Luetkemeyer touts creation of Twain coin

At first glance, one might wonder if a Republican Congressman from Missouri and a Democrat member of the U.S. House from Connecticut would have much in common. Both, however, are united in their desire to generate funding for sites dedicated to keeping the legacy of Mark Twain alive.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer was in Hannibal to detail his legislative partnership with Congressman John Larson.
“We want to try and get a Mark Twain coin minted by the U.S. Mint and from that coin’s sale be able to use the proceeds to help promote the legacy of Mark Twain in the various museums around the country,” said Luetkemeyer.
Luetkemeyer noted that one of those Twain-dedicated museums is in Hannibal.
“Obviously this is one of the very important ones here where Mark Twain was raised. His experiences here in his boyhood years helped mold a lot of his writings later on in his life,” said the congressman. “We want to memorialize those and keep this museum going. I think it’s a great way to do that.”
Under the Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Act the U.S. Mint will produce for a limited time, $1 silver and $5 gold coins to honor Twain’s contribution to American history. The revenue generated by the sale of the coins would pay for costs associated with producing it. Twenty percent of the proceeds would go to four Twain historical sites.
Cindy Lovell, interim director of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, says the amount of revenue generated by the coin sales could be significant.
“Being realistic we think we might earn as much as $1 million off of the coin,” she said. “We’re endeavoring here to build our endowment. We recognize, especially in these tough economic times that the endowment is critical to the operation of the museum and historic preservation. My hope is we continue to build a nice endowment here so we can take the pressure off the museum, and take the pressure off the Hannibal residents.”
Luetkemeyer does not anticipate a great deal of opposition to the proposal.
“I think it’s just a matter of getting time on the floor and in committee to make it happen,” he said. “I think we’ve got an issue here that’s nonpartisan. It’s something that is looked at from the standpoint of helping create economic activity awareness. Those are things we regularly vote on and are issues that are supported across party lines. It’s not a conservative-liberal issue, it’s not a Democrat-Republican issue. It’s an issue that’s there for the betterment of the communities and really to enhance the legacy of Mark Twain.”
If the act is approved, it likely won’t be in time to commemorate Twain’s birth and death in 2010, according to Lovell.
“My understanding is from communications with Hartford is that the earliest the U.S. Mint has available is 2013 because there are already commemorative coins in the pipeline,” she said. “It would have been really nice to get it in 2010. And who knows, maybe there is somebody behind the scenes working so maybe it can be switched because 2010 would make great sense to have the coin for Twain. I think it would even sell more if that’s their desire, and I know it is. But I have not heard anything about it being switched.”
Luetkemeyer indicated that he would support grass-roots efforts to have 2010 declared the Year of Mark Twain by President Obama.
A petition drive in regard to the Year of Twain declaration is underway at http://www.marktwainmuseum.org/. It has as its goal securing 50,000 names, according to Lovell.