@UltraHighRelief said:
A key date Carson City Seated dime would have done much better than both of these pieces!
In hindsight, it looks like the right play in 2006 was to look at absolute rarity, not condition rarity or popularity/collector demand. Best buys would have been key CC dimes or low-pop Bust dimes. 1895-O is somewhere in between. 1916-D Merc had the highest population and the highest collector demand, but it appreciated the least.
The problem with those rare CC dimes is finding one you can buy for a reasonable price without waiting many years. Maybe you knew they were undervalued way back when, but who wants to sell a nice one while they're undervalued? By the time you find the right coin, it's 10 years later, and the coin already massively increased in price. Then you pay well over price guide for it as the icing on top.
Remedy: bust out your metal detector and head for Nevada.
Sorry, but I have never been a Barber coin fan.
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As someone else on this board often states, "Complain about this."
"
I restarted collecting coins about twenty years ago and this is probably the nicest coin in my collection even though I don't collect Barber Dime proofs. The the fields are a watery pale yellow to white mirrors and the red and blues just pop out at you. I didn't know coins existed like this, much less ever expected to own it. And yes, it's CAC.
I have an 1899 Proof Cameo Barber Dime that I like very much, but it is the exception. Most Barber coins are dull, boring and unexceptional. The design was functional. It struck up well, usually, and wore down decently. Artistically, the Barber coins are uninspiring.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
@UltraHighRelief said:
A key date Carson City Seated dime would have done much better than both of these pieces!
Can you give us examples? I know the CCs are expensive.
No disrespect; but, I find Seated dimes perflexing. Baby boomers grew up with Mercury dimes and on a rare occasion, a Barber dime. A Seated dime was never seen and didn't have the lure of Bust or earlier dimes. Part of the negative is cramming in a full figure Liberty on a small coin. Yet there is a strong group of collectors of Seated dimes. I wonder are these the greatest generation collectors who are nearing the end of their collecting days? In reviewing availability, there seem to be far more Seated dimes available in the market place and part of it is they range over more years than Barbers.
I would have bought the 1916-D back in 2006, for my nearly complete Mercury set. That set has remained unchanged for almost 20 years, with the '16-D and '21-P missing.
@rhedden said:
You are at a hypothetical coin show...
I would have hypothetically passed on both, then...not hypothetically...saved my money for 17 years and bought this, because I've wanted one since I was a kid -
I love to see another collector finally get a coin they've been admiring since childhood. In that scenario, it doesn't matter which coin appreciates more over time, or which coin becomes desirable to other collectors. It's about realizing a sense of fulfillment in the hobby. I did the same with one of my other hobbies (astronomy) by getting a couple of really nice telescopes and cameras that were financially out of reach when I was younger.
My childhood "dream coins" would have been the S-mint Lincolns from 1909 to the mid 1920s. As an East Coast collector, I seldom found S-mint wheat cents in circulation, even the later dates from the 1940s and 1950s. The early S-mints seemed unobtainable, except for 1919-S. I often wonder why I never bought a 1909-S VDB as an adult, or high-grade examples of the S-mint semi-keys.
@rhedden said:
The 1916-D Mercury dime is showing $14,000 in PCGS AU58 in the price guide ($15,000 in MS60, if one exists)
The 1895-O Barber dime is showing $25,000 in PCGS MS64 in the price guide
I own the 1895-O Barber dime in PCGS MS64. Bought it shortly after posting this thread in 2006.
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This was a neat blast from the past. The funny thing is that I saw this revived thread and starting reading it from the top. I did not realize that I was one of the original participants!
As I am reading, I instantly said, "hey, that's a no-brainer, the 95-O dime!" I guess I am consistent if anything. Here's my original response from December 4, 2006:
"1895-O for me. Way tougher than the 16-D and a better value."
I would have picked the barber over the Mercury. I've always like the Barber series more. As a kid dimes weren't even on my radar as I only thought about the s-vdb and 22 plain.
Picked this one up for my Dansco for around $500 to fill the last remaining hole.
It is not that life is short, but that you are dead for so very long.
@UltraHighRelief said:
A key date Carson City Seated dime would have done much better than both of these pieces!
Can you give us examples? I know the CCs are expensive.
No disrespect; but, I find Seated dimes perflexing. Baby boomers grew up with Mercury dimes and on a rare occasion, a Barber dime. A Seated dime was never seen and didn't have the lure of Bust or earlier dimes. Part of the negative is cramming in a full figure Liberty on a small coin. Yet there is a strong group of collectors of Seated dimes. I wonder are these the greatest generation collectors who are nearing the end of their collecting days? In reviewing availability, there seem to be far more Seated dimes available in the market place and part of it is they range over more years than Barbers.
There are far fewer date/mm collectors of Seated Dimes than there are of, say, Mercury Dimes. So clearly they're just not everyone's thing. Some Seated issues are scarce enough that it doesn't take a lot more dedicated date/mm collectors to drive up prices on them.
It is probably not a stretch to say there are more 1916-D Mercury Dimes known to exist than there are Seated Dimes struck at the San Francisco Mint within the first twenty years of its existence. I think for some Seated collectors that is part of the allure.
"You can't get just one gun." "You can't get just one tattoo." "You can't get just one 1796 Draped Bust Large Cent."
I try to stay away from coins that are popular because they are popular. The 16D isn't even scarce. I did buy a very nice 09SVDB some time back but eventually sold it when I sold the series. When I completed a nice set of mercs without the 16D I sold the set rather than simply write a big check. All type for me now, but completing series' was a heck of a lot lot of fun.
I managed to take some decent photos of the 1895-O dime with my 11 year old point-and-shoot camera, clip-on macro lens, and lightbox this morning. I'm not the best with coin photography, but these came out decent.
In my opinion, the coin is correctly graded at MS64. Besides what you can see in the photos, there are a few small lines on the cheek/neck and on the cap that keep it away from MS65. I used to have a top-5 Registry set of Barber dimes, so I have some experience grading them. This one was in the middle of the pack as far as MS64-graded coins go.
Edited to add: I just found a photo with an incandescent bulb, which shows luster better, but also amplifies any hairlines.
Comments
In hindsight, it looks like the right play in 2006 was to look at absolute rarity, not condition rarity or popularity/collector demand. Best buys would have been key CC dimes or low-pop Bust dimes. 1895-O is somewhere in between. 1916-D Merc had the highest population and the highest collector demand, but it appreciated the least.
Hindsight is 20/20 - but is it a stickered 20?
A stickered VF-20 1871 CC or 1874 CC dime!
Sunshine Rare Coins
sunshinecoins.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html
The problem with those rare CC dimes is finding one you can buy for a reasonable price without waiting many years. Maybe you knew they were undervalued way back when, but who wants to sell a nice one while they're undervalued? By the time you find the right coin, it's 10 years later, and the coin already massively increased in price. Then you pay well over price guide for it as the icing on top.
Remedy: bust out your metal detector and head for Nevada.
I have an 1899 Proof Cameo Barber Dime that I like very much, but it is the exception. Most Barber coins are dull, boring and unexceptional. The design was functional. It struck up well, usually, and wore down decently. Artistically, the Barber coins are uninspiring.
Can you give us examples? I know the CCs are expensive.
No disrespect; but, I find Seated dimes perflexing. Baby boomers grew up with Mercury dimes and on a rare occasion, a Barber dime. A Seated dime was never seen and didn't have the lure of Bust or earlier dimes. Part of the negative is cramming in a full figure Liberty on a small coin. Yet there is a strong group of collectors of Seated dimes. I wonder are these the greatest generation collectors who are nearing the end of their collecting days? In reviewing availability, there seem to be far more Seated dimes available in the market place and part of it is they range over more years than Barbers.
I would have bought the 1916-D back in 2006, for my nearly complete Mercury set. That set has remained unchanged for almost 20 years, with the '16-D and '21-P missing.
That's a nice 1895-O, rhedden!
I would have hypothetically passed on both, then...not hypothetically...saved my money for 17 years and bought this, because I've wanted one since I was a kid -
I love to see another collector finally get a coin they've been admiring since childhood. In that scenario, it doesn't matter which coin appreciates more over time, or which coin becomes desirable to other collectors. It's about realizing a sense of fulfillment in the hobby. I did the same with one of my other hobbies (astronomy) by getting a couple of really nice telescopes and cameras that were financially out of reach when I was younger.
My childhood "dream coins" would have been the S-mint Lincolns from 1909 to the mid 1920s. As an East Coast collector, I seldom found S-mint wheat cents in circulation, even the later dates from the 1940s and 1950s. The early S-mints seemed unobtainable, except for 1919-S. I often wonder why I never bought a 1909-S VDB as an adult, or high-grade examples of the S-mint semi-keys.
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Here ya go. Sorry for the delay, it's been at our host getting new plastic and a TrueView. Pics just posted today.
Nice coin for the grade!
The 1916-D in 58, as I prefer Mercs.
They are also more popular, in general.
Then, I'd save my money and trade up to a 63.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
>
This was a neat blast from the past. The funny thing is that I saw this revived thread and starting reading it from the top. I did not realize that I was one of the original participants!
As I am reading, I instantly said, "hey, that's a no-brainer, the 95-O dime!" I guess I am consistent if anything. Here's my original response from December 4, 2006:
"1895-O for me. Way tougher than the 16-D and a better value."
I would have picked the barber over the Mercury. I've always like the Barber series more. As a kid dimes weren't even on my radar as I only thought about the s-vdb and 22 plain.
Picked this one up for my Dansco for around $500 to fill the last remaining hole.
There are far fewer date/mm collectors of Seated Dimes than there are of, say, Mercury Dimes. So clearly they're just not everyone's thing. Some Seated issues are scarce enough that it doesn't take a lot more dedicated date/mm collectors to drive up prices on them.
It is probably not a stretch to say there are more 1916-D Mercury Dimes known to exist than there are Seated Dimes struck at the San Francisco Mint within the first twenty years of its existence. I think for some Seated collectors that is part of the allure.
"You can't get just one gun." "You can't get just one tattoo." "You can't get just one 1796 Draped Bust Large Cent."
I try to stay away from coins that are popular because they are popular. The 16D isn't even scarce. I did buy a very nice 09SVDB some time back but eventually sold it when I sold the series. When I completed a nice set of mercs without the 16D I sold the set rather than simply write a big check. All type for me now, but completing series' was a heck of a lot lot of fun.
I managed to take some decent photos of the 1895-O dime with my 11 year old point-and-shoot camera, clip-on macro lens, and lightbox this morning. I'm not the best with coin photography, but these came out decent.
In my opinion, the coin is correctly graded at MS64. Besides what you can see in the photos, there are a few small lines on the cheek/neck and on the cap that keep it away from MS65. I used to have a top-5 Registry set of Barber dimes, so I have some experience grading them. This one was in the middle of the pack as far as MS64-graded coins go.
Edited to add: I just found a photo with an incandescent bulb, which shows luster better, but also amplifies any hairlines.