Thoughts on the twenty cent piece.

I was perusing my local coin shop and noticed a twenty cent piece, and it got me wondering about it. Anybody collect them? Is there a steady market for them? Tell me what you think about them, just your opinions.
-Chas

 

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I like them. Sadly, I don't have one yet, but it is on my list. They are very costly in MS so I am looking for a nice AU slider.

It is an interesting coin. It was designed to circulate at Par with the French silver franc. It only lasted 2 years. I guess it was too easily confused with a quarter, even though it has a non-reeded edge.

 

Hmm, I had always thought it was designed to circulate at par with the Mexican coins. I didn't think there were many francs circulating here in the 1870's.

Its an interesting coin, a prototypical "type" coin. I bet you can count on one hand the number of people in the US actively trying to complete a set.

 

My thoughts are that I really wish I had one and another thought is I wish I had one that was at least VF40. Taken off of wiki is information below in case you didn't know already. I'd really love to have one but, those suckers are really pricey.


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.

 

You may be right, sometimes you can't trust WIKI

 

My only 20 center -

 

You could be right, IDK. I was just saying what I had read over the years.

 

I do like the odd denomination coins and am looking for one for my collection. There is a three cent and half cent coin too that is pretty neat.

 

Sorry, but I've been searching for a VF40 for year and the only one I ever found was this gem on a trip to China:
View attachment 218176

 

I got one for Christmas last year to complete my odd denomination set (1/2 cent, 2 cent, 3 cent (silver&copper) and 20 cent). It's probably in the top 5 of my favorite coins, and maybe #1 but that changes fairly regularly.
It was on my list for a very, very long time and my (now ex) girlfriend got me an 1875-S in pretty good shape (i.e. not cleaned, no really distracting dings, etc). Here's a couple pics. Sorry for the crappy photos, I really need to work on my skills. Also didn't have my good camera when I got it. It's been in the SDB in my Dansco 7070 ever since.

 

I've always thought they were neat coins. I only collect them by type, and here's my example:

 

Over here in Euroland we use 20 cent coins pretty much every day. No quarters though.

Christian

 

I too am only a type collector, but I've always liked this quirky denomination. Here's my example:

 

Exceptional example Catbert, pleasing surfaces and color, looks to be about a 62-63. How far off am I?

 

Thank you! It's in a PCGS 64 slab. It has its imperfections (grit and scratch on obverse, uneven strike - not atypical), but I bought it because of the toning and what I think are original surfaces.

 

Very nice! Good job (now ex) girlfriend.

 

VF40 no such thing, you've posted that grade a couple of times now.