Twenty-Cent Pieces 1875-1878

 In 1875, an entirely new denomination was added to the U.S. coin line-up -- the Twenty Cent piece.  One would expect a huge fanfare to accompany the introduction of a new denomination, but the mintage of the inaugural year, at least at the Philadelphia mint, was meager at best.  Apparently, the big need for the Twenty Cent piece was out West, where the San Francisco mint produced over 1 million examples and the Carson City mint struck over 133,000 pieces.  Sadly, the Twenty Cent piece never caught on, in large part because of its similarity in size and appearance to the well-known Seated Liberty Quarter Dollar.  In 1876, the mintages dropped precipitously and from 1877 to 1878 only Proofs wers struck.