Barber Quarter

The Barber Quarter was issued between 1892 and 1916 and has a current melt value of $14.38

As part of the aftermath of the Coinage Act of 1890, the silver coins, the dime, quarter and half dollar, were all redesigned. These designs, were done by then U.S. Mint Chief Engraver, Charles E. Barber for whom this series of coins is named. The Barber series of coins was issued from 1892 until 1916, although no half dollars were minted in 1916. The Barber Quarter was replaced in 1916 by the Standing Liberty Coin when the Barber Quarter was “retired” after a 25 year run.

There became a consistent public call to replace the Seated Liberty Quarter in the late 1880’s since that series of coinage had been in use since the 1830’s. Coin specifications were established over the previous years by government regulation such as the Coinage Act of 1834 and the Coinage Act of 1872. This meant the Barber Quarter was 90% silver and 10% copper with a diameter of 24.3 millimeters and a weight of 6.3 grams.

The Barber Quarters were minted at Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco as well as Denver. However, production of Barber Quarters from the Denver Mint didn’t begin until 1906 and production at the New Orleans Mint ceased in 1909 when it was shut down. While common Barber Quarters in Good condition run in the $10 to $20 range for commons, there are notable exceptions with additional value, mostly due to low mintages. These are the 1897-S and 1914-S which run in the $70 range and the 1896-S in the $1000 range for Good, the 1913-S in the $1700 range and, of most note, the 1901-S in the $6000 range for Good and a huge step to around $13,000 for Very Good. The reason for the majorly increased value for the 1901-S is due to the fact that only 72,664 Barber Quarters were minted in San Francisco that year.

Barber Dimes

The Barber dime was first minted in 1892 as part of the barber coinage. The dime is 90% silver and has a melt value of $5.75 Melt price live and based off current silver price of $79.55  oz.

After the passage of the Coinage Act of 1890, most coins used for circulation in the U.S. were redesigned and standardized. After a public competition for an artistic design provided no suitable candidates, the Director of the Mint, Edward O. Leech directed Chief Mint Engraver Charles E. Barber to make the design. After much discussion and several redesigns later, one design was approved by President Harrison and his cabinet in November, 1891. The Barber Dime began production in January, 1892 and continued through 1916 when they were replaced by the Winged Liberty (aka Mercury) Dime.

According to government legislation (the Coinage Act of 1837), the metal content of the Barber Dime consisted of 90% silver and 10% copper. A Barber Dime weighs 2.5 grams and is 17.91 millimeters in diameter. Once the weight of many coins was standardized in 1872, these specifications became the standard for silver coinage until 1965.

Over 504 million Barber Dimes produced over it’s 1892 to 1916 production run from the Denver, San Francisco, Philadelphia and New Orleans Mints, the Barber Dime is quite prolific in collectors circles. Common pricing for most in poor to even good condition is under $100 with poor coins being as low as $5. There are few exceptions to this with the 1893/2 overstrike and the 1895 micro O being highly notable. The most notable is the 1894-S of which only 24 were minted as gifts from the Superintendent of the San Francisco Mint to notable bankers. 3 of these were given to his daughter who spent one on ice cream (which later may have been found in a junk box in Gimbel’s Department Store) and 2 of which she sold in the 1950’s. The last one of the 1894-S Barber Dimes to sell at auction went for $1.9 million in 2007.

Barber Half Dollar

The Barber Half Dollar was issued between 1892 and 1916 and was part of the “Barber Coinage”. Barber coinage consists of Barber Dimes, Barber Quarters, and Barber Dimes. It sounds confusing to me but that’s they way they rolled back then..get it rolled…coin rolled…Hehe. The Barber Half Dollar was also called the Liberty Head Half Dollar and is 90% silver coinage with a melt value of $28.77.

More About the Barber Half Dollar

Due to public dissatisfaction with the Seated Liberty coinage in use since the 1830’s and the passage of the Coinage Act of 1890 which stated a coin could be replaced by the Mint after a coin had been issued for 25 years, a new series of coins including the dime, quarter and half dollar were designed and issued. The Barber Half Dollar, named for designer and Chief Mint Engraver Charles E. Barber. Although discussions and design competitions were held throughout the late 1880’s, none of the artistic designs entered was deemed acceptable. This led then Mint Director Edward O. Leech to bring the design project in-house.

Although there were many disagreements between Leech and Barber which led to multiple design modifications, a final design for the Barber coins (dime, quarter and half dollar) were approved by President Harrison and his cabinet in October, 1891. Public reviews for the new coins were mixed with some critics panning the coins while others gave them high marks for classic design, the coins began circulation in 1892 and continued production until 1916 when the Barber Half Dollar was replaced by the Walking Liberty Half Dollar.

Since government legislation gave parameters for coinage, the Barber Half Dollar adhered to those standards. This meant it weight 12.5 grams and consisted of 90% silver and 10% copper and were 30.31 millimeters in diameter. Overall circulation totaled over 213 million Barber Half Dollars from the Denver, San Francisco, New Orleans and Philadelphia Mints. While this does make it a fairly common coin, a Barber Half Dollar from any year in virtually any condition holds a value much higher than silver spot value and certain years/mintages including the 1896-O, 1897-O and 1904-S are exceptionally rare and command an extremely high premium, especially those in Very Fine and Uncirculated conditions.