1858 20 Cents

Specifications

Melt value: $8.91silver $64.40/ozt · prices as of Sep 16, 2026

AI-generated illustration — not a photograph of a genuine coin.

Canada's one-year 20-cent piece — a pre-Confederation oddity killed by confusion with the American quarter and the British shilling.

History

The twenty-cent piece was struck by the Royal Mint of the United Kingdom for the Province of Canada in 1858, part of Canada’s first official decimal coinage (1, 5, 10 and 20 cents) following the Currency Act of 1 August 1854 (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16).
About 750,000 were struck in 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper (Heritage/NGC lot data; Wikipedia lists 730,392 — both figures accessed 2026-09-16).
The 20-cent denomination was chosen to accommodate transactions involving the Nova Scotian pound — the coin equaled a Nova Scotian shilling — but Nova Scotia issued no shilling coin, and the British shilling was worth 20 percent more than a Nova Scotian shilling (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16).
The coin was confused with both British shillings and American quarters, so it was not minted beyond 1858; by 1870 the 25-cent piece replaced it as Canada aligned with the widely used American quarter (Wikipedia; Colonial Acres Coins, accessed 2026-09-16).
Withdrawn coins were, from 1885 onward, returned to the Royal Mint in London to be recoined as 25-cent pieces (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16).
Both sides were designed by Leonard Charles Wyon: a young laureate head of Victoria on the obverse, and the crowned denomination and date within a maple-leaf wreath on the reverse (Wikipedia; Colonial Acres Coins, accessed 2026-09-16).

Check the reverse legend lettering: a previously unreported ‘Large A over Small A’ variety surfaced in 2021–2022, with examples certified by CCCS in Fine-12 and VF-30 — repunched-letter varieties carry premiums over common pieces (Canadian Coin News, accessed 2026-09-16).
Other die quirks are known on the issue — die cracks, doubled letters in the legend, a doubled 5, a doubled I in VICTORIA, and a re-punched S in CENTS — so distinguish true varieties from common die states before paying up (Colonial Acres Coins, accessed 2026-09-16).
As a heavily melted one-year type, verify authenticity by weight (4.648 g) and diameter (23.3 mm) in .925 silver; cast or altered copies do appear on the market (general collector guidance; specs per Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-16).
Values climb steeply with grade — a dealer reference lists roughly $60 in VG up to $2,500 in MS63 (coinscatalog.net, accessed 2026-09-16); confirm any purchase against current auction realizations.
Certification counts could not be verified from a named source today; check PCGS/NGC population reports live rather than relying on published mintage alone.