Approved Mark Twain commemorative coin design unveiling Nov. 27
Events planned for gold $5 coin and silver dollars at surcharge beneficiary sites
Mark Twain's boyhood home in Hannibal, Mo., which now serves as a museum, is one of four beneficiaries to equally split net surcharges from the sale of the 2016 Mark Twain gold $5 half eagle and silver dollar. Original images courtesy of Library of Congress.
On Nov. 27, the U.S. Mint is scheduled to release the official designs approved through the Treasury secretary's office for the 2016 Mark Twain gold $5 half eagle and silver dollar commemorative coins.
The Mint's announcement will be the day before a public unveiling of the designs at the sites of the four recipients that will equally divide net surcharges from the sales of the coins. The beneficiaries are the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Conn.; University of California, Berkeley, Calif. (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.
Check each location for activities scheduled at each respective site.
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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 U.S. Mint has recouped its production and related costs will be distributed equally to the four beneficiaries designated in the enabling act.
Melissa Cummins, marketing and community relations manager for Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, said complete details of the approved coin designs will not be known until Mint officials make that information public on Nov. 27. The Hannibal, Mo., site is conducting a public unveiling at 3 p.m. Central Time Nov. 28, Cummins said.
Final approval of U.S. coin and medal designs are at the discretion of the Treasury secretary or his designee. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew generally defers the discretionary authority for design selection to Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin.
