The United States twenty cent coin (often called a twenty cent piece) was a unit of currency equaling 1/5th of a United States dollar.

The twenty cent coin had one of the shortest mintages and lowest circulations in US coin history, for both the series and the denomination. It was minted from 1875-1878, but was only released for circulation in 1875 and 1876, with only a few hundred proofs released during the remaining two years.

It also has the distinction of being one of the few coins minted in the short lived branch of the United States Mint in Carson City, Nevada (which only operated from 1870-1893)

Less than 1.4 million were produced in total, most of those being the 1875-S. Around 10,000 of the 1876-CC were made, but most were melted down at the US Mint before ever being released, and now less than 20 are thought to exist.

The creation process of this denomination is vague and convoluted. The main proponent seems to have been US Senator John Percival Jones from Nevada. He somehow got his bill through the Senate and the House.

Most of the reasons for it given at the time turned out to be false, exaggerated, or outdated. Most of the problems and opportunities it would supposedly affect were unchanged. Then and now, people have trouble understanding why this coin came into existance.

Conversely, there were several valid reasons for its speedy withdrawl. Foremost, it was easily confused with the quarters of the era, having the same Liberty Seated design on the front, and a similar eagle design on the back, as well as the same metallic composition and a similar size. One would basically have had to read the small and easily worn text on the reverse in order to determine the value (TWENTY CENTS vs QUAR. DOL.) without a side by side comparison.

Despite the fact that it is still legal tender (along with the half cent , two cent piece, three cent piece, half dime, earlier versions of existant denominations, as well as any legally circulated coinage issued by the US mint) there are probably very few left in circulation. Their numismatic value far exceeds both their face value and silver value.