Is There A Twenty Cent Piece We Can Add To A Collection

When it comes to classic United States silver coins, probably the least collected series – and arguably the least understood – is the very short-lived twenty-cent piece. Many collectors think these pieces are too hard to collect. Others find the series so short as to be worth dismissing altogether. But let’s look at the quartet of years in which these were coined, and see if there might not be one worth getting.

AUTHORIZATION

Most collectors are aware that any United States coin, be it destined for circulation or just as a commemorative, has to be authorized by Congress. That in turn means someone in Congress has to do the work of getting the bill written and on the agenda. In the case of the twenty-cent piece, it was Mr. John Percival Jones. He was the part-owner of the Crown Point Mine, which produced a lot of silver since it was part of the famous Comstock Lode. This is pretty much what we might expect. It appears that Mr. Jones’ wealth, and some campaigning within his state legislature, got him the title of senator in 1873. It was 1874 when the twenty-cent piece was first proposed, and it was none other than President Ulysses S. Grant who gave the coins the official go-ahead in March of 1875.

YEAR ONE

The year 1875 saw quite an outpouring of twenty-cent pieces, with the branch mint in San Francisco leading the pack by producing 1,155,000 of them. The younger branch mint facility in Carson City ponied up 133,290 on top and the main mint back in Philadelphia chipped in 38,500, with 1,200 being proofs.

The reason the overall issue of twenty-cent pieces seems backward – meaning the Philly output was smallest, and San Fran was largest – is that part of the rationale for this new coin was that there was a shortage of small change in the West. We’ll leave it to each collector to mull over the truth of this idea or decide if it was simply Senator Jones’ desire to move some of the silver he and his friends owned. Whichever is true (and maybe both of them are), the 1875-S would become the most common twenty-cent piece of this extremely short and obscure type of coin.

YEAR TWO AND MELTING

In 1876, the total output of twenty-cent pieces plummeted. The mint out West in the City by the Bay was simply out of the game and produced none. The Carson City facility hammered out 10,000 of them and the folks in Philly rang in with 14,750, including 1,150 proofs. In this second year, the “CC” mint mark almost ended up being more popular than the twenty-cent pieces of the main mint.

One of the first. P.C.G.S.

These low numbers for 1876 would make either one of these pairs qualify as key coins, but there’s more to the story here. Numerous sources indicate that the 1876-CC twenty-cent pieces ended up being tossed into the melting pot. It’s tough to determine how many, as 1876-CC pieces are still known to exist. But since the total that has been submitted for certification by the third-party grading services totals up to about ten, it’s fair to say that the 1876-CC is one great U.S. rarity.

No less a reference than the Red Book claims that the melting pot may have been the final chapter for many of the 1876 pieces as well. But considerably more of these must have survived than just ten since they can be found on the never-ending swap-fest that is eBay. As of this being written, one is actually up for sale for slightly less than $600 in AU-50 grade. We can only wonder if that one sold.

PROOF-ONLY YEARS

The final two drops in what had started as a river of twenty-cent pieces are the 1877 and the 1878 proofs, both of which came from the main mint. The official tally is 510 for the 1877, and 600 for the 1878. Print and online price lists do give numbers for each, but such price tags are always well into the thousands of dollars. For most of us, this is an arena in which any blood that gets spilled would probably be our own, should we step in. Simply put, they are just too expensive.

THAT 1875-S

Our title asks if there is a collectible twenty-cent piece, and the answer is yes. The only date we can consider common, the 1875-S, is a coin we can own. We do not even have to wait until some high-end auction house makes one available to go hunting for an example – unless we want something like an MS-65 or proof. Our just-mentioned pals on eBay have hundreds of them up for sale, and the price tags can be between $200 and $300, if we are willing to go for an example in a grade such as very fine, VF-20, or extra fine, XF-40. Indeed, it seems that the extra fine grade is something of a jumping-off point for this twenty-cent piece when it comes to cost. When we get to almost uncirculated grades, or touch the zone of mint state, the price tags go up considerably. That’s worth remembering, or perhaps worth comparing, since what we get as an XF-40 coin is usually not some mangy dog. Classic silver with some small wear is still highly attractive.

OVERALL?

All things considered; the twenty-cent pieces had a remarkably short run. They appear never to have been needed all that much. Senator Jones had a considerably longer run, spending thirty years in the upper chamber of Congress. He certainly isn’t a common, household name today. But the 1875-S twenty-cent piece, the common date in the series, is a common coin collectors can grab now.

A proof piece. P.C.G.S.

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