20 Cents 'Seated Liberty'

The 20-cent piece was a genuine policy failure, killed by public confusion within four years of its introduction. The problem was immediate and obvious: the coin was nearly indistinguishable by feel from a quarter, differing by less than a millimeter in diameter, and merchants and citizens alike complained from the first week of circulation. Nevada Senator John P. Jones championed the denomination as a solution to making change in the West, where Spanish two-real pieces had long filled the gap, but the logic never translated east of the Rockies.

Congress halted circulation strikes after just two years. The 1877 and 1878 dates exist only as proofs.