FORT SMITH -- The U.S. Marshals Museum and Wal-Mart announced Wednesday an agreement to sell U.S. Marshals Service commemorative silver dollar coins at two Fort Smith-area stores beginning Saturday.
A news release from the museum Wednesday said the coins will be sold for $51.95 at the Wal-Mart store on Zero Street in south Fort Smith and at the store on Liberty Drive in Greenwood.
Marshals Museum President and CEO Jim Dunn thanked Wal-Mart for its continued support, according to the release.
"We hope everyone will go out and purchase one of these beautiful silver dollar coins to honor the men and women of the U.S. Marshals Service and help bring this important project closer to the finish line," Dunn said in the release.
The silver dollar features a gun-toting frontier marshal clasping a warrant with the words "Wanted in Ft. Smith" etched on it.
Kelly Clark, manager of the Zero Street Wal-Mart store, said he was excited to be part of the effort to honor the marshals and the Fort Smith community.
To celebrate the occasion, local marshals are scheduled to be on hand outside the Zero Street store to cook hamburgers and hot dogs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, the release said.
In January, the U.S. Mint put out three types of coins for sale to commemorate the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Marshals Service -- up to 100,000 $5 gold coins, 500,000 silver dollars and 750,000 copper/nickel-clad half-dollar coins.
Sales of the coins as of Wednesday, according to mint figures, were 14,240 gold $5 coins, 131,047 silver dollar coins, 82,210 clad half-dollar coins and 14,950 three-coin sets.
As of Wednesday, the mint was selling the $5 gold proof coins for $369 each, the silver dollar proof coins for $51.95 and the half-dollar coins for $18.95, according to the mint's website. It showed the three-coin proof set was sold out, and the silver dollar proof and uncirculated coins were on back order. The term "proof" refers to the coins' specially treated finish.
The museum will receive a surcharge from the sale of each coin, up to $5 million, to help raise the estimated $50 million needed for building and developing the museum on the banks of the Arkansas River in Fort Smith.
Metro on 08/20/2015