Three years after U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) successfully passed into law a bill to mint commemorative coins honoring Mark Twain at no cost to taxpayers, Luetkemeyer announced that the coins are now being produced by and available from the United States Mint.

“It is a true honor to be able to see the Mark Twain commemorative coins come to life,” Luetkemeyer said. “While I no longer represent the Hannibal area, Mark Twain gives all Missourians great pride. I will always remember fondly working alongside the people of northeast Missouri on this project to honor one of our state’s most famous sons.”

Luetkemeyer no longer represents the Hannibal area and U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (MO-07) is the representative for the city.

“Mark Twain means everything to Hannibal,” Rep. Graves said. “He brings thousands of visitors here every year, and his legacy leaves a lasting impact on the city – both economically and historically. I remember my dad reading the Adventures of Tom Sawyer to me while I fell asleep as a kid. Now getting to represent his hometown in Congress and working to honor one of the great literary minds in American history is such a thrill.”

In 2012, President Obama signed into law Luetkemeyer’s legislation to direct the U.S. Mint to produce, for a limited time, $1 silver and $5 gold coins in honor of Mark Twain. The sale price of each coin is the combined total of each coin’s respective face value, production and design costs, and a surcharge remitted by the U.S. Treasury to the recipient organizations As a result, the coins are being produced at no cost to taxpayers. The coins will only be available during 2016.

Proceeds from the sale of the coins benefit the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, as well as the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, the Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, New York, and the Mark Twain Project at the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, California.