Barber Halves in XF

ARCO

I have been collecting barber halves seriously and aggressively for the past 3 years. My core set is VF-XF I buy nice, Original VF to XF coins for my set. After three years I am 2/3 of the way done and of my VF-XF set many are VF30 or VF35, but only 5 of the dates are in original XF. I love XF for the detail and price, but cannot find them.

I have seen most dates in harshly cleaned and Butt ugly XF, but have not seen the majority of dates in original XF. Oddly I have owned two wholly original XF40's 1904-S Barber halves considered to be the scarcest date in the set in most grades.

Where are all the nice original XF barber halves? These are $100 - $150.00 for the common dates and maybe $300-$500.00 for most of the semi and key dates.

Since I have been collecting (if I had the funds) I could have purchased the...

* 1913 Liberty Nickel with 5 known specimens.
* The 1933 St Gaudens with one legal specimen.
* thousands of $400-500 dollar ciculated XF 1909-S V.D.B's
* an 1894-S barber dime with 12 known or so, currently offered by David Lawrence.
* Hundreds of extremely scarce coins, patterns, rare errors etc...in the 25K and above range...
but have never seen a single 1893-S barber halve and about 60 other dates for that matter in beautiful original XF.

I could walk into my local dealer and plunk down 5K for a nice original 16-D merc in AU or a handsome 1856 flying eagle cent, but he couldn't offer me a single original XF barber in any date.

How the hell can that be??

Tyler

1913-D XF40 - one of the few found in XF

lordmarcovan

I've seen one or two nice ones. I had a lovely EF45 to AU50 1911 that SEGS graded AU53. It had light gold "champagne" colored toning. But 1911 is far from being a key date, I realize.

I was in the market for an MS type coin a while back and got a PCGS MS64, but returned it because I didn't think its eye appeal was up to my standards. It was spotty. If it had gone to NCS for curation, it would have been a nice piece. In the end, I gave up the search for a nice MS example and went for a proof. Those are hard as hell to find with any eye appeal, too, since the sulfites in the original wrappers toned most of them coal black or ugly black/green. I settled on the ex-Benson 1898 PR63 CAM you see in my icon. It was cleaned, of course, though professionally. (Most of the pre-1902 proofs have been, as a matter of necessity, according to Breen).It has started me down the road to ruination, perhaps, as I have caught the 19th century proof disease and intend to start collecting proof 2c pieces soon.

I think EF is a nice circulated grade and I totally believe your tales of woe and difficulty in finding nice examples. But the challenge is part of the fun, right?

I have kicked around the idea of building a circ Barber half set in a Dansco album for some time, just for fun. (Strong Good to Very Fine examples, mostly VG-F, I think.) I never got around to starting it, though.

Placid

You might find a couple here. Link

ARCO

Thanks Placid. The 1895 and 1896 (VF) look especially nice.

Tyler

OnlyBuffalos

JJ Teaparty presently has a few XF Barber Halves for sale. They are a little pricey but they are conservatively graded. I have found grade creep occuring in Barber halves recently but not yet at Teaparty. Population reports on these is low but I think most slabbed circulated Barber halves are in ANACS holders. Hope you find something you like.

DaveG

From what I can tell, nicer VF-XF Barber halves (and quarters for that matter) are like nicer VF-XF Walkers and Mercuries from the teens and twenties, that is, there aren't that many of them around and what ones there are tend to be held by their owners for several decades!

I've heard several coin dealers remark that they can always sell a nicer circulated Barber coin and once they do, it's off the market for decades.

I guess us younger guys just have to wait for the "old guys" to pass their collections on.

keets

being the slow study that i am, i've tried to pay attention at shows, clubs, shops, auctions and whenever any one speaks i SOMETIMES listen, and barbers in true XF are tough. i'm considering a date run in quarters or half dollars but like others have said they seem to be few and far between. probably easier to find in AU55-58. it's a design i've warmed slowly to, mainly because i lean towards a brighter coin. but it's a sweet design when the detail is all there. i guess that's why the XF's are held onto.

al h.

Dave99B

Tyler -

I hear you, brother....

I've had a similar problem with the Barber quarters (in VF). I would estimate I was 2/3rds complete after about 6 years. Been working on the last 1/3 for 10 more years. I haven't added a single coin in 2 years. I have 16+ years into the set, with 2 dates to go (13-S, 01-S). Frustrating at times, I must admit. But oh, what a nice set to behold!

In all that time, I have never passed on an original, uncleaned VF example that I needed. I have been a strong buyer. Price has not been an issue. If it's available, I buy it. Period. Have I passed on pieces? Yes, lots of them, but only because they were too "bright" to match my set, which tends to have brown/grey toned pieces. I'm pretty picky when it comes to originality.

The two VF 01-S quarters I've seen were both certified (PCGS, ANACS), but both were heavily cleaned. Those two were just not destined for my set.

Just like the halves, nice VF-XF examples just don't seem to exist. The dates in the $100 - $350 price range (according to the greysheet) are NOT AVAILABLE at three times that. If they were, I'd be done. I have the cash, but can't find the coins. Maybe I shoud collect modern quarters???

When (if) I get the set done, I'm going to swing by a few coin local coin shops just to see the look on the dealers faces when I ask them if they're interested in buying the set. But I ain't selling!!!

Dave

01S, 13s --- less in Seattle