1875 Twenty Cent Piece (Philadelphia, Proof)

A coin for the West and for silver

A twenty-cent coin had been proposed in 1791 and again in 1806, when Connecticut Senator Uriah Tracy sought a two-cent piece and a 'double dime'; that bill passed the Senate but not the House. Americans already knew the value, because the Spanish two-reales piece, called a pistareen, passed for twenty cents.

Three forces revived the idea in the 1870s. The far West, where base-metal coins did not circulate, was short of small change, especially after Congress abolished the silver half dime in 1873; customers who paid for a ten-cent item with a quarter could not get full change. Mining interests wanted the government to turn more silver into coin after the Coinage Act of 1873 ended free coinage of silver dollars and silver prices fell. And advocates of the metric system liked that a twenty-cent piece, equal to one French franc in the Latin Monetary Union, would weigh exactly five grams.

The father of the coin was Nevada Senator John P. Jones, part-owner of the Crown Point silver mine, who introduced the bill on February 10, 1874, citing the lack of change in the West. Mint Director Henry Linderman endorsed it, and according to historian Walter Breen other legislators went along largely as a favor to Jones. President Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law on March 3, 1875.

A small quarter by another name

Linderman had patterns made before the law passed. In August 1874 Philadelphia Mint superintendent James Pollock sent him designs with a seated Liberty by the sculptor Joseph A. Bailly and a reverse by Chief Engraver William Barber. More patterns followed, all by Barber. Linderman chose an obverse nearly identical to the Liberty Seated design on all U.S. silver coins, first used in 1836 and drawn by the late chief engraver Christian Gobrecht after a concept by Thomas Sully and Titian Peale.

For the reverse Linderman wanted a scaled-down version of the trade dollar, and the right-facing eagle is nearly the same as the one Barber had drawn for that coin in 1873. The coin carries neither IN GOD WE TRUST nor E PLURIBUS UNUM; officials considered it too small. It does spell out TWENTY CENTS in full. The design was approved on April 12, 1875, revised to separate the olive leaves at the right end of the branch, and approved again on April 15.

That is where the trouble began. The twenty-cent piece measured 22 millimeters, against the quarter's 24.3, and its obverse was nearly the same. The Mint gave it a smooth edge instead of the quarter's reeded one, but people confused the two at once. Mistakes in making change were widespread and the coin quickly became extremely unpopular.

Three years and done

Production began at Philadelphia on May 19, 1875, at Carson City on June 1, and at San Francisco between June 1 and 17. Because the coin was meant for the West, Philadelphia struck only 36,910 for circulation, against 133,290 at Carson City and 1,155,000 at San Francisco. Philadelphia also struck 2,790 proofs for collectors.

By July 1876 a bill to abolish the coin had been introduced, and its mere pendency convinced the Mint there was no point in striking more. Only proofs were made in 1877 and 1878. In March 1877 Linderman authorized melting 12,359 pieces at Carson City, nearly the whole 1876-CC mintage, which created one of the great American rarities; one sold for $870,000 in 2022. Congress abolished the denomination on May 2, 1878.

The coin lingered in Western circulation for a few years and was rarely seen by 1890. Of 1,351,540 struck for circulation, more than a third were melted by the government between 1895 and 1954.

The proofs, and the finest one

The 1875 proof mintage of 2,790 was more than three times that of the other silver proofs that year, which suggests the new coin could be bought individually rather than only in sets. Survivors bear that out: PCGS has graded more than twice as many 1875 proof twenty-cent pieces as 1875 proof quarters. Even so, the 1875 is the second least common proof date of the four-year series, after the 1877 and the 1876.

The PCGS condition census for the issue is almost all PR66 coins, with one PCGS PR67 standing alone as the finest known. That coin is this entry. It sold at auction in August 1999 for $19,550, later formed part of the Eugene H. Gardner Collection, and sold at auction in June 2014 for $28,200, the auction record for the issue.

Cameo proofs make up about a quarter of the PCGS population, and Deep Cameos are confirmed rarities. The finest PCGS Deep Cameo, a PR65, sold for $19,550 in January 2008 and went unsold when offered again in April 2009.

How to know one

Look at the edge first. A twenty-cent piece has a plain edge, a quarter a reeded one. The reverse spells out TWENTY CENTS and shows an eagle holding arrows in its right claw and an olive branch in its left. A Philadelphia coin carries no mintmark; Carson City and San Francisco coins show CC or S under the eagle.

Proofs were sold to collectors rather than released into circulation. The coin is 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, weighs 5.00 grams and measures 22.00 millimeters.

The numbers

Proof mintage

2,790 (circulation strikes at Philadelphia: 36,910)

Survival estimate

About 600 proofs in all grades; about 550 in 60 or better; about 40 in 65 or better (PCGS)

Finest known

One PCGS PR67; the rest of the census is PR66

Weight

5.00 grams

Diameter

22.00 mm

Composition

90% silver, 10% copper

Edge

Plain

Designer

William Barber

Timeline

1. 1806

   Senator Uriah Tracy proposes a 'double dime'; the bill never passes the House.

2. 1873

   Congress abolishes the silver half dime and ends free coinage of silver dollars.

3. Feb 10, 1874

   Nevada Senator John P. Jones introduces a bill for a twenty-cent piece.

4. Aug 1874

   First patterns, with a seated Liberty by Joseph A. Bailly, are sent to Mint Director Linderman.

5. Mar 3, 1875

   President Grant signs the twenty-cent piece into law.

6. Apr 15, 1875

   The revised design receives final approval.

7. May 19, 1875

   Production begins at Philadelphia.

8. 1875

   Philadelphia strikes 2,790 proofs for collectors.

9. Jul 1876

   A bill to abolish the denomination is introduced.

10. Mar 1877

    Linderman authorizes melting 12,359 pieces at Carson City.

11. May 2, 1878

    Congress abolishes the twenty-cent piece.

12. Aug 1999

    This coin, the finest known 1875 proof, sells at auction for $19,550.

13. Jan 2008

    The finest PCGS PR65 Deep Cameo sells for $19,550.

14. Jun 2014

    This coin, from the Eugene H. Gardner Collection, sells for $28,200.

The world in 1875

• Mar 1, 1875

  Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, barring racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury duty.

• Apr 1875

  A vast swarm of Rocky Mountain locusts begins devastating the western United States.

• May 17, 1875

  Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.

• Jun 4, 1875

  Tufts and Harvard play in what is arguably the first college football game.

• Oct 16, 1875

  Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.

• Oct 25, 1875

  Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 has its first performance, in Boston.

• Dec 4, 1875

  Boss Tweed escapes from prison in New York and flees to Cuba.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1875 Twenty Cent Piece (Philadelphia, Proof) is number 85 of 100 in the coins entries of the FLOAT 100. 96 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (94 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The twenty-cent piece was designed to weigh exactly five grams, matching one French franc.
• It carries neither IN GOD WE TRUST nor E PLURIBUS UNUM; officials thought the coin too small for them.
• Its eagle is nearly a copy of the one on the trade dollar.
• People confused it with the quarter so often that Congress killed the denomination after three years.
• Only about 40 proofs of 1875 are thought to survive in grade 65 or better.