The Saga of the 20-Cent Piece.

 

Today, we might consider a denomination such as the 20-cent piece to be archaic, certainly - if not quite odd. But during its day, this coin was far from unusual and existed because it was an even amount and logical to boot. It also has a rather long family tree.

 

In the very early 1500s, Spain changed to the "reales" currency system and used it extensively to coin the silver flowing from her American mines. Coins such as the crown-size "8-reales" as well as the quarter-size "2-reales" were struck in huge numbers, not only in Spain herself but also in a large number of American mints, the first of which was Mexico City , established in about 1530. Over the years, the two areas continued to churn out silver coins and while they were of the same denominations, weights, finenesses and values, the designs were different, those of Spain showing a shield on the reverse while the American coins showed the " Pillars of Hercules " (an allegory of the Straits of Gibraltar).

 

Then in the 1680s, Spain ran into economic problems and, as part of the "solution", began to tinker with her silver currency, worsening it by some 20% by striking the coins somewhat lighter as well as less fine. This was called "New Plate" and didn't fool the foreign exchanges very long; they simply devalued the Spanish "dollar" by 20%. Since this solved nothing, Spain then put the 8-real "dollar" back on the "Old Plate" standard but continued to strike its fractional parts - the 4-reales on down - on the newer, lesser standard.

It was at this point that the silver coins of Spain and her American possessions diverged - or at least the fractional parts of the "dollar" did. The American coins were struck primarily for export and therefore continued to be struck on the Old Plate standards; but in doing so, the Spanish minor silver was devalued by 20%, no matter that it read "2 reales" or whatever.

In a way, Spain had established a captive currency, resistant to export - but over the years, a lot did leave Spain , a bit here and a bit there, to be devalued 20%. Eventually, many of these coins wound up in the British American colonies, both on the mainland and in the Caribbean, where the Spanish 2-real piece was especially popular, being called the "pistareen".

 

In the 1780s, the newly independent United States established her currency as being based on the "dollar", meaning the 8-real piece of Spain and Spanish America , with the dollar divided into 100 cents. But the fractional Spanish/Spanish American coins had to be valued differently: the Spanish-American 2-real - one-quarter of the 8-real "dollar" - was valued at 25-cents U.S. but the Spanish 2-real "pistareen" was valued 20% less - or an even 20-cents. All the other coins were in proportion: Spanish-American 4-real = 50-cents; Spanish 4-real = 40-cents; Spanish-American 1-real = 12½-cents; Spanish 1-real = 10-cents; Spanish-American ½-real = 6.25-cents; Spanish ½-real = 5-cents. There were enough Spanish "pistareens" (with their halves and quarters) around that the U.S. never had to strike a lot of 10- and 5-cent pieces until the very late 1820s.

 

 

Left: "Old Style" pistareen, used until 1772. Spain , 2-reales, 1723-Madrid. Right: "New Style" pistareen used after 1772. Spain , 2-reales, 1788-Seville.

  There were two main types of "pistareen", the arms-type and the bust-type. Even though there were also 4-, 1- and ½-real Spanish coins ("double", "half" and "quarter pistareens"), the designs on these rather broad, thin coins invited cutting - and this was extensively done.

 

Meanwhile, north of the border, Canadians were also using these coins as well. Since the Spanish 8-real/U.S. silver dollar was valued at an even 5-shillings (or 60d) Halifax Currency, the Spanish-American 2-real was valued at 15-pence - but the Spanish pistareen at an even 12d. For this reason, the pistareen was called a "Halifax Shilling" for many years thereafter, even decades after the adoption of decimal coinage. Conveniently, a "half pistareen" (either cut or as a 1-real Spanish piece) passed for sixpence while the quarter was valued at 3d Halifax .

 

Canada used a lot more pistareens than would otherwise have been the case. In 1827, the U.S. decided that due to wear, a pistareen was no longer 1/5th of a dollar (20-cents) and devalued them to 1/6th dollar (16 2/3-cents). But at the new value, most of them now contained more than face value in bullion. We can suspect that the U.S. made this move to rid their circulation of them while at the same time replacing them with U.S. 25-, 10- and 5-cent silver pieces, the withdrawn coin forming a source of cheap silver bullion. And U.S. coinages of these denominations did jump hugely in 1828 and after.

But Canada prevented "cheap silver" simply by not devaluating the pistareen for more than two years. Consequently larger business concerns - banks and exchange dealers mostly - turned a substantial profit by buying up and importing these pieces at face (about 20% profit) or, more probably, at bullion (perhaps 10% or so). A large part of the pistareen U.S. circulation wound up in Canada . But once the profit was taken and there were no more to be had in the U.S. , devaluation followed in Canada . Bank returns show that on Devaluation Day, there was not a single one in their vaults - but there soon was again. At the lower valuation of 10d Halifax .

 

A few years later, the U.S. did the same thing with the fractional Spanish-American silver, devaluating the 2-reales coin from 25-cents to 20-cents U.S. - giving the same reason of excessive wear. This time the Canadian provinces followed immediately, so for a while it was the Spanish-American 2-real that was a "Halifax Shilling".

 

Canada , 20 Cents, 1858. This was the primary obverse used later on the New Brunswick and Newfoundland coins.

When the Province of Canada went decimal in 1858, she based her new dollar on the gold one of the U.S. And, continuing with the denominations most commonly seen in Canadian circulation, the old 3d, 6d and 1-shilling became the new (but same value) 5-, 10- and 20-cent pieces. Even though valued at par with the U.S. coins, the new Canadian pieces were proportionately lighter. This was due to British law dating back to 1816 that stipulated that any colonial silver coin must contain bullion precisely proportional to its value in British silver coin. In the case of the 20-cent piece, this worked out to 4.65 grams, or proportionately about 4% less than the U.S.

Even from the very first, there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the new 20-cent pieces, especially since they had nearly the same diameter as the American quarters that were becoming increasingly common. Even so, it was not until the Dominion of Canada coinage of 1870 that a Canadian 25-cent piece was struck, after which the 20-cent pieces were quietly withdrawn and melted over the next twenty years or so.

 

Hard on the heels of Canadian decimalization came that of Nova Scotia (1860) and New Brunswick (1861). Nova Scotia escaped the need to strike her own silver coin by overvaluing the British pound at $5, rather than the $4.86 2/3 used by the Province of Canada , New Brunswick and the U.S. While Nova Scotia could then use British shillings as 25-cent pieces, her currency had to be brought into line with the rest of the partners in Confederation in 1871.

 

New Brunswick 20 Cents, 1862.   The obverse was that of the 1858 Canadian piece with the name changed.

 

New Brunswick , using the same standards as the Province of Canada , was compelled to have her own silver coins struck, 5-, 10-and 20-cent pieces appearing in 1862 and 1864. It seems apparent that the same obverse by Leonard C. Wyon as used on theCanadian 20-cent was modified for this issue. Almost certainly, the CANADA was ground off a Canadian hub, a die struck from it and the NEW BRUNSWICK then entered on it (double hubbing). From patterns still in existence, it also seems apparent that New Brunswick (or more probably the Royal Mint) cut costs by using a pattern reverse rejected for the Canadian coinage on this one. Oddly, with "maple leaves" routinely used on the Canadian coinage at the time, this is the only one to truly depict the sugar maple, seed keys and all.

Newfoundland . 20 cents, 1865. First year of issue. Slightly heavier than the N.B. or Canadian pieces.

 

New Brunswick struck her coins in two years - 1862 and '64. It was fortunate for the Royal Mint that she did. In 1863, Newfoundland also went decimal but with a slightly heavier "dollar", valuing the British pound at only $4.80. While this allowed the Newfoundlanders to use British coin at 2-cents per penny, it was an awkward system and native coins soon ordered. However, the order included a $2 gold piece and this caused such a stir in the British halls of power that the first Newfoundland coins did not appear until 1865.

 

Again, the Royal Mint took shortcuts, in this case apparently double-hubbing the obverse of the 1864 New Brunswick 20-cent piece to fabricate that of Newfoundland . We know this to be the case since there exists a pattern (Bowman B32) combining the Newfoundland obverse with the reverse from the 1864 New Brunswick issue. Due to the British law of proportional silver content, the Newfoundland piece is about 1.3% heavier than either the New Brunswick or Canadian counterpart. For this reason, Newfoundland was forced to use her own distinctive reverse designs.

 

Upon the collapse of her two main banks in the late 1890s, Newfoundland adopted Dominion of Canada currency but the weights of her silver coins remained as before since silver bullion was down and the old restrictions were not being applied. Newfoundland continued to strike what some of the old-timers still called a "shillin'" through the reign of Edward VII and into that of George V. But the last Newfoundland 20-cent piece was struck in 1912. During the First World War, England asked Canada to supply Newfoundland 's coinage needs and avoid the U-boat dangers of the high seas. In this Canada complied, but only after insisting that Newfoundland drop the 20-cent piece and adopt a 25-cent coin. For years now, the 20-cent pieces had quietly been passed for the higher value on the mainland whenever possible but now, with the 25-cent mintages of 1917 and 1919, its day was through. Even so, collectors will note a lot of the old coins on which the 20 (or at least the "0") have been scratched off, an attempt to pass them for more than they were worth. But as of 1917, a North American heritage stretching back some four centuries finally came to an end.

 

No, the old 20-cent "shillin'" was not a strange coin in its day.

Wayne Jacobs is numismatic expert. He is the award winning author of numerous articles. He is the secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.