This variety is not listed in the 2006 edition of the book Cherrypickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins by Bill Fivaz and J.T. Stanton. Breen (1988) also does not give this variety a separate listing, but he does state for the 1876 that, "One of the [two] production revs. has hollows in wings, defect joining wingtip to (T)S and minor doubling on STAT; the other lacks these."
The former die is the one that the Mint used to strike this coin, and a loupe does reveal the doubling on the letters STAT in STATES, as well as on the O in OF. A fully lustrous, frosty near-Gem, both sides are originally toned in slightly mottled, silver-gray and copper-apricot iridescence. Sharply struck and overall smooth, this piece is a pleasing example of one of the scarcest issues in the business strike Twenty-Cent series. Original mintage: just 14,640 pieces.
