Opinions on this Barber Half MS65?

DesertLizard

In FUN auction by Heritage.

MS65? Stars 11 & 12 look very weak. May be a weak strike but still, I have seen better 64s.

If anyone has a nice MS65 Half, light to no toning, PM me!

berrydingle

you've seen better 64's?

WHERE?

FC57Coins

That looks like a pretty ding dang good 65 to me!

Frank

tjkillian

I would say it was a very nice MS-65.

Tom

NumisEd

65, 64, blah, blah. That's one sweet looking Barber, even though I don't collect modern coins. NICE!! Drop the technical hair splitting and just bid on that baby!

Bulldog

Dog97 Is the Barber Expert, Let us wait and See what he has to say!

Bulldog

IrishMike

Great looking coin, regardless of the two weakly struck stars. Looks 65 in my book.

stman

Unless it's camera flash, big line by the mouth and neck bothers me.
They might be very distracting for 65. Also many other light lines.

It may make 65, but for me I'm tough on the technical aspects.

ARCO

Looks like an exceptional half. The 1914 has the lowest mintage of the barber halves, a paltry 124,000 coins minted. It is very popular, but oddly is not terribly scarce in MS condition. That aside, it is very choice looking to me.

Tyler

relayer

If anyone has a nice MS65 Half, light to no toning, PM me!

I see Heritage has a nice one. It's in the picture you posted.

DesertLizard

Wow, am surprised so many liked this coin. Look at some of the past auctions for the 1914 and you will see lots of nicer MS65 ones. Shiny and clean but not worth 65 $, maybe a 64 but not in my cabinet. I guess i am picky. I accept flattened out stars at the ms62 grade for Seated $s & halves, too many full star Barbers to settle on this one.

michael

i DO NOT LIKE THIS UGLY DIPPED STRIPPED COIN AT ALL.................

now if you want to see a real ms 65 pcgs coin that is really nice for the grade besides being a fully
original non dipped or played with
thick skinned white coin and really rare as such

take a look!! this is the kind of coin you should be looking for!!!

sincerely michael

barberlover

this piece is obiousley dipped white, and while the scuff mark near the mouth and on the neck don't mean the coin is over graded, they are very disstractng. also most mint state barber quarters and halves have a large luster break around the portrait to the right from the top of the crown to the bottom of the nose, i've noticed this on some pieces graded as high as 67. they did not leave the mint that way! certainley on a gem graded coin grading 65 or better anything less than full unbroken luster should be unacceptable. if you prefer the minted yesterday look on coins 100 years old you should be aware most are not original [dipped white] and while p.c.g.s. claims not to be slabbing cleaned coins, they must be saying dipping has nothing to do with cleaning, which is nonsense. if i had scanning capabilities i would show you what real gem barbers should look like.

roadrunner

Barberlover,

While not a Barber specialist per se, I have owned and bid on numerous Barbers in my 25 years. I don't see any luster field breaks on this coin. IMO the area in the field near Liberty's crown to her nose has a different luster pattern due to the way the metal flowed during striking. All Barber halves will show this. Barber quarters have their unique pattern too. I always get a kick out of those little patches of swirls in the fields that defy or work against the cartwheel pattern. They were made like that.

As a rule most Barbers in MS63 and up have essentially full field luster. The 65's certainly due. Now this is decidedly not the case for MS65 seated and bust material where large luster breaks are routinely accepted by PCGS and NGC (not by me though). Barbers just didn't see the abuse that the earlier coins received. Walkers are the next step up. You almost never see a major luster break on those unless it's on a AU to MS62 coin.

Dipped or not this appear to be a decent coin. Even though I am pro-toning and pro-original, I can still appreciate a coin like this.

Just my 25 cents

Roadrunner

Dog97

Being dipped don't bother me much, at least until it turns brown.
I sure wouldn't want any more slide marks & ticks in the face for a 65.

barberlover

road runner, i just can't refrain from responding to your comment about luster flow. the change in flow on a full luster barber quarter or half is a small area next to the mouth to the right of the portrait. i wish i had scanning technology to show exactley what i'm referring to. barber coins are my special area of interest. all the barbers i own grading m.s. 64 and higher have no areas outlining the right side of the portrait where there is an absence of luster except a small area just off the mouth. if my barbers have no absense of luster from the top of the crown to the tip of the nose, than why would this 1914 be any different ? it is certainly true most barbers look the way the 1914 does for luster, but if i had scanning capabilities i could show you what mine show. i do have one way to prove my point. but it would take some time on your part. last year one of my barber quarters which have there metal flow change in the same area as the halves was purchased at a heritage long beach auction for 1150. it was an 1899 in p.c.g.s. 65. burnt yellow gold obverse/ coppery color and some grey on the reverse. in the hritage auction archive, the image for this coin is still up. unfortunatley, my 92s barber half in 66 also baught from heritage no longer has the image, but has its metal flow change i exactley the same area as the 1899 quarter in 65. you can look this up yourself if your a heritage member, or if you want me to do the typing work, i'd be glad to search the archives to let you know what auction to look this picture up in. let me know what you think. barberlover

1907Quarter

wow, has this coin stirred the audience. My 50c. worth:
1.odd strike with that very weak star-seems not to belong
2.really lustrous and I don't mind the dip
3.the marks near the mouth/strike bother me enough to give it a 64
4.why not bid 63/64 money if you truly like it? if it goes higher you can say you gave it your best

stman

Glad to see others noticed some of the same distractions on this coin that I did. I didn't mention about it being dipped as I try to give respect to folks that like that kind of thing. Like I mentioned earlier, it might make the grade of 65 but not something I would want to own.

airplanenut

While not an expert on dipped coins, I will offer my two cents on the issue...

The picture, to me, is a color photo converted into a grayscale image, where all colors are from white to black, and any mix of the two. While in real life it may be an unnatural color, the scan, unable to show subtle toning to (dis)prove originality, can be a problem in determining the technical grade versus the grade from eye appeal.

That, to me, seems to be a mostly smooth, mark-free coin, and from the scan, does look nice. Knowing that color may very well be hidden, as well as marks that could have only disappeared further as the light, turned gray, became more contrasted, I would have to see the coin in real life to make an accuracte decision of whether or not to purchase.

Michael- that is a gorgeous coin. I have a 1905-S 10c (I grade it AU5X) with similar gray toning all over- I simply love how that color looks, especially on Barbers.

Jeremy

Elcontador

1) You can't see hairlines in an image. On a coin of this grade, they definitely are a factor to consider.

2) You're going to be hard pressed to find any high end blast white Barber coinage which has not been dipped.

3) There is an indentation at the corner of the mouth which is normal re
how the coin is struck.

4) I would like to see the reverse; it is usually more mark free than the obverse of this series (though one of the eagle's claws and arrow feathers may be weakly struck).

5) There is a contact mark on the cheek & on the neck, but from the angle the image is presented, they appear to be minor.

*********************************************

If the reverse looks like the obverse, based on the caveats above, you will be hard pressed to find another 5 that's as nice as this one.
Barber Halves are VERY hard to find this nice. You could probably look at them for the next several years and no way will you find a 4 that's even close to this one.

This coin appears to be PQ, unless someone did something obscene to its reverse. I've seen 6s with weaker strikes than this one. In fact, if possible, compare this with some 6s; I think it would hold its own. If you think this 5 is not an attractive coin, I suggest you look at another series, as you are never going to be happy with any Barber Half you see in a 5 holder.

roadrunner

I agree with Elcontador on this one. Sorry Barberlover. The patterns you mention joins neatly into the swirl in front of her mouth.
There is another one at the back of her hair between stars 3 and 4 that flows cleanly into her head. These all have the same look, color, and texture. Luster flow lines. If we had the coin in person you'd see luster in those spots......this is where the luster is the most bright and reflects as seen in the scan as "gray."

There is just no way to get a luster break the size you state from here crown to her nose with a coin still being MS63 or better. That is unless someone took a cue tip and rubbed that area for many hours. It would take a lot of contact to wear that luster away and damage would also show on her face, forelock, outer fields etc.
Notice that the luster color in front of her face abruptly ends right at her portrait. Luster doesn't wear away like that. The break would be farther out into the field. If the luster break came right into the portrait, you'd have a coin with maybe 20% luster and it would be AU.

The cheek is the highpoint on this coin. The field is not going to lose luster in one isolated spot while her cheek stays clean and lustrous.
If you have field luster broken and degraded, you'll find rub on the coin too. That's why I say that most bust and seated coinage right up to MS63/64 grades (with wide luster breaks) are not technically UNC coins. They have been circulated and passed hand to hand. The services grade them as UNC to ensure a decent supply to market.

roadrunner

Dog97

I picked my computer monitor up, held it under the light & tilted and rotated it and the luster looks fine.

stman

<< <i>If you think this 5 is not an attractive coin, I suggest you look at another series, as you are never going to be happy with any Barber Half you see in a 5 holder. >>



I'll keep looking in the same series, this one I just don't find attractive. And you are probably right, IMO if I want what I call a 65 I have to buy a 66.