The Twenty-Cent Piece

THOSE WHO were active in coin collecting during the late 1970s remember the introduction of the ill-fated Susan B. Anthony dollar. Despite a heavy advertising campaign by the Treasury and large numbers of coins struck, the public simply refused to use them. The principal complaint, which was well taken, dealt with the fact that the new dollars were often mistaken for quarter dollars.

There was a similar fiasco in the 19th century, when the equally ill-fated 20-cent piece was coined. It was also ridiculed by the public and the coins were often mistaken for quarter dollars even though the 20-cent piece had a plain edge. In the late 1970s, at the time of the Anthony dollar, well-versed numismatists were more than happy to point out to the government that the Treasury ought to have considered the fate of the 20-cent coin in considering new coinage.

Although the first 20-cent piece was coined in 1875, in reality the concept was not all that new. In his studies on the monetary situation in 1783 and 1784, Confederation Congressman Thomas Jefferson suggested a coin he called a “double disme,” another way of saying 20 cents. The quarter dollar was not on his list.

The idea for the double disme came from the so-called “pistareen,”