Barber Dime Basics?

moursund

Hi all,

I've been looking at Barber halves for a while, but now starting on the dimes.
I'm a bit surprised that the key dates are mostly raw on ebay. Is this because they generally won't straight grade, or because they are fakes?

If I'm buying raw circulated Barber dimes, are there particular "tells" i should watch for?

One thing surprises me a bit. Apparently a 'vg08' Barber dime doesn't need to show 3 letters of LIBERTY.

(Edited, as I had put "coinfacts" instead of "photograde")

How does this "vg" example below look, compared to PCGS photograde?
eBay example:

.
.
Photograde

jesbroken

It compares very much like a photograde example of VG08.

Jim

fastfreddie

I filled my Whitman up fairly fast with ebay examples. I wasn't too picky until it came to better dates. I mainly bought AG-VG. My 95-o is VG10ish, maybe fine and was the biggest spend for abound $500 raw. Other than the keys, but unless they are high end it isn't worth slabbing IMO unless you are worried about counterfeits.

erwindoc

I am nearing completion with the set myself. It has been fun and I have set the bar intentionally low, so I could complete it using G/VG coins. I might have an AG in there too. It matches my barber half set very nicely! I would not trust raw key date coins on eBay at all!

Mr_Spud

Here’s a couple of pages of Mrs_Spud’s Barber dime album. She went for the circ. cam. look whenever possible. Her set is complete, but the 1895-O in the album is a duplicate 1895-P and her actual 1895-O is in one of those old little white ANACs slab. Avoid the ones with staple scratches, these little coins are like staple magnets. It took her about 4 years to put the set together, she completed it about 2009 with just a few upgrades over the years since then. She scoured every coin show and coin shop in the the tristate area of NC, SC and GA for those 4 years toting that album around looking for coins that matched the set.

rec78

@moursund said:
Hi all,

I've been looking at Barber halves for a while, but now starting on the dimes.
I'm a bit surprised that the key dates are mostly raw on ebay. Is this because they generally won't straight grade, or because they are fakes?

I think that it is because most collectors want the low grades for their album sets. No, most of the low grade barber dimes on ebay are not fakes, even the key dates. But if you want the security of knowing that they are genuine, just buy the keys in PCGS, NGC, or ANACS slabs.

ricko

Nice sets here.... I have not collected Barber dimes... Mercs have always been my dime interest. Cheers, RickO

Walkerguy21D

From when I was collecting/dealing/hoarding all three series, the dimes were far more available in mid grades than the quarters or halves. And many of the better dates were still raw. That’s been over 10 years ago though.

CoinHoarder

Here is an example of a G04 and G06 Barber Dime. Maybe somebody could post an example of a VG08?
1895-S 10c PCGS Good-4

1913-S 10c PCGS Good-6:

DisneyFan

@rec78 said:

@moursund said:
Hi all,

I've been looking at Barber halves for a while, but now starting on the dimes.
I'm a bit surprised that the key dates are mostly raw on ebay. Is this because they generally won't straight grade, or because they are fakes?

I think that it is because most collectors want the low grades for their album sets. No, most of the low grade barber dimes on ebay are not fakes, even the key dates. But if you want the security of knowing that they are genuine, just buy the keys in PCGS, NGC, or ANACS slabs.

It seems to me the major concern is "cleaned." Can one readily tell whether a Barber Dime has been cleaned? Or does one really need a slab? I have in mind the VF grades.