The Twenty-Cent Piece (also called a Twenty-Cent Coin) had one of the shortest production runs and lowest mintages in U.S. coin history. The United States Mint produced the coin for four years, from 1875 through 1878, but only released it into circulation in 1875 and 1876. Over the course of the denominations final two years, the Mint produced a total of 1,100 Proofs, which it sold to collectors.
The Twenty-Cent Piece was struck at the Philadelphia Mint, the Carson City Mint, and the San Francisco Mint. In 1875, anticipating strong export demand, San Francisco produced 1,155,000 pieces. That same year, Carson City struck 133,290 Twenty-Cent Pieces, and Philadelphia struck 38,500. Fortunately for collectors, a sufficient number of 1875-S coins survive in grades XF to Mint State, making the issue an affordable type coin.
The 1876-CC Twenty-Cent Piece, by contrast, had nearly its entire 10,000 pieces mintage melted down before its release. Today, experts estimate that fewer than 20 examples of this date survive.
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