1897-S Barber Half

TheRaven

Question for all ya Barber people.....

Looking over some barbers yesterday for my VG half Set, which I added the 1908 & 1903-S yesterday for $10 & $11 each.....

They had a 1897-S in solid VG with a nice overall eye appeal. Nice original looking, but nothing specatular.....

They wanted $230 for this.....

Thoughts on this, it seems expensive to me.....

ARCO

$230.00 sounds about right for a retail price. However, I would make sure it has full rims both sides, three letters of LIBERTY and that it looks nice. Some VG Barbers have much of the laurel leaves worn away, and I avoid those. I like the VG coins with nearly a full laurel wreath. On Ebay at least, a nice VG 1897-S is maybe a one in six month occurance.

Tyler

TheRaven

It had full solid rims with the bumps of the dentils evident.....

There where LI and TY evident in the lettering.....

ARCO

If your building a nice VG set, the keys 92-0 & S, 93-S, 96-S, 97-0 & S are going to be the ones you want to get stellar and beautiful examples. As you know VG barbers in almost every date minus the ones listed above, are fairly easy to find (The 1903 is pretty damn hard in VG10 as is the 1894). If the coin looks great to you, and is solid VG, it sounds reasonable to me.

Tyler

veryfine

Some VG Barber can look very attractive and might have the overall look of a Fine. I like VG Barbers that have good wreath and face details. Just a letter or two short of Fine seems like a great value.

TomB

In my experience the '93-S and '97-S will be the toughest in the set to obtain in original, problem-free and attractive VG and better grades. I also look for details in the laurel wreath and as much originality as possible. My own set of F-EF coins only has an F12 for the '97-S but it is essentially perfect and I would not trade it. The price does not seem out of line for a nice coin of this date. Here is my F12, compression of the image to make it fit the restraints of file size has made it look a little grainy, but it has all the letters of Liberty at least half way complete and is a bit darker than the image suggests.

TheRaven

I'll have to get it some more thought I see.....

Nothing better then expect consultants at the tip of your keyboard.....

MFH

Raven,

I also agree with Tyler ... the ask price isn't out of line provided its problem free.

Good luck. Compare it to Tom's F12 ( nice coin by the way), there shouldn't be too significant a difference between the VG and the F12.

Let us know how you make out.

TheRaven

Pictures of my 1908 & 1903-S purchases yesterday.....

I would say the 1897-S is very similiar to these coins..... Color wise the 1908.....

Dog97

$230 for a VG seems a bit on the high side to me too. It would have to look almost as nice as the one Tom posted (which is a just above borderline lower FINE, IMO) for me to pay $230 for it.
Here's an example of an ANACS G-6 97-S that I sold & the G-6 is a little "iffy" if you ask me. The obv looks ok for a G-4 but the wear on the rev rims is AG and I can't see calling it G-4, never mind G-6, with merged rims.

TheRaven

If they are calling that G-6 wow, one I was looking at is VG-8 easy.....

Glad to see somebody thinks that might be a bit high.....

ranshdow

sorry wrong thread

erwindoc

Wow, this is an old one!

amwldcoin

Old but nice to see some old posts by MFH! Still a tough coin BTW!

TheRaven

Dug up an old thread here. Still slowly working on this set

Couple of kids slow things down