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Newp: 1875 doubledime

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Thanks again to Leeg (and Mark Feld, by extension) for helping me add another choice coin to my type set. I had about given up on finding one that had not been cleaned, overdipped, or that had unattractive toning, when Lee posted this in the Marketplace. That it's a low mintage issue is nice too.

 

twentycent1875obv.jpg

twentycent1875rev.jpg

 

This coin has nice color in hand, but when you rotate it under the light, it has iridescence:

 

20c1875obvoblique.jpg

 

 

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Hated to part with that one.

 

Old Fatty Holder and CAC too. Very crusty reverse. Went to a true collector who can appreciate it so that eases my pain. :)

 

Nice pic's too.

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Thanks for the comments! I forgot to mention the grade, AU53.

 

I've been reading the Bowers book on the Garrett collection, paraphrasing: In 1874, Sen. J.P.Jones of Nevada introduced a bill for the coinage of a 20c. piece. According to the mint director, the denomination would "remove a difficulty which now exists upon the Pacific Coast and in Texas where the five-cent copper-nickel coins do not circulate, and where it was formerly the practice to apply the term "bits," "two bits," and "four bits" respectively to fractions of the Spanish dollar which circulated there.

It was also felt that the 20 cent coin would "fit in" better with the currency denominations, where there were 10$ and 20$ notes, but no 25$.

 

Joseph Bailly, a Philadelphia sculptor, prepared models for the new design featuring Liberty seated on a globe, which director Pollock thought resembled the current seated Liberty design too closely, so he asked William Barber to prepare some patterns. The result..... the seated Liberty design currently in use! The reverse featured a scaled down version of the Trade Dollar eagle.

 

The public was quickly confused by the new issue, which resembled the quarter in size, shape, and design, the smooth edge not accomplishing the purpose of easy identification. Complaints arose frequently, such as a twenty cent piece being used to pay for a 5 cent ferry ride, and 2 dimes being given in change. The coin saw little use in the East, where fractional currency served the purpose of small change. Basically the coin was a substitute for 2 dimes.

The first year mintage was over a million coins, most from San Francisco; 36,910 from Philly, and 133,290 from Carson City. The coin was so unpopular, that 1 year later just 14,640 were struck at Philadelphia, and 10,000 at Carson City (most of which were melted, creating a great numismatic rarity). None were produced at San Francisco, which busied itself striking over 8 million quarters, compared with 680,000 in 1875.

1877 and 1878 were proof only issues.

According to Bowers (US Type Coins book) the 1875-P and 1876-P have the best strikes.

My coin has nice detail, and as I look at it in the kitchen sunlight this morning, the reverse has very nice golden tone with blue around the edges. It looks fine in the minimalist no-line holder, and that's where it will stay as long as I own it!

 

sources: The Red Book, Bowers "History of US Coinage (Garrett Collection)", and US Type coins.

 

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Nice coin! (thumbs u

 

When I first started collecting them I walked the bourse floor at a Long Beach show looking for a decent one, but I didn't find ONE in less than MS-63 that wasn't over-dipped, whizzed, harshly cleaned, or otherwise impaired. :P

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