Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Program

In 2016, the United States Mint honored the life and legacy of celebrated American author Mark Twain for the 180th anniversary of his birth. The Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Act (Public Act 112-201) was signed into law on December 4, 2012. Under that law, Congress directed the Mint to strike and issue up to 100,000 $5 gold coins and 350,000 $1 silver coins in honor of Mark Twain.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens–better known as Mark Twain–was born in Florida, Missouri, on Nov. 30, 1835, and raised in Hannibal, a port city near the Mississippi River that would later become the setting for many of his beloved writings.

Clemens held several jobs, including printer’s apprentice, riverboat pilot and miner, before finding success as a writer and journalist. It was during a stint at a Nevada newspaper that he began writing under his celebrated pseudonym. Soon thereafter, he experienced his first taste of success when his short story “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” was published in newspapers nationwide.

Few authors have influenced American culture like Mark Twain. He is remembered today for addressing the complex social issues facing America at the turn of the century, including the legacy of the Civil War, race relations and the economic inequalities of the “Gilded Age.”

Twain remains one of the best-known Americans in the world, with more than 6,500 editions of his books translated into 75 languages. His literary and educational legacy remains strong even today. Nearly every book he wrote is still in print, including “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”–both of which have never gone out of print since they were first published more than a century ago.

Prices for the coins include surcharges of $35 for each gold coin and $10 for each silver coin, which were authorized to be distributed as follows:

• One-quarter to the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT, to support the continued restoration of the Mark Twain 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
• One-quarter to the University of California, Berkeley, for the benefit of the Mark Twain Project at the Bancroft Library to support programs to study and promote the legacy of Mark Twain
• One-quarter to Elmira College in New York for research and education purposes
• One-quarter to the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, MO, to preserve historical sites related to Mark Twain and help support programs to study and promote his legacy.