2020-D Massachusetts: Telephone Innovation Dollar
Circulation strike struck at the Denver Mint · 436,825 made
- Mintage
- 436,825
- Metal
- Manganese brass
- Weight
- 8.1 g
- Diameter
- 26.49 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 2020-D Massachusetts: Telephone Innovation Dollar worth?
It's scarcer than a typical date, so even circulated examples sell above face. The best uncirculated coins are where the money is.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 2020-D Massachusetts: Telephone Innovation Dollar rare?
- Yes. Only 436,825 were made, 12th lowest of the 58 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 2020-D Massachusetts: Telephone Innovation Dollar silver?
- No. It's manganese brass (88.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, 2% nickel). Circulating silver dollars ended with the 1935 Peace dollar. Some Eisenhower dollars with an S mint mark were made in 40% silver for collectors, but circulation Ike dollars are copper-nickel clad.
- Where is the mint mark on a 2020 American Innovation Dollar?
- On the edge, incused with the date. On this coin the mark is D, for Denver.
- How many 2020-D Massachusetts: Telephone Innovation Dollar coins were made?
- 436,825.
What to check on your 2020-D
- Make sure the mint mark really is a D. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 2020-P (436,750 made).
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 2020-S Massachusetts: Telephone Innovation Dollar Proof (108,400 made) is the one to compare with.
- Judge the grade under good light. These are sold in rolls, bags and sets, so most survive uncirculated. Value depends on luster and freedom from marks.
Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the mint mark and date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 2020-D Massachusetts: Telephone
Denver made 436,825 of the Massachusetts: Telephone innovation dollar. Among the 4 designs of 2020 it was the second largest Denver run, between Maryland: Hubble Space Telescope (434,454) and Connecticut: Gerber Variable Scale (438,209).
Philadelphia struck a similar number of the same design (436,750), so neither mint's version is much harder to find.
Across the whole program it sits 8th of 29 Denver designs by mintage, where the scarcest is Georgia: Trustees' Garden at 368,475.
More on the 2020-D
Denver struck 436,825 Massachusetts telephone dollars and Philadelphia 436,750, a difference of just 75 coins. No other 2020 design was split so evenly between the two mints, so the D and P really are equally easy to find. Massachusetts was the sixth state to ratify the Constitution, so its coin came second in the 2020 release order, right after Connecticut. Among Denver's four 2020 coins, only Connecticut came in higher.
Collectors sometimes point out that the rotary dial on the reverse belongs to a much later generation of telephones than the instrument Alexander Graham Bell patented in 1876. Read it as a symbol rather than a picture of Bell's own device: most people recognize a dial instantly. On Denver coins, look closely at the dial's raised rim and finger holes, since they sit at the center of the design where contact marks from other coins land first. A lustrous, lightly marked 2020-D is worth face value or a small premium.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 2020
West Point again struck quarters with a W mint mark for circulation, this time on all five 2020 designs.
How to recognize it
The Massachusetts: Telephone design
Massachusetts honors the telephone, which Alexander Graham Bell developed in Boston and patented in 1876. Bell's device turned the human voice into electrical signals that could travel over a wire and be converted back into sound. The reverse shows the dial of an early rotary telephone, with the inscriptions TELE-PHONE and MASSACHUSETTS. Emily Damstra designed the coin and Eric David Custer sculpted it. Telephone networks soon spread across the country, reshaping business and daily communication.
The American Innovation Dollar design
The obverse shows the Statue of Liberty in profile with IN GOD WE TRUST and $1. Each reverse honors an innovation or innovator from one state or territory, issued in the order the states joined the Union. The date, mint mark and E PLURIBUS UNUM are lettered on the edge, which is where to look for the mint mark.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | American Innovation Dollar (2018–present) |
|---|---|
| Year | 2020 |
| Mint | Denver Mint |
| Mint mark | "D" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 436,825 |
| Face value | $1 |
| Composition | Manganese brass (88.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, 2% nickel) |
| Weight | 8.1 grams |
| Diameter | 26.49 mm |
| Edge | Lettered with the date, mint mark and E PLURIBUS UNUM |
| Designer | Various artists |
Other 2020 American Innovation Dollar issues
Mintage: American Innovation dollars (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.