Ludwig von Mises Institute (Auburn, AL)

Issuer

Ludwig von Mises Institute Overview

The Ludwig von Mises Institute is a nonprofit research and education organization in Auburn, Alabama, dedicated to the Austrian School of economics in the tradition of economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). Lew Rockwell founded the Institute in 1982. Murray N. Rothbard, a student of Mises, served as its original academic vice president. The Institute operated in affiliation with Auburn University’s business school until 1998, when it moved into its own building across the street from campus. It publishes scholarly journals and books, runs teaching programs, and adopted as its motto Tu ne cede malis, a line from Virgil’s Aeneid that Mises himself had taken as his guiding principle.

The Institute’s place in this archive comes through its silver round program with the American Open Currency Standard (AOCS), the Frisco, Texas–based sound-money organization that coordinated design approval and contract striking for affiliated issuers. The Mises Institute appears on the AOCS roster of affiliated currency programs. Its issues carry the AOCS Approved mark alongside the Institute’s own copyright abbreviation, “LvMI,” which identifies the Institute as issuer on the coin itself.

The program’s anchor piece is the 2009 Ludwig von Mises Institute Proof-Like Silver Round, a one troy ounce .999 fine silver round with a portrait of Mises beneath the TU NE CEDE MALIS motto on the obverse. Its reverse carries a heraldic shield under the Institute’s name, the mission line “ADVANCING THE AUSTRIAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS,” the AOCS silver denomination “FIFTY,” and “LIBERTY · PROPERTY · PEACE.” A companion 2009 round pairs a portrait of Murray Rothbard with the same Institute reverse. An undated copper round with the Institute reverse is also known, and a 2010 one-ounce gold Mises medallion is named in period dealer inventory as part of a multi-design AOCS gold series.

All of the Institute’s AOCS-program rounds are recorded under AOCS Mint (Frisco, TX), since no mark on any known piece names a physical manufacturer. The Institute’s design and production timing falls within the period when the North American Mint (Rochester, NY) served as AOCS’s documented production partner, but no direct evidence ties the Institute’s rounds to a specific mint.

The Institute distributed its AOCS round directly. Its online store listed the “Mises Silver Coin” (item M510, $32.50) by September 2009, introducing it as new, and AOCS’s directory of approved currencies linked buyers to that store page in early 2010. The shield on the coin’s reverse is the Institute’s own emblem, the same one used in its website header of the period. The store later offered Mises, Rothbard, and Lew Rockwell silver rounds under new product listings, with the Mises round carrying a 2015 catalog date; whether those were original AOCS-era stock, later strikings, or new designs has not been established. A separate 40th-anniversary silver round, marking the Institute’s 1982 founding, was offered through the Institute’s bookstore in 2022.

Ludwig von Mises Institute Notes

  • Headquartered at 518 West Magnolia Avenue, Auburn, Alabama.
  • Founded 1982 by Lew Rockwell; Murray N. Rothbard was the original academic vice president.
  • Issuer identification on the coins rests on the struck “LvMI” copyright abbreviation in the AOCS Approved line.
  • Known AOCS-program issues: 2009 Mises silver round (proof-like), 2009 Rothbard silver round sharing the Institute reverse, an undated copper round with the Institute reverse, and a 2010 gold Mises medallion (named in dealer inventory; no photograph located).
  • Sold directly through the Institute’s online store as the “Mises Silver Coin,” item M510, $32.50 (listing first captured Sep. 11, 2009); the AOCS approved-currencies directory (Feb. 2, 2010) linked to it.
  • Mintages, designer, and the physical manufacturer are not documented for any Institute issue.
  • The Institute’s later store offerings (Mises, Rothbard, and Rockwell silver rounds, c. 2015) have not been tied to the AOCS program or to a manufacturer.
  • Texas connection through the AOCS Approved mark.

Ludwig von Mises Institute References

Coins from Ludwig von Mises Institute (Auburn, AL) (1)