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The Short Life of the Twenty Cent Piece

The Civil War and the subsequent Reconstruction Era had spectacular effects on America’s monetary system. Coins, in particular specie-based denominations, experienced dramatic hoarding that led to the introduction of fractional currency, the rise of private tokens, and the introduction of the two-cent piece and its replacement, the three-cent nickel coin.

The short-lived twenty-cent piece was also born in this period. In 1874, John Percival Jones, a new senator from Nevada (and part owner of a silver mine), pushed through authorization for a twenty-cent silver piece meant to alleviate small coin shortages in the West. It also would more closely match denominations used in Central and Latin American commerce where the Spanish two reale piece (“pistareen”) was historically a de facto currency and passed freely at 20 cents US value.

The Coinage Act of 1873 had also ended the practice of allowing silver miners to have their bullion sold into silver dollar production (which could be exchanged for currency), so the mining lobby was keen to find other avenues for their output.

After a series of pattern coins, a design by William Barber (and Bailly) was approved and the first legal tender twenty-cent pieces were struck in small quantities in Philadelphia (36,910) and Carson City (133,290), with San Francisco (1,155,000) bearing the weight of production. The coins have some peculiarities – neither “In God We Trust” nor “E Pluribus Unum” appears on the coin and “Twenty Cents” was spelled out in full (abbreviations were used on the quarter and dollar). It was also smooth-edged in contrast to its reeded counterparts.

The coin was almost immediately a failure. The size and shape led to confusion with the quarter (the obverses were also almost identical) and errors in change-making were rampant. Almost before it began wide circulation, the twenty-cent piece was doomed and legislation officially ending the denomination was passed in 1878. Mintages had, however, effectively already ended. Very few general circulation coins were struck in Carson City and Philadelphia in 1876 and almost a third of the 1875 mintage was later melted.

The coin was preserved briefly for collectors through Proof issues in 1876-1878, but only a total of 2,500 of coins were struck.

The 1875-S remains the easiest entry point for the type collector, but the 1876 Proof issue, at double the number of 1877/8, is a wonderful coin to bring quality to an American type set.

The Stack Bowers Galleries November Rarities Night session features a lovely 1876 Proof 66 (CACG), example in lot 3019.

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