Barber Quarter Newp
Desert Moon
Posts: 5,907 ✭✭✭✭✭
I managed to find a second BQ to add to my collection here in 2022. This one has an interesting story. A few weeks ago, a well-known west coast dealer had a near complete set of BQ's in mostly circulated grades listed on his website. He had not gone live yet so one could not order them yet. But I spent some time researching them out bc he listed the cert #'s. Some of them were CAC and I was able to find images online of some of these. I narrowed it down to 4 and was ready to click on the Add to Cart for each when they went live - even tho' for one of them I had not found images but assumed I could eval the image when it went live. 2 of them were 58's that would upgrade dupes in my Registry sets for Barbers, 2 of them would be new additions I had not obtained yet.
So then I saw several Long Beach Show Report's that mentioned that collection was at the dealers table and for sale. I thought dang, those CAC ones are going to be gone and the previews removed after LB.
So then a few days after LB, they finally went live on the dealer's website but with no images. I saw all four of the CAC ones I was interested in were still available! So I added all of them to cart and paid, trusting that the one I had not seen was great bc it was CAC. Fast forward a week, normally this dealer ships out the next day and I had not got tracking from him yet. I was scanning ebay and what do I see? Two of the 4 I bought were listed by another dealer! So I finally contacted the original dealer and he told me he cancelled my payment because all 4 were sold at LB, and I bought them b4 he could remove the listings. Alas.
Well the two that were on ebay were a revelation because I did not like the one I had not seen the image of yet (even tho CAC), so glad I had not purchased it with the previous dealer. But the other, which I had seen via auction images and liked, I bid on and won. Image below and added to my registry sets.
The 1903-s is middle of the road in terms of certified population for BQ's, not the most common but not one of the rare SF mint ones. David Lawrence in his book notes that these 'come very nice - great luster and freshness, good strike making the MS ones some of the nicest coins in the series'. This 53 certainly is great for the grade - nice cartwheel while rotating under the light for both sides, solid strike, and a good patina - khaki on the obverse, some very subtle lavender shows up under specific directions to the light on the eagle on the reverse, good wholesome and solid coin. As you can see, grunge and a black spot on the reverse is consistent with this example not being largely messed with. The black spot could be considered as detracting, as is a pin prick in the left obv field, both make me wonder if that is what brought it down to a 53 bc otherwise everything points to 55. I am glad someone did not try to remove that black spot as CAC is very good at finding suspect areas where this kind of thing has occurred and reject coins for it. So this looks to be fairly unmessed with example of an AU BQ, which is how I like them.
In either case, happy to add a great coin to my Barber Quarter set and registries, I will keep slowly adding when I find great examples and post them here.
Best, SH
Comments
Interesting story, and I believe I know the dealer.
Bottom line…I love your new CAC 03-S. Tough to locate un-messed with. Beautiful example!
Dave
No complaints with this one! Nice looking, un-dipped, lower mintage Barber. I like it. 1903-s known for having a good strike. Mintage=1,036,000
Beautiful piece and one I'd be proud to own. I have a full set, in lower grades, but upgrading has proven to be quite a task.
Tom
That's a lovely BQ! i really like the obverse toning and luster on both sides! I'm continuing with a low grade set that I began over 50 years ago.
You have a good eye. Every coin I see you post is real nice.
Great story of perseverance and detective work. The 1903-S is much harder, in my experience, than most folks realize. Yours appears to have significant amounts of retained luster, especially on the reverse, and that bodes well for the quality of the surfaces. Nice work!
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Great, interesting story.
Thanks for taking the time.
Great pick up
BHNC #203
Very nice acquisition - and pictures. Interesting story - I enjoy backstories often posted here about coin acquisitions and special finds at shows or online. Cheers, RickO
Glad that the research worked out for you. Nice pick up
Thanks for all of the kind comments folks. I will try to keep reporting my new finds and provide info about them. I think it is good to tell stories and provide details about what we collect, I would encourage more folks here to do this....
Best, SH