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Affordable Barbers
 | By Tom LaMarre, Coins Magazine
June 15, 2009 |
A recent column mentioned some inexpensive Barber dimes and their stories. Here are some more examples for your collection.
One of them is the 1892 dime, valued at $5 in Good-4. It was the first Barber dime and was not exactly a hit. "The new coins out from the mint this year have run against various objections based on aesthetic grounds, expecially the dime," the March 24, 1892, issue of the Olean Democrat said.
Attractive or not, dimes were in demand. Dime banks or safes were partly responsible. "Within the past few weeks a toy safe has made its appearance and has become instantly popular," the Aug. 24, 1899, issue of the Mexia (Texas) Evening Ledger reorted. "It is a small cylinder in nickel plate with an aperture just large enough for a dime. The safe will hold exactly 50 dimes and cannot be opened until it is full.
"When one has begun to save dimes there is no stopping, or at least no getting at what has been saved without breaking the holder until five dollars have been put into it."
Today a Fine-12 1899 dime is valued at less than $8, according to Coin Prices. To find an 1899-O or 1899-S dime for less than $10, you will have to settle for G-4 examples.
A nationwide dime shortage was reported in 1906, despite the opening of the Denver Mint. The Aug. 25, 1906, issue of the Fairbanks Evening News referred to it as a dime "famine." The newspaper added, "Treasurer Treat would be profoundly grateful if several hundred people who have been guilty of filling up slot banks or old stockings with this particular brand of coin would trot into his office and place their savings on his desk. He will give the finest, newest paper money in exchange."
A G-4 1906-D or 1906-S dime is valued at less than $3. Coin Prices lists a G-4 1906-O dime at $5.50.
The Dec. 31, 1909, issue of the Suburbanite Economist, published in Chicago, said that nickels and dimes were "unknown" in Alaska. The article quoted John Hoover of Fairbanks as saying, "No pennies, nickels and dimes go in."
Elsewhere, pay telephones pumped up the demand for dimes. The Dec. 17, 1913, issue of the Lincoln Daily Star said, "A lot of telephone slot machines are demanding dimes, whereas they would grow fat and prosperous on nickels."
The same year, a machine capable of counting and bagging 2,700 dimes a minute went on the market. It would have taken about 122 hours for the machine to process the Philadelphia Mint's entire production run of 1913 dimes - nearly 20 million. A G-4 1913 is valued at less than $2.
By 1915 the Barber dime was nearing the end of the line. That's when the Wellsboro Gazette told of a woman who had collected dimes for 10 years. She reportedly had so many dimes that her husband needed a flour sack to take them to the bank. Too bad the couple didn't keep that flour sack full of dimes. It would have made a great hoard for collectors.
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