1858 CANADIAN 20 CENTS (KM4) - How many are left? UPDATE!!!! See my second post. Krause lists a mintage of 750,000. Charlton slighty less at 730,000+ and says many were melted. Are there any reliable estimates of how many have survived? I have an ANACS net graded example sent in error (I ordered an F12 but an EF40 was sent) that I'd like to keep but am having a hard time justifying the added expense of the higher grade. If the numbers are low enough it would bolster my argument for keeping the better coin. HELP!
There were some numbers recorded for melted coins, but I don't have them, and some aren't too useful (included a variety of denominations) I'd probably guess 400k or so are around. The coin IMO is somewhat overrated, and unless it was at 65% or so, I wouldn't take a higher mid-grade piece.
Note the differences between dealer sell and buy (at the wholesale level): 50/G 80/VG 110/F 160/VF 400/EF 50/VG 60/F 75/VF 150/EF It's one of the reasons why I've avoided buying a 20c so far, because the buy/sell spread is rather large. Usually, you can get one for 85% or so of retail with some patience.
Ccgnum,the Canadian 20c. coin is very elusive.I reckon the New Brunswick 20c. is just as difficult to find.I eventually got an a 1862 New Brunswick 20c. a few months ago.The Newfoundland Queen Victoria 20c. is slightly easier to find,but still a difficult coin to get. Aidan.
1858 Canadian Twenty Cent Coin Mintage And Melt Numbers First an Acknowledgement – This post would not have been possible without the help of Mr. Joseph Payne, Assistant Curator of the British Royal Mint. Mr. Payne’s efforts in procuring and mailing me copies of the pertinent pages from the Royal Mint’s Annual Reports went far beyond any help I had hoped to receive. 1858 Canadian Twenty Cent Coin Mintage And Melt Numbers $150,000 in Twenty Cent pieces were minted in 1858. This dollar amount is listed in the 1891 British Royal Mint Annual Report and is repeated in the 1906 Report as well. This equates to 750,000 coins; the figure listed in the Krause Standard Catalog Of World Coins. Beginning in 1885 Twenty Cent coins were removed from circulation and returned to the Royal Mint for recoining. All dollar amounts listed are from Mint Annual Reports for the year in the first column. 1885 – $18,000 – 90,000 coins 1888 – $17,174 – 85,870 coins 1889 – $16,585 – 82,925 coins* 1894 – $15,000 – 75,000 coins 1899 – $18,895 – 94,475 coins 1906 – an unknown number of 5, 10 and 20 Cent coins (total face value of $7,460.75) Total – $85,654 – 428,270+ coins melted ( approximately 321,730 possible survivors ) *An alternate dollar amount is listed in the 1891 Annual Report 1889 – $17,074 – 85,370 coins Total – $86,143 – 430,715+ coins melted ( approximately 319,285 possible survivors )
I'm forced to disagree. There's usually at least 5 Canadian 20c on ebay at any given time, and usually several Victorian Nfld. 20c as well. NB is tougher, but not hard.
No demand = no value The 20 cent piece is scarce but not highly regarded by most collectors. It isn't sought after and is the odd duck in the Canadian decimal series. If there's no demand, there's no pricing. You can usually pick one up for about 50-75% of Trends pricing. Over the last few months, a second variety surfaced that essentially doubles the Trends price. Again, most folks aren't interested. I've acquired a MS example about 20 years ago. I can buy one now for the same price. In the same vein, most Canadian Provincial coinage is quite scarce and had low mintages. High quality examples can be had for little money as most collectors bypass the series. In recent visits to Japanese and German coin shows, the market for these coins are quite hot there.
Which Japanese show did you attend? At the Osaka show in '03 I basically saw Japanese and U.S. material, with a little bit of British Commonwealth; but virtually no other Asian stuff.
I was on a business trip in Kyoto last fall and stumbled on a collectable/antiques show. Not that I was buying anything but I had to look. Aside from lots of International coin varieties, they featured mostly American and bullion coins. A couple of vendors had some common Canadian Vickys, Eddies and George coins that they recently acquired and were selling them for double Trends. One chap told me that any coin with Vicky and Eddie are in demand there. I was later in Stuttgart for a few weeks and decided to visit a local collectable show. They were excited about any older Commonwealth coin (Australia, Canada and India) there too. Being far from home it struck me warmly that our currency is admired around the world.
