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Looking at Barbers
 | By Tom LaMarre, Coins Magazine
January 20, 2009 |
By the 1890s, the Treasury Department was looking for new designs to replace the long-running Seated Liberty dime, quarter and half dollar. After unsuccessful competitions were held, Mint engraver Charles Barber prepared a Liberty head design. President Benjamin Harrison approved it on Nov. 5, 1891. The new coins went into production in January 1892.
The same basic design was used for the dime, quarter and half dollar. But the dime had the inscription, "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," instead of 13 stars on the obverse, and a wreath with "ONE DIME" in place of the Great Seal of the United States found on the reverse of the quarter and half dollar.
Of the three denominations, the dime series has the most famous and valuable Barber rarity, the 1894-S. Coin Prices lists it at $1.3 million in Mint State-65. But many other scarce Barber dimes in lower grades are valued at less than $100, or even $50.
Barber dimes were struck at Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco and New Orleans. Bargain-priced coins from each mint are available. Among issues with the "O" mintmark there is the 1897-O, with a mintage of only 666,000 and a Coin Prices valuation of less than $70 in Good-4.
Incidentally, Barber coins are widely collected in G and Very Good grades. They circulated extensively and are difficult to find in higher grades, although dimes fared better than Barber quarters and half dollars in this respect.
A scarce Barber dime that is not listed in every value guide is the 1905 "micro O" variety. Detroit collector Howard Newcomb discovered it in the 1940s. Two different obverses are known. On one the "1" in the date is directly below Barber's initial. On the other it is to the right of the initial. Mint-state examples are rare, but you can probably find a G-4 1905 "micro O" for around $15.
The New Orleans Mint was the source of some other micro mintmark varieties. Recently, however, the Professional Coin Grading Service decided that rare 1900 "micro O" dollars are counterfeits made before the 1940s. The 1905 "micro O" dime is still considered genuine, which is not to say that counterfeit Barber dimes of other dates and mintmarks do not exist.
In 1894, two bushels of counterfeit dimes and quarters were seized in Brooklyn. In 1911, Secret Service agents raided a counterfeit coin plant in New York. Pushcart peddlers in the city had been distributing the fake dimes, quarters and half dollars.
When it comes to Barber dimes from the San Francisco Mint, there are several worthwhile dates. The 1913-S had a mintage of just over half a million and is valued at $16 in G-4 and $30 in VG-8. This seems like a good deal compared to the 1901-S dime, which had a similar mintage but is listed at $80 in G-4 and $150 in VG-8. The 1903-S, with an even higher mintage than the 1901-S, is valued at $84 in G-4.
For roughly half that price, you should be able to buy another desirable dime, the 1904-S. Listed at $45 in G-4, it had a mintage of 800,000. Better yet, there is the 1915-S. Fewer than 1 million examples were struck, yet survivors are valued at less than $7 in G-4.
The Denver Mint began striking coins in 1906. In 1909 it turned out fewer than a million dimes. A G-4 1909-D is valued at less than $8, but the price jumps to $60 for a Fine-12 specimen.
Barber dimes were not widely collected in their own time or for years afterward. Lack of enthusiasm about the design was mostly to blame.
The Numismatist said it was probably the most that could be expected of institutional art.
Writing in the Whitman Numismatic Journal in the 1960s, Lawrence Block (now the author of best-selling mystery novels) said that dealers were uninterested in purchasing Barber coins, new collectors did not bother with them, and the new corps of investors ignored them entirely.
Today it's a different story. There are never enough of the "good" dates to go around.
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