The United States Twenty Cent Coin, often called a twenty cent piece, was a unit of currency equaling 1/5th of a United States dollar. The twenty cent coin had one of the shortest mintages and lowest circulations in US coin history, 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 (1877 and 1878). The twenty cent pieces has the distinction of being one of the very few coins minted at the United States Carson City Mint branch in Carson City, Nevada.

Why the twenty cent Piece? It was not a coin issued for the benefit of coin collectors. But out west in the 1870s there was a shortage of nickels and one cents coins. If you bought a twenty cent article and gave the dealer a quarter he received a pleasant smile instead of a nickel in change, the dealer retaining the nickel for lack of change or used a 5 cent token. The public tired of this smile, asked Uncle Sam to take the grin out of shopping. He did so by minting the twenty cent piece. As it turned out, confusion with the quarter was widespread. The public had an enormous dislike for the new coin signaled an early end to the denomination. In a short time nickels became plentiful, and the twenty cent piece having served its purpose was discontinued.

On any given day find 50 to 100 different 20 cent coins on eBay at great prices in many different conditions.

Glyn Farber

Glyn Farber has published a catalog of all known Hickey Brother Cigar Store Tokens and co-authored two books about Louisiana Trade Tokens. In addition he wrote several articles for The Token and Medal Society (TAMS) and The National Token Collectors Association (NTCA). Glyn has been a devoted collector of Louisiana Trade Tokens, Louisiana collectibles and Lake Charles, LA postcards for almost 40 years.