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Collecting Barber Halves can be a Rewarding Challenge
General
The Barber Half Dollar, once know as the “Liberty Head Half”, was minted from
1892 to 1915 and consists of 73 regular issues, plus one major variety, the 1892
micro O. Barber halves enjoy a solid collector audience, but mostly in lower
grades (AG-VF). Except for a handful, most years and mints can be collected for
under $20 in G condition and are readily available. Most Barber Halves are in
lower grades due to being heavily circulated. Back in the day of Barber coinage,
the Barber coins were the main coins in use for the general population. A dime,
quarter or half dollar could buy quite a bit of supplies and people just could
not afford to save them. With a low relief, the coin wore well. Even many of the
more rare dates are heavily worn. In higher grades, the cost to assemble an
entire collection is simply to cost prohibitive for most collectors. Most BU
coins in MS-63 or better run well over $1,000 per coin.
Key/Semi Key Dates
There are no real keys in the Barber series. There are numerous semi-keys
though. There are 21 dates/mints that had production totals fewer than one
million and 3 dates had mintages under 200,000, the 1913 P, 1914 P and 1915 P.
Even though those totals are extremely low, compared to the 1909 S VDB that had
a mintage of 484,000 and will cost you over $700 in G4, the 3 “keys” in the
Barber series can be had for around $100 or less. Simply put, there are more
Lincoln Cent collectors driving up the price of Lincoln Keys than there are
Barber Half collectors. Also a little more expensive to obtain will be the
1892-O, 1892-S, 1893-S, 1897-O and 1897-S. Each one of these will set you back
at least $200 or more, but with a little looking around, they are readily
available.
Errors/Varieties
There are real significant errors within the Barber series. There is one well
known variety, the 1892 micro-O. The regular 1892-O only had a mintage of
390,000, making the variety very scarce. The small mint mark apparently came
from a quarter punch. In other words, the New Orleans mint used a tool to
produce the “O” that was for the smaller quarter. Apparently this was noticed
rather quickly and fixed as there are only a handful of micro-O’s known to
exist.
Proofs
The Barber series has a proof coin for each regular year of production,
although only a few thousand or less were produced for each year. In MS-65
condition, each coin will cost $3000 or more to obtain.
Key Coin Info
Designed by: Charles E. Barber Issue dates: 1892-1915 Composition: 0.900 part
silver, 0.100 part copper Diameter: 30.6 mm. Weight: 192.9 grains Edge: Reeded
Business strike mintage: 135,916,889 Proof mintage: 17,313
Conclusion
If you are looking to expand your collecting tastes, the Barber Half Dollar
series would make an excellent choice. Although coins of this era had low
mintages compared to todays mintages, there are readily available and completing
an entire collection in a lower grade can still give the serious collector a fun
challenge and still not be to hard on the wallet. With some hard work, a
complete collection, except for varieties, can be had for under $3000. Even less
if you are willing to accept lower grades and/or are diligent in searching for
the best deals. Despite their low mintage, believe this series remains under
valued.
As always, happy collecting!
Keith Scott has been a collector for over 30 years. His website has
US coins for sale. He also writes
Coin Collecting Articles for fun. Visit his websites for a history of US coins,
metal market updates and news about your favorite coins.
Want to discuss the Barber Half? Join the coin forum.
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