I've decide that VF-XF Barber dimes are hard to find...

LincolnCentMan

....that arnt messed with. Building a set must be a serious pain, not b/c of the price, but because of the difficulty in finding specific dates that are origional. Geez......

-David

tombr

Not many listed online and tough at coin shows too!

Tyler1924S

I've come to the same conclusion. When you do find them, they're a bargain...certainly, as compared to Buffalo Nickels of the time with similar mintages.

TheRaven

I would say Barber coins above the slick back AG/G grades and non messed with properly graded condition are all a pain in the butt.....

dogwood

If your thread's title said Barber Halves instead of Dimes it would be 3 pages long by now. Quarters (stupid "big three" money) and Dimes (too small) are just not popular with the folks. Dimes are hard to find in midgrade and a complete set of such is a huge achievement for not much money, relative to scarcity.

LoveMyLiberty

David,

I've got around 25 Barber dimes in G / VG if you're interested , 2 Barb 50c in a bit higher grade
and 15 Liberty 5c in VG to VF. I realize they are lower grades than you are looking for, but the mid
and higher grades are very hard to locate now, as folks are taking them to dealers to sell.

USCGCraig

Took me 7 1/2 years to put my complete PCGS XF45 Barber Half set together. The coins are just not available.

MrSpud

Here's MrsSpud's set. It was very difficult, but fun, helping her find the coins. She is still upgrading it.

Casey

Nice set Mrspud!

mr1931S

These were hard to find 25 years ago when I started assembling my set. Took me about 10 years to complete this set in VF with a few better.

I can imagine its almost hopeless finding these now.

boyhowdy

I am probably the biggest Barber dime booster there is. I
build a complete set every year to frame and hang on the wall.
I put together about half of a slabbed 63+ set between 1998 and 2003.
Sold the set and bought a new Dodge with the profits. I've completed
another set in XF+ and that is TOUGH. The 1896-O in untouched XF+
is harder than Chinese calculus. I had an offer of 150% of CDN bid for
one and had zero takers over 2 years. I finally found one by buying a 1896
Phillie on the 'bay that turned out to be an "O" mint!

Hints to finding better circulated Barber dimes -- (mostly aimed at eBay)
* Don't restrict your search to the category of Barber dimes. Click the
world-wide button to include foreign posters.
* Anticipate newbie confusion and don't forget to check "Dimes, Other".
* Check the major foreign eBay sites often. I keep browser windows open
at a translation site and a currency convertor site. However, you can translate most
foreign language eBay pages by right-clicking the page you want translated.
* Before bidding on a foreign site ask the seller how you can pay for the auction. I ask
if they accept US cash. That almost always works.
* Refine how you look at poor scans. THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING YOU
CAN DO. I dump lousy scans into Paint where I blow them up and use the "Invert Colors"
option. This works great for dark scans (old copper too) and helps decipher small mm's.
* Open a dialog with smaller sellers who post nice dimes. Many will accept want lists and/or
give you a look at what just came in.

I'll see if my scanner is going to act right today and try to post a scan of my XF+ set.

Good hunting!
Steve

boyhowdy

Here's my (mostly) XF+ toner set. Took about 3 years with 1-3 hours daily of searching
(mostly) on eBay. Prettiest coin, IMO, is the 1902-O. It is a darker bulls-eye that came
out of a complete North Carolina set that had resided for 50 years in a Wayte Raymond
loose-leaf binder. Toughest coin is the 1896-O. There is maybe one slabbed XF or so
per year on eBay. The 1905-O is an AU micro-O, probably the secondest hardest dime to
locate nice. A few were purchased in slabs -- '92-S is NGC 62, '95-O is SEGS 61 and the '95
Phillie is PCGS PR63.

Enjoy. Steve.

yellowjacket

Excellent thread; however, I interpret a difficult set to put together as a thrilling hunt and not a pain in the butt. What satisfaction you all must have when you have assembled such wonderful sets! What a thrill you must experience each time you locate that "hard to find" coin.

Thank you all for sharing,
Garrow

boyhowdy

Sorry about the pic. How do I post a scan bigger than 50K?

Steve

TheRaven

The thrill can certainly get into the point of frustration, that is why I think you need some other areas of collecting to look at.....

Typically at shows I look for my halves and quarters and if nothing there I go to 1 oz silver bullion coins of the world and/or anything cool that I find.....

Darrell

Finding fully original attractive PCGS 67 Barber dimes is also very difficult. This is true even on the common dates. I recently purchased two of these and feel that I was lucky to get them. In researching 67's, I found that most of them were either dipped out white or just not attractive. Finding Barber quarters and halves that meet these standards is even harder. If you find one , it will be expensive. You may want to think twice before you pass it up, as it may be awhile before you find another one.