1870 Newfoundland 20 Cents
Victoria · 2 varieties · study revised July 16th 2013
With a mintage of 50,000 coins for this year, you might expect to find more examples for this date than what there currently appears to be! Not only is it true of the 20 Cent issues, but also, it is particularly true of the 5 and 10 Cent coins and to a lesser degree, the 50 Cent pieces as well! It is difficult to say why this has occurred but it certainly has become a major topic of interest for both collectors and dealers alike. There has been no end to the speculation as to the reasons for this rarity, but it seems like one of the favourite explanations for this mystery, is that a ship with a cargo of these coins, sank during a storm en route to St. John's! These stories will go on but one thing is certain, it is a very scarce date which is extremely difficult to find in higher grades.
Read Barry's full introduction
At the moment, there are two very distinct varieties that can be found for this year. The first of these has a Narrow Date with a High "7" and the other variation has a Wider Date with a Lower "7". This particular characteristic makes it fairly easy to differentiate between these two varieties.
