Twenty-cent piece (United States coin)

Twenty Cent (United States)
Value: 0.20 U.S. dollar
Mass: 5 g
Diameter: 22 mm
Thickness: 1.55 mm
Edge: plain
Composition: 90% Ag, 10% Cu
Obverse
Design: Liberty Seated
Designer: Christian Gobrecht
Design Date: 1836
Reverse
Design: Eagle
Designer: William Barber
Design Date: 1875

The United States twenty cent coin (often called a twenty cent piece) was a unit of currency equalling 1/5 of a United States dollar.

The twenty cent coin had one of the shortest mintages and lowest circulations in US coin history, its mintage for general circulation ceased only two years after it began, for both the series and the denomination. It was minted from 1875–1878, but was only released for circulation in 1875 and 1876, with only a few hundred proofs released during the remaining two years. The coin was not reeded and, despite its plain edge, too easily confused with the quarter.[1]

It also has the distinction of being one of the few types of coins minted in the short lived Carson City Mint branch of the United States Mint in Carson City, Nevada (which only operated from 1870–1893), and used a "CC" mintmark. It was also produced at the Philadelphia Mint, which did not use a mintmark, and at the San Francisco Mint, where an "S" mintmark was added.

Nearly 1,355,000 were produced in total, with over 1.1 million of those being the 1875-S. Some 10,000 of the 1876-CC were minted, but most were melted down at the US Mint before ever being released, and now only an estimated 12-20 are thought to exist. Thus the 1876-CC twenty-cent piece is a major rarity, with one such piece having sold for $460,000 in a Heritage Auction held in April 2009.[2]

The U.S. twenty-cent piece was created at the urging of Senator John Percival Jones from Nevada. Jones represented the silver miners of the Comstock Lode.

The coin was invented as a tactic for increasing U.S. silver exports. It was meant to circulate on a par with the silver franc, a widely used international reserve currency of the 1870s. The French-franc heritage survives in Europe to this day; most European countries which eventually adopted decimal formats preferred the 20/100 denomination over the 25/100, and today's Euro coinage includes a 20-cent piece, not a 25-cent piece. The Province of Canada also issued 20-cent coins in 1858 for the same reason; after Confederation, Canada abandoned the innovation in favor of 25-cent coins, first struck in 1870. Newfoundland, which did not join Canada until 1949, sporadically issued its own 20-cent coins from 1865 until 1912.

There were several patterns made for this coin. Of particular interest is the 1875 "Liberty At The Seashore" pattern. An identical pattern was also made for the Trade Dollar. This interesting design features a ship (typical of the day) on the horizon. Notably, the sails of the ship billow to the right, but the smoke coming from the stack billows to the left, thus it appears that the "wind" on the ship in the design is actually blowing in two different directions. Numismatic experts and authorities consider this to be an error.

For the final design, the obverse of the coin is the same as the Liberty Seated used for the quarter, half dollar and dollar (although, by 1875 the Liberty Seated Dollar was no longer being minted). This was a design by Christian Gobrecht in 1838. The reverse is the same design as the Trade Dollar, which was actually being minted at that time. This design was created by William Barber in 1875. Both designers get credit, however it was William Barber who was in the employ of the Mint at the time the design went into production.

Mintage figures

References

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