[...] starting early next year, some of Twain's favorite places — his Missouri hometown, the New England community where he spent a big part of his adult life and two universities — all stand to benefit from the U.S. Mint's gold and silver coins honoring the author and humorist. Each carries a surcharge — $35 for gold, $10 for silver — to be divided evenly among the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut; University of California, Berkeley, for a program to study and promote the legacy of Twain; Elmira College in Elmira, New York; and the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal, Missouri. "If the entire issue is sold, it could be well in excess of $1 million for each of the sites," said Henry Sweets, executive director of the Hannibal museum, which has an annual budget (including its properties) of about $850,000. Collectors generally account for about three-quarters of commemorative coin sales, but Sweets said, "With the topic of Mark Twain, I think we'll have a lot of people who are interested."
