Charles Barbier de la 

Serre, had invented ‘‘night writing’’, a method for communicating on the battlefield amidst the thick smoke of combat 

or at night without lighting a match—which would aid enemy 

gunners—that used dots and dashes that were felt and interpreted with the fingers, and later adapted the method for 

use by the blind, calling it Sonography because it represented 

words by sounds, rather than spelling. 
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(8) Braille adopted the Sonography method instantly but 

soon recognized that the basis in sound and the large number 

of dots—as many as 12—used to represent words was too 

cumbersome. 

(9) By the age of 15, and using a blunt awl, the same 

sort of tool that had blinded him, Braille had developed what 

is essentially modern Braille, a code that uses no more than 

6 dots in a ‘‘cell’’ of 2 columns of 3 dots each to represent 

each letter and contains a system of punctuation and of 

‘‘contractions’’ to speed writing and reading. 

(10) In contrast to the bulky books consisting of large 

embossed letters, Braille books can contain as many as 1000 

characters or contractions on a standard 11-by-12-inch page 

of heavy paper, and to this day Braille can be punched with 

an awl-like ‘‘stylus’’ into paper held in a metal ‘‘slate’’ that 

is very similar to the ones that Louis Braille adapted from 

Barbier’s original ‘‘night writing’’ devices. 

(11) Also a talented organist who supported himself by 

giving concerts, Braille went on to develop the Braille representation of music and in 1829 published the first-ever Braille 

book, a manual about how to read and write music. 

(12) 8 years later, in 1837, Braille followed that publication 

with another book detailing a system of representation of 

mathematics. 

(13) Braille’s talents were quickly recognized, and at 17 

he was made the first blind apprentice teacher at the school, 

where he taught algebra, grammar, music, and geography. 

(14) He and two blind classmates, his friends who probably 

were the first people to learn to read and write Braille, later 

became the first three blind full professors at the school. 

(15) However, despite the fact that many blind people 

enthusiastically adopted the system of writing and reading, 

there was great skepticism among sighted people about the 

real usefulness of Braille’s code, and even at the Royal Institute, 

it was not taught until after his death on January 6, 1852. 

(16) Braille did not start to spread widely until 1868 when 

a group of British men—later to become known as the Royal 

National Institute for the Blind—began publicizing and 

teaching the system. 

(17) Braille did not become the official and sole method 

of reading and writing for blind United States citizens until 

the 20th Century. 

(18) Helen Keller, a Braille reader of another generation, 

said: ‘‘Braille has been a most precious aid to me in many 

ways. It made my going to college possible—it was the only 

method by which I could take notes on lectures. All my examination papers were copied for me in this system. I use Braille 

as a spider uses its web—to catch thoughts that flit across 

my mind for speeches, messages and manuscripts.’’. 

(19) While rapid technological advances in the 20th Century 

have greatly aided the blind in many ways by speeding access 

to information, each advance has seen a commensurate drop 

in the teaching of Braille, to the point that only about 10 

percent of blind students today are taught the system. 

(20) However, for the blind not to know Braille is in itself 

a handicap, because literacy is the ability to read and the 

ability to write and the ability to do the two interactively. 
H. R. 2872—3

(21) The National Federation of the Blind, the Nation’s 

oldest membership organization consisting of blind members, 

has been a champion of the Braille code, of Braille literacy 

for all blind people and of the memory of Louis Braille, and 

continues its Braille literacy efforts today through its divisions 

emphasizing Braille literacy, emphasizing education of blind 

children and emphasizing employment of the blind. 

(22) Braille literacy aids the blind in taking responsible 

and self-sufficient roles in society, such as employment: while 

70 percent of the blind are unemployed, 85 percent of the 

employed blind are Braille-literate. 

SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter 

in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall mint and issue 

not more than 400,000 $1 coins bearing the designs specified in 

section 4(a), each of which shall—

(1) weigh 26.73 grams; 

(2) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and 

(3) contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper. 

(b) LEGAL TENDER.—The coins minted under this Act shall 

be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of title 31, United 

States Code. 

(c) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 5134 of title 

31, United States Code, all coins minted under this Act shall 

be considered to be numismatic items. 

SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS. 

(a) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The design of the coins minted under 

this Act shall be emblematic of the life and legacy of Louis 

Braille. 

(2) OBVERSE.—The design on the obverse shall bear a representation of the image of Louis Braille. 

(3) REVERSE.—The design on the reverse shall emphasize 

Braille literacy and shall specifically include the word for 

Braille in Braille code (the Braille capital sign and the letters 

Brl) represented in a way that substantially complies with 

section 3 of Specification 800 of the National Library Service 

for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of 

Congress specifications for Braille, and is tactilely indiscernible 

from printed or written Braille. 

(4) DESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS.—On each coin minted 

under this Act there shall be—

(A) a designation of the value of the coin; 

(B) an inscription of the year ‘‘2009’’; and 

(C) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, ‘‘In God We 

Trust’’, ‘‘United States of America’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus 

Unum’’. 

(b) SELECTION.—The design for the coins minted under this 

Act shall be—

(1) selected by the Secretary after consultation with the 

Commission of Fine Arts and the National Federation of the 

Blind; and 

(2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. 
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SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS. 

(a) QUALITY OF COINS.—Coins minted under this Act shall 

be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 

(b) MINT FACILITY.—Only 1 facility of the United States Mint 

may be used to strike any particular quality of the coins minted 

under this Act. 

(c) PERIOD FOR ISSUANCE.—The Secretary may issue coins 

minted under this Act only during the 1-year period beginning 

on January 1, 2009. 

SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 

(a) SALE PRICE.—The coins issued under this Act shall be 

sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum of—

(1) the face value of the coins; 

(2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with respect 

to such coins; and 

(3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins (including 

labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead expenses, 

marketing, and shipping). 

(b) BULK SALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk sales of the 

coins issued under this Act at a reasonable discount. 

(c) PREPAID ORDERS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept prepaid orders 

for the coins minted under this Act before the issuance of 

such coins. 

(2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to prepaid orders 

under paragraph (1) shall be at a reasonable discount. 

SEC. 7. SURCHARGES. 

(a) SURCHARGE REQUIRED.—All sales of coins under this Act 

shall include a surcharge of $10 per coin. 

(b) DISTRIBUTION.—Subject to section 5134(f) of title 31, United 

States Code, all surcharges which are received by the Secretary 

from the sale of coins issued under this Act shall be promptly 

paid by the Secretary to the National Federation of the Blind 

to further its programs to promote Braille literacy. 

(c) AUDITS.—The National Federation of the Blind shall be 

subject to the audit requirements of section 5134(f)(2) of title 31, 

United States Code, with regard to the amounts received by the 

National Federation under subsection (b). 

(d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), no surcharge 

may be included with respect to the issuance under this Act of 

any coin during a calendar year if, as of the time of such issuance, 

the issuance of such coin would result in the number of commemorative coin programs issued during such year to exceed the annual 

2 commemorative coin program issuance limitation under section 

5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code (as in effect on the 
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date of the enactment of this Act). The Secretary of the Treasury 

may issue guidance to carry out this subsection.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.