to authorize redemption of paper money with silver coin, and would not until April 1876, lowering the need to strike the pieces at Philadelphia. Additionally, the coin was principally intended for circulation in the West, another reason for a low mintage at Philadelphia. Mint officials had overestimated the need for the piece at San Francisco, where it saw some public acceptance and the large mintage satisfied the modest public demand until treasury officials ordered stocks melted in 1877. Although the mint had given the twenty-cent piece a smooth rim, rather than the reeded one on the quarter, the two pieces were immediately confused. At , the twenty-cent piece was only slightly smaller than the quarter at , and the two pieces had near-identical obverses. Mistakes in change-making were widespread, and the twenty-cent piece quickly became extremely unpopular. In April 1876, when Congress began to allow the redemption of fractional currency with coin, the twenty-cent piece was listed as among the denominations that could be exchanged for the low-denomination paper. Nevertheless, in July, legislation was introduced to abolish the twenty-cent piece. Although the bill did not pass immediately, according to numismatist Vernon Brown in his article on the piece, the pendency of the bill convinced the mint that there was no point in striking further twenty-cent pieces. The mintage for 1876 was low (coining took place at Philadelphia and Carson City), and only proof specimens were coined in 1877 and 1878, at Philadelphia. Most of the 1876 Philadelphia mintage were sold as souvenirs at the Centennial Exposition. In March 1877, Linderman authorized the melting of 12,359 twenty-cent pieces at Carson City. This included almost the entire mintage from 1876 (about 10,000) and created one of the great American numismatic rarities, the 1876-CC twenty-cent piece. Fewer than two dozen are known; one sold at auction for $564,000 in 2013, making it the record-holder for the denomination. In her 2003 article, numismatist Michele Orzano suggests that the few survivors were souvenirs obtained by visitors to the mint. Congress abolished the twenty-cent piece on May 2, 1878. The previous day, Linderman had ordered the mints to melt down twenty-cent pieces on hand, for recoinage into other denominations. By then, forces for silver coinage had been victorious in passing the Bland–Allison Act, requiring the government to purchase large quantities of silver bullion, and strike it into dollars. The piece continued to circulate in the West