CASPER — Texas is turning to a Wyoming mint to produce its official commemorative gold and silver coins sold through its Texas Bullion Depository.
Texas is the first state to authorize official commemorative coins and the first to have its own depository for precious metals. Officials from the state were at the Scottsdale Mint recently to see the first coins stamped for 2026.
“It’s the Cowboy State alliance,” said Josh Phair, CEO of the Scottsdale Mint. “It’s historic. To see a state who is obviously constricted in what it can and can’t do with coinage (and) legal-tender, this is a pretty big statement piece.”
While states cannot create their own currency, the fact of Texas endorsing and legislators authorizing the commemorative gold and silver coins to call attention to the depository is “making a statement,” he said.
Phair emphasized the role of gold and silver as currencies throughout the ages and called it a type of “Noah’s Ark” investment.
Tom Currah, associate deputy comptroller for fiscal matters in the Texas Comptroller’s Office, said coins are meant to broaden the scope of the Texas depository and potentially have purchasers store their metals at the facility.
“We’re excited about the launch of the new coins,” Currah said. “The Texas Legislature about a decade ago decided that the state should have a depository for people to store their precious metals. This is sort of the next step in that process.”
Currah, who graduated from Natrona County High School in Casper, said Texas contracted with Lone Star Tangible Assets, which runs the state’s depository, to produce and mint the one-ounce and half-ounce gold coins and one-ounce silver coins.
The state’s first commemorative issue with the precious metals occurred at the end of 2025 and resulted in 26,000 silver coins and 565 coins being purchased in a two-week period.
Quality Important
Lone Star Tangible Assets CEO Matt Ferris said he chose the Scottsdale Mint because he has known Phair for several years and understands the mint's quality of product.
The goal is to have a product that rivals the quality of the U.S. Mint.
“Naturally, we couldn’t do it in Texas,” he said. “Then the question was, ‘Where can we make a quality product in the United States so when someone asks ‘Where was this made?’ You’re not saying we’re making Texas coinage in Canada or the U.K.'”
The 2026 Texas coins were the last designed by well-known numismatic artist Joel Iskowitz. He died a couple of months ago, Ferris said.
The coins' face depict the goddess of Liberty holding the Lone Star over the Texas Capitol’s dome.
Phair said every coin produced at the mint has its own “recipe” that involves the tonnage pressure of the press on the metal and the times it is stamped so coin quality is maintained.
“The tricky thing is if we produce something right now, and they go order 100,000 of them, making sure it’s consistent all the way through,” he said. “A lot goes into making sure the repeatability is there in production.”
Last week, mint workers tried a few sample runs of the 2026 Texas coins to help establish the recipe.
The Texas commemorative coins can be purchased by anyone and can be found on typical gold and silver coin dealer websites. The depository is also available to the nation’ residents to store their precious metal in, Ferris said.
“It brings another level of checks and balances,” Ferris said. “Consumers using a depository or potentially buying a product don’t have to just take a private company’s word that everything is on the up and up. … You actually have the state of Texas confirming that (the coins are) there.”
American-Made Product
Phair said Texans choosing the Scottsdale Mint makes it an American-made product. He noted that many commemorative coins come out of Canada and some from Australia.
Currah said the whole commemorative coin program is just getting started and plans eventually call for greater production of the coins.
The Texans’ initially ordered 25,000 silver coins for the 2026 issue. Instead of getting the design to the mint midyear in future years, they are trying to advance and speed up the production process.
“The 2027 coins we are trying to issue in January and February,” Currah said. “I imagine by the end of 2026, we’ll have designs probably ready to go for 2028 and 2029.”
In addition to producing the commemorative coins for Texas, the Scottsdale Mint produces coins and legal tender for more than 20 foreign governments and central banks, Phair said.
More information about the Texas Bullion Depository can be found at texasbulliondepository.gov.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
