You will need a high-grade coin to clearly determine this variety. But there never yet has been a United States Mint facility whose mint mark is seen as a B. So what is that B on Barber coinage all about? Silver dimes always provoked great interest among collectors, particularly pieces minted in 1916 when the US Mint produced two different series. Kimball submitted the issue to government lawyers; they indicated that the Mint lacked the claimed authority. Mintage totaled 3.4 million pieces, with most receiving extensive wear over time. Instead of a design based on French coinage, it depicted a standing figure of Columbia, bearing a pileus (a crown fashioned from an olive branch) atop a liberty pole; an eagle spreading its wings stands behind her. Superintendent Snowden believed that the base-metal coins then being struck (the one-, three-, and five-cent pieces) should have uniform designs, as did many of the silver pieces, and also some gold coins. Condition of your coin plays the largest role in finding a scarce and collector quality dime. An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book. These coins may be valued from $1.96 to $21. The head is modeled after the French "Ceres" silver coinage of the late 19th century, but bears a resemblance to Morgan's design for the silver dollar. Flatness is beginning to smooth the upper parts of the leaf next to the "O". Followed by a number of San Francisco mint dates. The placement of the mintmark on Barber quarters is a topic of interest. Tilt the coin under a light comparing the entire cheek area for a consistent texture. Barber or Liberty Head Dime: on the Bottom of the reverse just below the ribbon of the Laurel wreath. Laurel leaves laying over the cap are free of any smoothness towards the tips. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The Mint had claimed authority under the Coinage Act of 1873 in issuing the Morgan dollar in 1878 and the Liberty Head nickel in 1883. First, Barber invited famous sculptors to compete, setting strict requirements. Any Barber dime with clear features to Liberty requires a close inspection. The reverse side (back) of the dime depicts a wreath and inscription like that of the Seated Liberty Dime, which was minted from 1837 to 1891. Any fading of the wreath to the rim is minor and confined to one small part. Type: Barber Dime. On December 11, Bosbyshell requested a delay in production to mid-January 1892 to allow the dies to be more thoroughly tested; Leech refused. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. To illustrate this, an 1892 Barber Dime in good condition may be worth less than $5.00 while an 1895-O Barber Dime may trade for over $1600 in extremely fine condition. Scarce issues are in particular demand; often these coins have low initial mintage numbers from the branch mints. Collectors Universe, Inc. disclaims any warranties whatsoever with respect to the accuracy of the PCGS3000 or any specific coin index. In 1892, the branch mints tried to align the mintmark with the eagle's central tail feather. These normally sell for $400 to $500 if they are in full Good condition. Official ANA Grading Standards for United States Coins (Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards for United States Coins). High points of the design are easily disturbed and show a change in texture to the metal if wear is present. One of the approximately nine known dimes was retrieved from circulation in 1957, and Breen speculated this may have been the ice cream specimen. The new director was more receptive to Gilder's ideas and in 1887 announced a competition for new designs for the non-gold coinage. This placed the mintmark directly over the final "R" in QUARTER. This melt value is calculated from the current silver spot price of $25.05 per ounce. Enterprising fraudsters soon realized that the nickel and half eagle (or five-dollar gold piece) were close in size, and plated the base metal coins to pass to the unwary. [49] The rarest half dollar is the 1892-O "Micro O", in which the mint mark "O" for New Orleans was impressed on the half dollar die with a puncheon intended for the quarter; other key dates are the regular 1892-O, 1892-S, 1893-S, 1897-O, 1897-S, 1913, 1914, and 1915. Rim is complete and bow at the bottom is well defined with loops, knot, and trialing ribbons separate. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. A fine ridge defining the edges of leaves remains with a fine texture. Charles E. Barber was born in London in 1840. to $8.84 You will find that even under close inspection these coins show absolutely no signs of wear or damage whatsoever. The reverse of the quarter and the half dollar depicts a heraldic eagle, based on the Great Seal. Three mints produced this silver coin, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver. On November 6, President Harrison and his Cabinet considered which of the designs to approve, and chose one without the clouds; the following day, Leech ordered working dies prepared. Instead, these coins were almost immediately preserved as soon as they were produced. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. There are seventy-four different date and mint mark combinations with over 500 million Barber Dimes produced. Whitman Publishing, 2013. Only 9 of them are known to still exist. Many dates have a scarce mintmark variety and most are elusive in pleasing collector quality. Dimes were minted here is all years other than 1894. One variety each of pattern dime and quarter are known, whereas five different half dollars are extant; all known Barber coin patterns are in the National Numismatic Collection and none are in private hands. This melt value is calculated from the current silver spot price of $24.94 per ounce. Inspect the hair just above Liberty's forehead. Coinage of the United States: A Short History. "[42], Other reactions were unfavorable. The result is not very flattering to the boasted artistic development of this country, inasmuch as only two of the three hundred suggestions submitted were good enough to receive honorable mention.[18]. Rolls are readily available in circulated or better condition. Barber dimes were minted at all four of the minting facilities in operation at the time: San Francisco, Denver, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Proof Coins can be Worth $572 or more. Lower leaves are losing the edges of some and blending with the hair. This design had been created by Christian Gobrecht, an engraver at the United States Mint in Philadelphia, after a sketch by artist Thomas Sully, and introduced to U.S. coins in the late 1830s. [22], Barber's first attempt, modeled for the half dollar, disregarded Leech's instructions. In addition to inviting the ten artists, he had sent thousands of solicitations through the country; a number of designs were submitted in response to the circulars. Print the Coin Values Worksheet to list your coins and record their values. Those who worked with Barber, and some collectors today, speculate that this was what Barber desired all along. In "Fine" condition all the letters to LIBERTY show on the headband and the reverse wreath shows some detail. Tthe Carson City Seated Liberty dimes struck from 1871 through 1874 are exceedingly rare. US Mint. . Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Common circulated Barber dimes sell for over their silver melt value at approximately $2.00 to $3.00 each. "Condition rarities", relatively common and inexpensive in circulated condition but costly in high grades, include the 1901-S, 1904-S, and 1907-S half dollars. Leech chose not to write again; he addressed one concern, about whether the olive branches in the design were rendered accurately, by visiting the National Botanical Garden, obtaining one, and sending it to Barber. They were composed of approximately 89% silver and 11% copper and were larger than todays dimes. They had to submit models in low relief, not just sketches, plus the legends and denominations. Mintage numbers were modest in comparison to Philadelphia. It indicates you have done your coin values homework. Composition 0.900 silver and 0.100 copper by weight. Over the course of the series San Francisco's total was just over 52 million pieces. Although Woolley had hoped that each artist would produce one design, different concepts by Weinman were accepted for the dime and half dollar, and one by MacNeil for the quarter. Between 1938 and 1964 the mint mark is on the reverse on the right-hand side lower corner of Monticello. [13][45], The 1894-S Barber dime is one of the great numismatic rarities, with a published mintage of 24 proof pieces. Obverse: Features Identifying the Good Grade: Once a coin is worn to the point major detail is missing a Good grade is defined. By the late 1880s, there were increasing calls for the replacement of the Seated Liberty design, used since the 1830s on most denominations of silver coins. The doubling is visible in the word UNITED.. We get a lot of questions from coin collectors across numismatics, and one subject that comes up from time to time are questions about a B mint mark on Barber Dimes, Barber Quarters, and Barber Half Dollars. Further adorning her head is a ribbon inscribed "Liberty" tied at the back of her head. He left the [dime] rev[erse] design as it had been since 1860, with minor simplifications. On the Barber Dime, the mint mark can be seen on the bottom center of the reverse just below the bow at the base of the wreath encircling the inscription ONE DIME. On the Barber Quarter and Barber Half Dollar, mint marks are located just below the heraldic eagles tailfeathers and immediately above the central letters of the denomination QUARTER DOLLAR or HALF DOLLAR., Coin Collecting: Basics Computed from dealer's price lists with various mark-up factors figured in. As the price of silver rose over the decades, the mint was forced to shrink the size of the dimes from a diameter of 19 mm to their current size of 17.9 mm. [16], Most of the artists conferred in New York and responded in a joint letter that they would be willing to participate, but not on the terms set. Most dates in the Barber coin series are not difficult to obtain, but the 1894 dime struck at the San Francisco Mint (1894-S), with a mintage of 24, is a great rarity. Key dates for the dime include the 1895-O (with the lowest mintage), 1896-S, 1897-O, 1901-S and 1903-S. For the quarter, key dates are the very low mintage 1896-S, 1901-S, and 1913-S issues, with the 1901-S particularly scarce. Values of "bullion" quality dimes move up and down matching the price of silver and trade in bulk. Today, attention is on better grade examples, leaving lower condition coin to trade near silver value. The most common 1909 Barber Dime was minted in Philadelphia and has no mint mark. With today's high price of silver your old coins are becoming surprisingly valuable. 7 of 9 are uncirculated and 2 are heavily worn. George Washington ordered the first run of dimes in 1792, which were made on a borrowed press kept in the owner's basement. Greysheet Catalog Details. Doing so can be well worth it, however, as the better the condition of the coin the more potentially valuable it may be. Barber dime values can vary significantly based on their mint year and mint location as well as their overall condition. Mint director Edward Leech ordered a competition to come up with a new design for the coinage. All coins bearing the "CC" mintmark are considered scarce by collectors today. All Rights Reserved. Therefore, the PCGS3000 should only be used as one guide to rare coin prices and historical price movements, and not as the sole source for determining the value or market history of a particular coin. The PCGS3000 reflects the opinions of PCGSs coin price experts with respect to indexes developed by PCGS for specific coin categories. Helping contribute to the nation's coinage, New Orleans typically struck over a million Barber dimes yearly. USA Coin Book Estimated Value of 1898 Liberty Nickel is Worth $5.56 in Average Condition and can be Worth $165 to $200 or more in Uncirculated (MS+) Mint Condition. [29] While the Cabinet approved the designs, members requested that the Mint embolden the words "Liberty" on the obverse and "E Pluribus Unum" on the reverse, believing that these legends would wear away in circulation; despite the resulting changes, this proved to be accurate. In time the series reaches a point, all coins are worth well above silver content. These dates command a significant premium over the price of a common date dime. Alloy of a silver dime is 90% silver to 10% copper by weight. A step by step method is used to determine how much your coin is worth. No mintmark was used by Philadelphia on coinage at the time. Just below the "D" and "E" in "Dime" are very fine leaf details. 1856-S Seated Liberty dime. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The 1893 3 over 2 has a faint 2 behind the 3 on the date of the coin. [14] Mason sent Leech the recommendations on April 3, 1891; the following day, the Mint director announced the competition, open to the public, but he specifically invited the ten artists named by Mason to participate. Finally, large quantities of lower grade Barber coins were melted for bullion when silver prices rose in 1979 and early 1980. [35] This did not escape numismatist Walter Breen in his comprehensive guide to U.S. coins: "Barber must have been feeling unusually lazy. The plumpish, matronly gravitas of Liberty had come to America seven years earlier in the person of Frdric Bartholdi's giant statue [the Statue of Liberty] "[40] He suggested that the features of Daniel Chester French's huge statue Republic, created for the World Columbian Exposition, "were absolutely in harmony with what Charles Barber had created for the coinage in the year of the Fair's opening". As illustrated in the picture below, Barber positioned the mint mark on the reverse of the coin, near the bottom just below the bow in the wreath. Headband with lettering is missing. the Philadelphia Mint made 159,130,000 Mercury Dimes without mint marks. [47] One sold for $1,552,500 at auction in 2007. [17] Leech was unable to meet these terms, as there was only enough money available for the single prize. Ambio, Jeff. Can the Constitution be changed by the president? Viewing all edges of leaves show just slight wear confined to edges only with no signs of flatness to the broader areas of leaves. Tops of letters are free of the rim. The 1894-S rarely appears for sale on the market, and when one does, it sells for well over one million dollars. Philadelphia Barber Dimes have no mint mark. [16][30], It is uncertain when pattern dimes and quarters were struck, but this was most likely in mid-November 1891. Above the eagle are 13 five-pointed stars; it is surrounded by the name of the country and by the coin's denomination. between the words QUARTER and DOLLAR). Used coins are affordable and are typically worth $4 to $100. A 1909-D, minted in Denver, may fetch nearly $100 if in extremely fine condition. Quantities are available in Good to Fine grade for the rest of the dates. Sign in or register to get started. Barber wrote years later about the competition, "many [entries] were sent in, but Mr. St. Gaudens, [sic] who was appointed one of the committee to pass upon designs, objected to everything submitted". Reverse: Features Identifying the Fine Grade: A defined wreath remains on the reverse of a Fine grade Barber dime. Which is the most valuable Barber dime today? Bust, Seated Liberty, to Barber, Mercury, and Roosevelt Dimes. U.S. Mint Silver Barber Dimes (1892-1916), Uncirculated Silver Barber Dime US Coin Errors, Circulated Silver Barber Dime US Coin Errors, I listed a coin once and received email from a fellow who, with the help of his club, had extensive research on all mm locations for all dates - at least what they have identified so far. Where is the mint mark on a liberty dime? As illustrated in the picture below, Barber positioned the mint mark on the reverse of the coin, near the bottom just below the bow in the wreath. Grading old dimes is the key step to finding an accurate value of your coins. By the late 1880s, there were increasing calls for the replacement of the Seated Liberty design. Furthermore, he designed the obverses of the 1892 and 1893 Columbian Exposition Half Dollar, the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition Half Dollar, 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition Quarter Eagle, and 1916 and 1917 William McKinley Memorial Gold Dollars.
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