Coins Commemorate Mark Twain's Birthday, Support House and Museum

Gold and silver half eagle and silver dollar commemorative coins in honor of Samuel Clemens' 180th birthday will benefit the Mark Twain House and Museum.

The enabling legislation, the Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Act, Public Law 112-201, authorizes the production and sale, in Proof and Uncirculated versions combined, of up to 100,000 gold $5 coins and up to 350,000 silver dollars. 

The purchase price of each gold coin will include a $35 surcharge and each silver dollar a $10 surcharge. The net surcharges, after the US Mint has recouped its production and related costs, will be distributed equally to four beneficiaries: The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, University of California, Berkeley, CA (for the benefit of the Mark Twain Project at the Bancroft Library);Elmira College in New York (Center for Mark Twain Studies); and the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, MO.

The funds received by The Mark Twain House and Museum will support the continued restoration of the house and grounds and ensure continuing growth and innovation in museum programming to research, promote, and educate the public on the legacy of Mark Twain.

Additional information will be announced prior to the coins' release in early 2016.