An *incredible* Barber quarter
Sunnywood
Posts: 2,683 ✭
This magnificent 1898-O Barber quarter came out of the Gene Gardner collection.
PCGS agreed with the NGC MS68 grade, and the coin is now looking magnificent in a PCGS MS68 holder, CAC.
But really, in this case the coin speaks for itself. Color, luster, eye appeal, wow factor !!!!
(A word on strike ... yes, it's a good strike for a '98-O, despite the eagle's talons etc.)
When I sold the Sunnywood Barber quarter collection to the Pogues,
I had a lovely original PCGS MS67 of this date, which until last week was pop 1/0 at PCGS.
PCGS agreed with the NGC MS68 grade, and the coin is now looking magnificent in a PCGS MS68 holder, CAC.
But really, in this case the coin speaks for itself. Color, luster, eye appeal, wow factor !!!!
(A word on strike ... yes, it's a good strike for a '98-O, despite the eagle's talons etc.)
When I sold the Sunnywood Barber quarter collection to the Pogues,
I had a lovely original PCGS MS67 of this date, which until last week was pop 1/0 at PCGS.
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
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(which is only about 10x as important as the '98-O quarter !!!)
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Sunnywood's Barber Quarters (Retired)
Indisputably, Sunnywood is a connoisseur who has owned some incredible coins.
Back on 02/19/14, my column indicated that, Although I have not yet seen a majority of his coins, my preliminary view is that Gardner does have the all-time greatest sets of business strike Liberty Seated Dimes, Liberty Seated Quarters, Barber Quarters, and Liberty Seated Half Dollars! Plus, Gardner has one of the three all-time finest sets of Liberty Seated Half Dimes and one of the five all-time finest sets of business strike Barber Dimes.
When I actually viewed many of Gene's Barber Quarters in June, I found them to be even more impressive than I thought they would be. I look forward to writing a review of his entire set of Barber Quarters, at some point.
I have already written about other appealing coins in this collection.
I hope that Sunnywood builds additional epic sets. He can serve as a role model for other connoisseurs. Collectors who cannot afford superb gem coins can buy coins of lower numerical grades that feature attractive natural toning. A collector need not have a lot of money to acquire classic U.S. coins that are very much original and have naturally toned in a pleasing manner.
[L=Natural Toning, Dipping and Coin Doctoring, Part 3]http://www.coinlink.com/News/us-coins/the-basis-for-collecting-and-appreciating-naturally-toned-coins-part-3/">The Incredible Eugene Gardner Collection, part 3: Stunning, Classic U.S. Silver Coins
Many Exciting, Classic U.S. coins are not Expensive
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Dave
My War Nickels https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/nickels/jefferson-nickels-specialty-sets/jefferson-nickels-fs-basic-war-set-circulation-strikes-1942-1945/publishedset/94452
Thank you for sharing.
All the Barber quarters you got out of the Gardner sale were fab! But your old 98-O in 67 was to die for.
Are we going to put the set together again? With the Gardner and Pogue coins coming to market, it could be done in the highest grades yet!
I do miss the auctions we participated in, and the friendly competition. And I may dabble in the series again, when your old set hits the auction block.
I have only 1 quarter left from my set, and 1 Half-the 1892 micro-0. I would love to own the 09-O quarter in 66 again.
dale
I suspect the New Orleans Mint coins suffer from a weaker strike due to lower striking pressures to extend the life of the dies. I understand the branch Mints had a tough time acquiring dies from Phillie most of their history.
Doug,
While at FUN earlier this month, a dealer friend
came by and mentioned "wait till you see the 1898-O
Quarter I just bought." His collection is approximately
50% complete and he does have great taste, as his set
is rife with beautiful toners.
He doesn't really read the US Coin Forums, but I have
to forward this thread to him.
Congratulations on picking up that amazing coin. Knowing
a few of the others you bought, I would imagine your "War
Chest" took a very deep hit.
Dale,
Did you keep the 98-O in PC 65 that we traded ownership of
three years ago ? I thought was a great coin as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
I seriously considered going all out at Gardner on the Barber quarters, to put the set together again, once I heard that the Pogues might be selling. No question, a combination of coins from Gene's collection and my set (which of course also included a number of your best coins), would be nearly the best imaginable Barber quarter set. Arguably Gene's is the best set of MS Barber quarters ever done, and perhaps mine was #2. I tended to put a little more emphasis on pretty color & eye appeal than highest grade.
However, it is not really clear when or whether the Pogues will sell, or what they will sell. Their core collection is the bust-era coinage, and the gold. That was Mack's (Pogue Sr.) focus. But Brent (Pogue Jr.) may have ownership of some things on his own, and he is truly a lifetime passionate collecting addict ... I can't believe he will let it all go. It's not clear which one of them, or both, bought the Barber quarters from me (it was through an agent). Brent does have some things on his own, I believe. So, it might be years before my coins come back on the market. Given that, and given that many of the Gardner coins were in very high grade, but not all were the look that I most prefer, I decided NOT to try to put the set together again ... but, I do love the series, so I decided instead to just buy and enjoy a small selection of the best of the best ... coins that have it all.
Sunnywood
Sunnywood's Rainbow-Toned Morgans (Retired)
Sunnywood's Barber Quarters (Retired)
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
<< <i>What was it with the New Orleans mint that they couldn't figure out how to strike up stars properly. Same problem on seated quarters 50 years before this. >>
I suspect that it may have had something to do with the amount of beveling on the upset planchets. They weren't moving the metal far enough in from the edge of the planchet, which affected the metal flow near the stars. I know this was so on some off-center Morgan dollars I once had the chance to examine where you could tell the mint mark and see the undisturbed part of the planchet. However, I only saw dollars, so the fractional pieces could be different.
TD
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Since you sold most of your coins before jumping back in recently, what is the coins(s) that you miss most? I always admired your passion for that early gold proof set you owned, 1874? And could "feel your pain" when you discovered it was dipped and stripped. Also, the Eliasberg 1893-S Morgan.
<< <i>That is a truly amazing coin. >>
I'll trade any coin in my current collection for it. Deal?
SethChandler, thanks for the kind words. There are a lot of coins I miss !!! If I had unlimited resources, I would have been happy to keep them all and continue collecting. Alas, we all have our limits. The gold proof set was 1877. There was also a toned silver & minor 1877 set that went with it. I have had complete high-grade sets of Indian $2.50, shield and Lib nickels, the Morgans, Barber quarters, proof two cents, proof shield nickels, and many type coins, shield nickel die varieties and patterns, a run of beautifully toned proof seated dollars (1855-1873), and so on. There were so many specific coins that I loved, such as an 1885 Lib nickel NGC MS66* (first Lib nickel ever to get a star, beautiful color, have never seen it again), a proof 1866 Rays nickel NGC PF67* CAM with gorgeous peripheral rainbow color, the Amon Carter 1840 proof dollar, a 1796 quarter in PCGS AU58 with wild rainbow color, an 1858 proof dollar NGC PF65 with lilac, lavender and cobalt blue toning, the 1877 proof $20 ex Garrett-Trompeter NGC PF64 CAM (now NGC PF65 UCAM with all the color gone), my 1894-S and 1895 Barber quarters, both incredible and undergraded, many of the rainbow Morgans, and so many more ...
Unfortunately, many of my coins and sets were dispersed before digital imaging, Registry etc. I wish I at least images of all of them !!! It's nice to be able to scroll through the color images of those sets for which I did have them.
But, I enjoyed owning them all, and am excited to find new treasures to own going forward. I will share a few from time to time on the Boards here!
I am not pursuing any particular series now, but am enjoying buying beautiful coins.
Best,
Sunnywood
Sunnywood's Rainbow-Toned Morgans (Retired)
Sunnywood's Barber Quarters (Retired)
Sunnywood's Rainbow-Toned Morgans (Retired)
Sunnywood's Barber Quarters (Retired)
<< <i>Incredible indeed. Magnifique, aussi.
I'll trade any coin in my current collection for it. Deal? >>
I'll trade ALL coins in my current collection for it. Deal?
TDN undoubtedly knows more about it than I do !!
Haha no trading yet, I only just got back !!
Sunnywood's Rainbow-Toned Morgans (Retired)
Sunnywood's Barber Quarters (Retired)
Colonel Jessup bought the gem 98-0 out of Eliasberg which as I recall graded out as NGC MS68. Is this the same coin? Pop reports only show one MS68 at both services which would suggest it's the same coin...unless someone
downgraded the Eliasberg coin (or I have it wrong).
98-0 was always one of my favorite sleeper dates (followed by the 00-0 and 01-0). Maybe I was drawn to the 98-0 because all 3 denominations for that year are very tough in gem and never got the notoriety that the 96-0 and 97-0 dates. Mintage figure bias could be in play as well.
I don't have my Eliasberg catalog handy, but I do have an extensive Barber quarter file. My records show that the 1898-O in Eliasberg was lot 1565, which realized $12100 at the April 1997 sale. I also show that the Eliasberg coin was later in the Hugon Collection as PCGS MS66; Heritage, Hugon Collection (1/12/05:4119, $11,212.50). This is not that coin. None of the Eliasberg quarters looked anything like this.
Gene Gardner had 19 or 20 of the Eliasberg Barber quarters in his set, so one could really get a good sense of the "look" of the Eliasberg coins. They weren't all identical obviously, but they had a certain commonality and range of appearances. This '98-O is wildly outside that range. [Edited to add: Heritage gives a provenance for the Gardner coin as ex Bowers & Merena Rarities Sale, 8/1998, as NGC MS68.]
The only pics I have of the 1904-O are from Coin Facts, which images the coins in the holder, so you get the scuffs, and the images aren't as sharp. In order to get a True View image, the coin has to come out of the holder. I'm not ready to do that just yet, but eventually I will do it.
Sunnywood
Sunnywood's Rainbow-Toned Morgans (Retired)
Sunnywood's Barber Quarters (Retired)
2 quarters you have. Sometimes I get the 98-0 to 01-0 quarters confused as they are all quite desirable.
Glad you came back! I look forward to more photos
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