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[Some of this material appeared in the September 1999 issue of The Numismatist, published by the American Numismatic Assoction, 818 North Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80803-3279 www.money.org] No one can say why the 20-cent was created. It was supposed to serve the needs of westerners. The production allowed western silver miners to sell their metal to the mint. The issue might have been intended to allow the making of change for a quarter, especially in the west where dimes, half dimes, and 5-cent nickels were in short supply. The need to convert between US and Mexican denominations is also often cited. Another possible reason for this issue may have been to create an American piece in line with the French and Swiss franc, the Spanish peseta and the other standard coins of the Latin Monetary Union. None of these reasons stands up well. Coupled with the fact the 20-cent piece was easily confused with the quarter, it is no surprise that the coin had the shortest run of any US denomination. Even so, the "double dime" could have been a success. AN AMERICAN PISTAREEN The Journals of the Continental Congress for October 7, 1775 note: "S. Adams understands that the works at Cambridge were done without any allowance but that General Washington has ordered that, for future works, they be allowed half a pistareen a day." The pistareen was a debased Spanish coin of the early 1700s. Not popular in Spain, it found ready acceptance in the colonies where hard money and small change were needed. The pistareen varied from 84 to 96 grains, and from. 8125 to. 42 fine. It took five pistareens to make a Spanish dollar. Even before the Declaration of Independence, the united colonies of America considered issuing their own money. The initial proposals were for a dollar. A report of January 3, 1776, discussed silver dollars and a report of April 3, 1776, recommended paper dollars. The first mention of the 20-cent piece was in a report by Gouvenour Morris to Congress on May 3, 1779. Outlining his proposals for American coinage, he wrote, "we need a pistareen." A detailed series of four reports dated April 8 through 12, 1786, and entered on April 20, 1786, included the double dime or pistareen in its recommendations. Appended to the second report was a summary by Samuel Osgood and Walter Livingston of Thomas Jefferson's "Notes on the Establishment of a Money Unit and on a Coinage for the United States." Again, the plan called for a "fifth or Pistareen containing 73 Grains of pure Metal." The treasury committee amended the recommendation, boosting the double dime to 75.14 grains to be in line with their call for a heavier dollar. All of this took place under the Articles of Confederation. When the present constitution was adopted, the new federal government opted for a dime and a quarter dollar and ignored the fifth. However, the Spanish pistareen commonly circulated in the United States until 1827. At that time, it was recognized by law that the pistareens in circulation were so worn that their legal value could not be more than 17 cents. A LOGICAL STEP Obviously, the progression of decimal coins makes 20 the logical increment of 10. Many nations mint a 20/100 piece. Canada's 20-cent coin came out in 1858. Newfoundland issued their 20 cent from 1865 through 1912. In 1862, 1863, and 1864 New Brunswick released theirs into the channels of trade. Mexico had the 20 centavo and Italy the 20 centissimi, Germany the 20 pfennig, France 20 centimes, and so on. Cuba issued coins on the US Standard from 1915 through 1962. Their 10, 25 and 50-centavo coins were close kin of the US denominations. This of course facilitated trade with the Yankees who came as tourists. (In all the US Mint at Philadelphia struck nearly half a billion coins for Cuba.) In addition, Cuba's silver included a 20-centavo (1915-1949) and a 40-centavo, issued 1915-1920, 1952, and 1962. US Senator Uriah Tracy introduced a bill on March 27, 1806, calling for 20- cent pieces ("double dimes") as well as two-cent pieces in reduced silver. Amended on April 12, it passed the Senate over the protests of the director of the mint. Lacking House support, however, it had to be reintroduced on December 19. Again, though the senate approved it on February 13, 1807, the bill failed to pass the House. Apparently, the chief objection was not the proposal for the double dime but for the double cent. Tracy, a Federalist from Connecticut, was well-respected. He had served in the state house and the US Congress before coming to the US Senate in 1796. He was elected president of the senate for the sixth congress. The 20-cent piece was forgotten for 70 years. Its next advocate was John Percival Jones. Born in Herefordshire, England, on February 27, 1829, he came to America that year with his parents. Later, he attended schools in Cleveland. As an adult, he moved to Trinity County, in northern California. He worked at mining and farming and was elected sheriff of the county. Jones served in the state senate from 1863 to 1867. Later, he moved to Gold Hill, in western Nevada, near Virginia City. He was elected as a Republican to the US Senate in 1873. After being re-elected four more times, he declined to run again and retired to Santa Monica, California. On Tuesday, February 10, 1874, Jones brought his bill (S. 468) to the floor. It received two readings and was sent to the committee on finance. The motion to bring this bill to the floor was entered as "unanimous." This was significant. A newly-elected freshman, Jones was not a key player in the Senate. His presence was not recorded on the opening day of the session. His name seldom appears in the records of his first term. Also, the accepted practice is for new bills to be approved for reading by the president of the Senate (or speaker of the House in the lower chamber). For Jones to bring the bill directly to the floor and for this to take place with no objection indicates a lot of behind-the-scenes wrangling. This is underscored by the fact that the bill got two readings as soon as it was introduced. It is protocol for any bill to be read three times. This bill was read twice before being sent to committee. After the 20-piece came out and after Nevada's economy became tied to the issue of bimetalism, then Jones rose to the occasion. He gave many speeches on the need for silver and is known today for his tireless work on this issue. That, however, came later. Jones's bill was reported out of committee without amendment March 31, 1874. On June 23, 1874, it was "considered read the third time and passed." The bill passed the House and President Grant signed it into law on Wednesday, March 3, 1875. This was the last day of the legislative session. According to the New York Times, lobbyists "both male and female" deserted the Capitol early. TRADE AND COMMERCE Today, we accept that the 20-cent piece was not really needed for trade. If the goal had been to make change for a quarter, then 5-cent pieces, not double dimes were the answer. However, the 20-cent piece did find some support in the East. Beadle and Adams, publishers of dime novels, launched a "double dime" novel that ran from July 30, 1875 to December 5, 1877, This shows that the 20-cent piece had a favorable impact on commerce. Here is a popular magazine, aimed at youngsters, sold expressly for 20 cents and only during the time when the 20-cent piece was issued. It is not clear that there was a shortage of change for a quarter. On the one had, there were complaints that so much small change was in circulation that stores were selling their coinage to brokers for 97% to 92%. The post office refused to accept 3-cent and 20-cent coins. On the other hand, it is also true that in the 1870s and 1880s, so many small articles from toys to newspapers, were offered that the mint continued to strike fractional coins in large numbers. Looking back at the 19th century, some researchers have assumed that the coin was supposed to make conversion into Mexican "bits" (reales) easier. The western US is heavily Hispanic and commerce with Mexico has always been a daily affair. This assertion fails on several grounds. A Mexican real is 12 1/2 cents, not 10. If any coin were needed at the time, it would have been a 2 1/2 cent piece. Supposedly, stores in the west priced goods in bits and then short-changed the customer. Yet, if the need were strong to make change or to mediate between American and Mexican money, it is likely that the stores would have issued their own tokens. In fact, western merchants, especially in Texas, created just such tokens. Following in the footsteps of the late Bill Fowler, Jerry Adams specializes in Texas tokens. According to Adams, "The use of 2 1/2 and 12 1/2 cent tokens was widespread on the Texas frontier from about 1880 through 1920. They provided a convenient way for bars and saloons to sell whiskey at two drinks for a quarter." Modern researchers, looking at the newspaper reports of the 1870s, have a hard time understanding the need for the coin. Indeed, the newspapers of the 1870s did not understand the need. It was not a spanish "bit" or change for a quarter that was needed, but a pistareen, a silver coin worth five to the dollar, that is to say, a 20-cent piece. This was the need of the colonial and early federal eras. This was the need of the early 19th century. By the time Congress and the Mint got around to solving the problem, the need was less and the solution was poorly executed. When it finally came out in 1875, the coin was doomed to failure. It looked and felt too much like the quarter, with which it was easily confused. Also, its need in commerce was not clear. No sooner was it out than a bill to abolish it was introduced in July 1876, though final passage had to wait until May 2, 1878. Introduced April 23, 1878 as HR 4394, it passed the Senate quickly and President Hayes signed it. A PATTERN OF ERRORS Whatever the ins and outs of selling whisky in Texas, the fact remains that the American "pistareen" looked too much like the American "two bits." This is unfortunate. William Barber and George Morgan were hard workers. They cut a lot of patterns. Several patterns suggested for the 20-cent exist today. Three of the patterns would have worked better than the final choice and one of them was exquisite. Barber's "Sailor Head" Liberty shows our goddess with her hair tied back. According to the Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, Queen Victoria was the model for the Sailor Head. However, America's Liberty, has a Greek nose, and a chin, and does not have the queen's cheeks. Even so, the Sailor Head was attractive and was offered for other patterns for 1875, 1876 and 1877. The reverse of the "Sailor Head" 20-cent piece has the number incuse on a shield that fills the field. There would be no way to mistake this for a Seated Liberty quarter. Another variation on the seated goddess has a reverse with the legend "1/5 of a dollar" surrounded by a thick wreath with the denomination "TWENTY CENTS" at the bottom. A series of letters between H. R. Linderman, Director of the Mint, and James Pollock, the superintendent at Philadelphia, show that both were aware of the need to make the double dime clearly different from the quarter. On April 20, 1874, Linderman wrote, "As the difference in weight between the proposed piece of 20 cents and the 25 cent piece will be quite small, it will be necessary to give to the former such devices, etc., as will render it easily distinguished from the latter." Linderman suggested using the Trade Dollar obverse and reverse. "If reduced to the proper size I think they will be very appropriate." The Trade Dollar pattern showing Liberty seated on a globe for the obverse and a defiant eagle on the reverse was the work of Joseph Alexis Bailly. Bailly adapted these images for a 20-cent coin pattern executed in 1874. Then, William Barber picked up the theme and modified the elements. In all, six different patterns were available, and the mint chose the one that looked just like the dime, quarter, and half dollar. In a letter to Pollock dated April 15, 1875, Linderman cited current law as his reason for selecting the pattern that most closely matched the other coins in circulation. The Act of March 3, 1875 empowered the creation of the 20-cent piece. That Act cited the Section1 8 of the coinage act of February 12, 1873. This precedent law maintained the traditions of presenting Liberty and an Eagle. At the same time, however, the Act of 1873 allowed some leeway and discretion for the Mint. The Act of 1875 followed suit by permitting the design of the 20-cent coin to follow U.S. regulations "as far as practicable." So, it is not clear now that Linderman had to make the choice he did. THE 1876-CC On (or shortly after) May 1, 1876, the Carson City mint sent a telegram to Director of the Mint, H. R. Linderman, that said, "No coinage of twenty cent pieces were contemplated for this month." However inventories on May 8 and May 15 show 13,315 of the double dimes on hand. Tallies for June 17 and June 24 show the numbers changing slightly to 13,160 and 13,125. The dies for the 1876 double dimes (four pairs) were destroyed on January 20, 1876. By March 11, 1877, the number of 20 cent pieces on hand had fallen to 12,359. A week later (March 19), this telegram arrived at Carson City: "You are hereby authorized and directed to melt all twenty cent pieces you have on hand, and you will debit 'Silver Profit Fund' with any loss thereon. Very respectfully, H. R. Linderman, Director." We can infer that Carson City struck 9,054 double dimes between May 1 and May 8 of 1876. We also can believe that most of them were melted per the order of director Linderman. But the numbers did change. The easiest explanation for the missing 190 coins is that mint employees substituted other coins for them and took them out. The mint tallies coins by weight. Any worker could take out five double dimes and toss in two halves, four quarters, or ten dimes, or even five other double dimes. Today, we estimate that no more than 10,000 could exist. However, since they sell for about $60,000 each, it is more believable that the population is much lower than that, perhaps only 25. The Comprehensive Catalog & Encyclopedia of U.S. Coins published in 1990 by Coin World, estimates 16 to 18 survivors. According to that work, all genuine example of this coin show die doubling on the word LIBERTY. COLLECTING Anyone who collects US coins by type needs a 20-cent piece. Only 1,345,000 were produced. At Carson City, the production was melted before it was released. Today, there are fewer than a million known examples of all types. High grade examples command an impressive premium. Aggressive numismatists assemble attractive arrays of all seven issues. In the years 1877 and 1878, the Mint struck only proofs for collectors. Today, the commonest grades for these years are Proof and Very Fine. The VF coins can be explained as impaired proofs: having been given to collectors, they then found their way into general circulation or were not well cared for by their subsequent owners. There also exists a rare 1875-S Proof, with six to 12 known. If you collect varieties, you will want to use your loupe to look for the 1875- S doubled S and 1876-CC doubled LIBERTY. Writing in 1980, Paul Anderson, author of THE TWENTY-CENT PIECE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES found "the short period and low mintage totals make varieties hard to find." However, Charles W. Foster in the THE NUMISMATIST June 1933 reported 13 varieties. There are six kinds of 1875-S. According to the Coin World Encyclopedia, the double punched Mint mark resembling a dollar sign $ is so rare that no price estimate is possible between auctions. Foster says that two varieties of 1875-CC are possible. Whether you want to chase all the varieties or simply add a nice one to your type set, the bottom line is that the 20-cent piece represents a lot of history. In its short, choppy career, it touched on a lot of basic issues in American life. You might see this as an American pistareen or the unwanted child of the Seated series. Regardless, shopping for one will require your fullest comprehension and focus. Collectors do not sell them readily, so dealers do not always have them in stock. A nice example that meets your standards will be worth waiting for.
(C) Copyright 1998, 2000 by Michael E. Marotta
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