9 Mintages and Survival
Twenty-cent pieces were struck for circulation for just two years, while proof specimens were struck for collectors during all four years the denomination was produced. According to U.S.
Mint records, the total mintage for the denomination from all mints was a mere 1,355,000 pieces making the mintage for the entire denomination much less than the contemporary mintage of
other coins in a single year.
The greatest year for the production of circulating coins was 1875, with pieces being struck in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Carson City. The first twenty-cent pieces were struck for
circulation in Philadelphia on May 18, 1875. San Francisco struck its first coins early in June with a small handful of proofs believed struck on June 1, 1875. Carson City celebrated
the new denomination with a ceremony on June 1, 1875 where the first coin struck was given as a gift to Senator John Percival Jones, the man primarily responsible for the twenty-cent piece.
Table 1: Mintages of twenty-cent pieces in 1875
In 1876, only a token number of coins were struck for circulation. San Francisco omitted striking twenty-cent pieces altogether. Philadelphia struck a small number, likely in anticipation of souvenirs for the country’s centennial celebration and the Centennial Exposition.
Ticket to the 1876 United States International Exhibition in Philadelphia
Carson City was ordered to strike 10,000 coins to add to the coins already on hand. Soon thereafter, the superintendent received the order to melt all twenty-cent pieces at the mint.
Although no 1876-CC twenty-cent pieces were officially released for circulation, a small number did leave the Carson City Mint as examples sent to the Assay Commission, and perhaps as
souvenirs as it was already well understood that the denomination was a failure and soon to be discontinued.
Table 2: Mintages of twenty-cent pieces in 1876
The 2,790 proof coins struck in 1875 and 1,260 struck in 1876 are included in the mintages for Philadelphia. During the final two years of the denomination, coins for circulation were
no longer struck, but the production of proof coins for collectors did continue. In 1877, 510 additional coins were struck as proofs and in 1878 another 760 proof coins were struck.
Therefore after its brief four-year period as a denomination between the quarter dollar and dime, only 1,355,000 pieces were ever made. Few of those ever spent much time in circulation.
By the start of the 20th century, over one-third of the entire mintage will have been melted by the United States Treasury.
The government maintained a careful accounting of coins withdrawn from circulation and reported this information each year as part of the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint. The reports
outlined coins withdrawn from the Treasury stock and those purchased at the mints and assay offices as mutilated and noncurrent coins. These data provide an interesting look into how twenty-cent pieces were still present in the Treasury stock as late as 1954.
Data from the Annual Reports of the Director of the Mint from 1875 through 1954 indicate that the United States Treasury removed from circulation 963,841 of the 1,355,000 twenty-cent pieces struck.
This reduces the overall survival to only 391,159 or slightly less than 29% of the original mintage. This assumes that all of the coins that were not surrendered to the Treasury still survive
which is not likely. Nonetheless, the great number of coins withdrawn from circulation by the United States Treasury helps explain the relative scarcity of the denomination in the hobby today.
The following table details the years and locations of withdrawal of twenty-cent pieces by the Treasury, as listed in the Mint Director’s Reports. Note that these are locations of the withdrawal,
not the locations of original mintage. Carson City is listed in “Other” due to the short timeframe that melting took place at that location. See “Notes” for details.
Table 3: ...
