FORT SMITH -- After six years of planning, coins commemorating the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Marshals Service went on sale Thursday.
"This honors 225 years of service and sacrifice by U.S. marshals who worked every day to make us all safe and to enforce the Constitution of the United States," Jim Dunn, president and chief executive officer of the proposed U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, said as he received the museum's shipment of coins Thursday.
Dunn hopes sales of the coins will raise $5 million for the museum. The coins will be on sale throughout 2015.
For the time being, the coins can be purchased only through the U.S. Mint -- online at catalog.usmint.gov or by calling 800-USA-MINT -- 800-872-6468 -- according to a news release.
On Feb. 7, the coins will be for sale at an event in Fort Smith. The free event is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith's Blue Lion building downtown. Dunn said he hopes to sell the $90,000 worth of coins allotted to the museum that night.
Authorized by Public Law 112-104, the U.S. Mint may issue up to 100,000 $5 gold coins, 500,000 $1 silver coins and 750,000 copper-nickel clad half-dollar coins. The coins aren't intended for general circulation.
The prices on Thursday were listed as $412.60 for the gold coin, $46.95 for the silver coin and $14.95 for the clad coin.
Dunn said the price of the gold coin could change weekly with gold's fluctuating price. But prices for the other two coins will remain the same throughout the year.
The Marshals Museum will receive $35 for each gold coin purchased, $10 from each silver coin and $3 from each clad coin -- up to a maximum of $5 million, according to the law.
That's based on legislation Dunn said he wrote and 3rd District Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, moved through the House of Representatives in 2011. It was subsequently passed by the Senate.
"My hope is that this has nationwide appeal, kind of like the Baseball Hall of Fame coin," said Womack, referring to a coin issued last year.
Womack said Fort Smith was the 19th century "gateway to the West" and there's no better location for the Marshals Museum.
In a news release Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder tried to sum up the diverse accomplishments of the Marshals Service.
"Today, we remember the federal law enforcement pioneers who helped to keep a fledgling nation together; the legendary lawmen who tamed the Wild West; the icons who helped restore our country after civil war, and -- particularly this year, as we celebrate both the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- the heroes who put their lives on the line to integrate schools, and enforce civil rights protections for all citizens, amid the turmoil and violence of the Civil Rights Era," Holder said.
Dunn said two marshals who are coin collectors -- Scott Sanders and Oscar Blythe -- came up with the idea for the commemorative Marshals Service coin six years ago.
An attempt to get the legislation passed through Congress in 2009 was unsuccessful, Dunn said. The U.S. Mint issues only two commemorative coins per year.
Dunn said he bought five sets of the coins shortly after they went on sale at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Dunn said more than $20 million has been pledged toward the $50 million museum. The $20 million figure includes an estimated $4 million from sales of the coins. Money from the coin sales can be used for construction of the museum or for exhibits, Dunn said.
Construction has yet to begin on the 52,000-square-foot museum, which is scheduled to open in 2017.
If more than $5 million is raised through the coin sales, other groups also will benefit from the coins. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund each could receive $1 million from the coin sales.
Michael White, a spokesman at the U.S. Mint, said this is the first commemorative coin specifically benefiting an Arkansas entity since the Little Rock Central High School Desegregation Silver Dollar was issued in 2007.
White said the mint sold 190,771 of the Central High silver dollars, with $10 per coin -- about $1.9 million -- going to the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.
The Central High silver dollar had a limit of 500,000 that could have been issued. Prices for the coins initially ranged from $33 to $39 each.
Before that, it appears Arkansas hadn't had a commemorative coin since the Great Depression, White said. In 1935 and 1936, the mint issued coins to commemorate Arkansas' centennial, he said.
Jodi Morris, a park ranger at the Central High School National Historic Site, said money from the sale of those coins sales has been used to bring schoolchildren from across Arkansas to the site. The funds also have been used for other interpretive and educational purposes, as well as history and research, she said.
Although the Central High coin is no longer minted, Morris said they have a few for sale for $45 each in the gift shop at the historic site.
White said he won't know until today how sales went for the first day of the U.S. Marshals Service coins.
NW News on 01/30/2015