US: Proposal to Issue a Commemorative Coin on Mark Twain

[Bimat]

Coin honoring Mark Twain proposed

by MIKE LEAR on JULY 8, 2011

Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer is co-sponsoring a bill to have Mark Twain honored with a Commemorative Coin from the U.S. Mint.

A surcharge added to the coins' face value, production and design costs, would benefit four facilities that celebrate Twain's life. One would be the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal. Curator Henry Sweets says a coin would be a great recognition for the author and his work.

If the bill passes, the coin will still be behind several others in line for production, probably no earlier than 2016. The Mint releases two such coins each year.

Sweets believes the coins' design should include some mention of Hannibal, the Mississippi River and both the pen name Mark Twain and his birth name, Samuel Clemens.

The other sites that would benefit are the Mark Twain House & Museum in Connecticut, the Center for Mark Twain Studies in New York and the Mark Twain Project at the University of California, Berkeley.

Luetkemeyer says creating a Mark Twain Commemorative Coin will not cost taxpayers anything.  The bill is also sponsored by Congressman John Larson of Connecticut.

Source: Missourinet

[chrisild]

Not the first attempt, it seems.
http://www.coinnews.net/2009/02/26/mark-twain-commemorative-coins-reintroduced-hr-1195/

Well, 2010 would have been a good occasion. But 2016 is not exactly an "anniversary" year, I think.

Christian

[Prosit]

I think it is a good idea.  At the least it has possibilities.  Don't care for the image that Peter gives a link to.  Pretty uninspiring design.
Dale

[Figleaf]

Agreed that Twain deserves a better design than YAP (yet another portrait.) He also deserves a real coin, rather than a gold medal with a denomination, I think.

Peter

[Prosit]

I don't object to a portrait but the older Twain had more character.

I think a paddlewheel Riverboat could be a good design too

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddle_steamer

[Figleaf]

I guess I think it should be about his books, not his looks. Yes, he worked on a paddle steamer, but that's not what got him famous. I would like something like Twain writing, a pile of books on one side and Huck Finn looking over his shoulder, grinning mischievously. Or something.

Peter

[Prosit]

Tom and Becky 
Dale

I guess I think it should be about his books, not his looks. Yes, he worked on a paddle steamer, but that's not what got him famous. I would like something like Twain writing, a pile of books on one side and Huck Finn looking over his shoulder, grinning mischievously. Or something.

Peter

[akona20]

Radical idea!

Let's just commenmorate Mark Twain. Two simple (but with some character) portraits. The young Mark and the old Mark.

If you have to remind people why someone is being commenmorated then perhaps they should not receive the honour. So leave out the steamboats and rivers etc.

[Prosit]

Yeah, but those are pretty 

Dale

So leave out the steamboats and rivers etc.

[akona20]

Another radical idea!

Let's do a twin set.

Coin one with two portraits.

Coin two with a few iconic images of his work.

Wow think of the earning power for the mint.

[chrisild]

Ah, I just noticed that 2013 would be another good (or at least not all that bad) occasion: Seems that in 1863 he used the "Mark Twain" name for the first time - thus 150 years ago then. But if the initiative aims at 2016 ...

No, wait. 2030! That would be the 150th anniversary of the publication of Twain's "The Awful German Language".

And while we're at it ... I won't comment on the use of religious mottos on US coins, but Mark Twain suggested that IGWT should be replaced by the text "Within certain judicious limitations we trust in God". And if there is not enough room for that, he suggested to enlarge the coin. Now that would be interesting!

Christian

[Figleaf]

Times change. Today, the appropriate text should be "Within certain judicious limitations we trust in God, Allah, Jahweh, a TV preacher wanting our money or some other being or none of the above as the case may be/In dios confiamos". More democratic and realistic, but pretty long. Maybe we can delete "certain judicious"?

Peter

[villa66]

Agreed that Twain deserves a better design than YAP (yet another portrait.)....

Peter

Twain--like Einstein--was famous for his head of hair. I can understand being tired of all those portraits (Jees there are still a lot of crowned heads in Europe), but in this case it really does work. It evokes the man in an instant. To an American audience, anyway.

The comments about the motto are exactly right, however. The "In God We Trust" placed in front of Twain's portrait, at near mouth level no less, makes it look like a speech bubble emanating from the great man. From what I've read of his works, he might have said...something else. But then he might well have seen the humor in being honored in so un-Twain a fashion.

v.

[chrisild]

As for the "coin" image in that CoinNews.net article from 2009, I am inclined to believe that this was something some editor quickly made up. "Hmm, a story about a Mark Twain coin? Let's take his portrait, and a coin background, and combine the two." Don't think the image shows a serious suggestion. Well, I hope ...

Christian

[Prosit]

2016 Designs, 5 Dollar Gold

Dale