I'm looking to start a certified collection of Barber Dimes. Need Advice...

Here are my targets...
AU - MS for all common dates.
AG3 or better for 1895-O: Comments on this?
Semi Keys (1901-S, 1903-S, 1895, 1896-S, etc.): F10 or better. Thoughts?
ANACS/PCGS/NGC/ICG - any opinions on these TPGs would be greatly appreciated.
Best price guides?
Best On-line dealers (besides e-Bay)?
I'm looking for problem free, non-dark, gray patina for cirulated grades. I'm avoiding ugly toned specimens. I'm not looking for varieties.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
-mark
BTW I'm drifting away from moderns.
AU - MS for all common dates.
AG3 or better for 1895-O: Comments on this?
Semi Keys (1901-S, 1903-S, 1895, 1896-S, etc.): F10 or better. Thoughts?
ANACS/PCGS/NGC/ICG - any opinions on these TPGs would be greatly appreciated.
Best price guides?
Best On-line dealers (besides e-Bay)?
I'm looking for problem free, non-dark, gray patina for cirulated grades. I'm avoiding ugly toned specimens. I'm not looking for varieties.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
-mark
BTW I'm drifting away from moderns.

0
Comments
The best dates bring over "ask" dealer to dealer. Don't expect to buy a 95-0 at 10% over bid. I just paid a lot over "ask" for a VF25 1895-0 and was glad to get it. A matched set makes more sense to me. I see no reason to go to mint state on any of these as they may be tougher to find in "gem EF." A nicely matched F-EF set is very presentable. If you run into duplicate on key dates, keep 'em.
They can always be bartered off for the commons. Keep the commons for last as a rule....and minimize your cost in them as they will give you the smallest return for dollar spent. But the mint marked pieces (esp O mints, most S mints, and early D mints) are steals at current listed prices in VF/EF grades. Catalog values are low but the coins are hard to find. Most are cleaned and/or damaged. Lots of upside here.
roadrunner
Buy only keys and semi-keys in the highest grades you can afford.
<< <i>I'm looking to start a certified collection of Barber Dimes. Need Advice... >>
Skip the 1894-S.
I don't think an AG 95-O would match well with all other AU-MS piece, and/or VG10 semi-keys.
Me, if I was gonna do Barbers, I would do raw VG halves in a Dansco, for the pure fun of it.
Good luck- have fun in your quest.
<< <i>Skip all the common coins. Once common, always common. Hohum.
Buy only keys and semi-keys in the highest grades you can afford. >>
Personal Ebay Auctions
My Website
---------------------------------------------
ALWAYS LOOKING TO PURCHASE
TOP 100 MORGANS / HOT 50
TOP 50 PEACE VAMS
Lord M, I'll stay away from the 1894-S.
Mr. Drysdale: "Mr. Clampett, this dime is worth over $100,000." Jed Clampett: "Well doggie! You mean if I put that dime in a gumball machine, I'll get $100,000 worth of gumballs?"
MANOFCOINS, that book is going for $112 (used!) on Amazon. I'll keep an eye out for it at a cheaper price.
Thanks again guys!
-mark
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
David Lawrence's out-of-print "Complete Guide to Barber Dimes" is still required reading, although tough to find. Grading is not difficult, which is one reason I originally decided to focus on this series. The only reason to collect this series in major TPG slabs that I can think of is to make sure that your collection is free of the many cleaned or damaged dimes, which show up consistently on eBay, in local coin shops, and at shows. Still, there are plenty of nice raw Barber Dimes out there at affordable prices for the collector who has learned how to pass on the majority of coins offered.
Better grade common date circulated Barber Dimes are still available for less than Graysheet bid. (I sold a nice XF 1916-S on eBay last week for only $10) The key dates and many semi-keys now bring strong prices even in G-VG, since so many collectors feel they have to fill holes and overlook the XF-AU common dates if they already have one. If you can afford to do so, avoid the majority of Barber Dimes offered, which are in less than Fine condition or cleaned. (Jesus said that the poor will always be with us. If He collected Barber Dimes, he would have said that it's always easy to find a particular Barber Dime in AG-G). It's also easy to find an 1895-O in AG-G, but this is a coin that should be purchased only after you have passed on the first dozen or so that you have seen in person. Unfortunately the 1895 dimes (especially the 1895-O) are rising in price faster than the rest of the series. Buy a problem-free, low grade 1895-O early on if you have to complete the set. It will help you afford several other dates you really want to upgrade later on. I give the same advice for 1892-S, 1894-0, 1895, 1896-O, 1896-S, 1897-O, 1901-S, and 1903-S which are tough to find in Fine or better, and the 1895-S, 1904-S, 1909-D, 1909-S, and 1913-S which are tough in VF or better.
eBay is a great place to meet fellow Barber Dime collectors, and is how I built the bulk of my collection (currently 5 albums, 2 complete). I can't name any dealer who specializes in this series the way J.H. Cline specializes in Standing Liberty Quarters, Rick Tomaska specializes in Franklin Halves, D. Winter in branch mint gold, etc. David Lawrence was the specialist in this series before he died and his company continued with his son. When I called DLRC looking for coins in the grade range the original poster mentioned, someone there told me that they didn't bother to deal with circulated raw Barber Dimes anymore, and referred me to Miller's Mint, a dealer who used to share tables at shows with David Lawrence himself.
Miller's Mint has a good inventory and knowledge of Barber Dimes, but isn't necessarily a better source for these coins than other dealers who buy and sell them. Jack Beymer is another dealer who knows this series well and has a good inventory, conservatively graded and priced for those who can't live without a specific date. Randall Holder is another dealer with a special interest in Barbers, although you won't often find him offering these amongst his overgraded eBay offerings. (He is a good friend to many Barber dime, quarter, and half dollar collectors, with a good website). You might also stumble across a local or regional dealer with some good values in this series which is too small and too ugly for the casual collector. My best purchases (an 1895-0 in Fine, 1896-O in XF, 1903-S in XF-45, and 1905-O micro-o in VF-30) were all from fellow collectors who had just upgraded their sets.
I wonder why a collection of mostly circulated Barber Dimes needs to be certified. After only two years of buying and selling raw Barber Dimes, I learned enough about the series to complete my first set, tell whether a coin had been cleaned beyond market acceptance, and figure out which dates were easy to get in the best date I could afford. I recommend a year or two of learning by trial and error instead of paying for grading fees on the common dates.
If you must assemble a collection of slabbed Barber Dimes, you'll be the most pleased with PCGS, old green-label PCI, and NGC. I've owned a couple of overgraded ANACS dimes I was happy to sell off to a dealer who was buying the plastic, not the coin. Net-graded ANACS Barber Dimes trade like raw coins, as do those in SEGS and lesser-known slabs. Since Barber Dimes are easy to grade, almost all services are consistent in grading no-problem circulated examples. I don't have the experience to compare various grading services for proof or MS 63+ Barber Dimes between one service and the next.
I can't
As others have mentioned, the keys and semi-keys are extremely difficult to find. The 1896-S is my favorite date, and in my opinion, so much more difficult to find in most higher circulated grades than the 95-O. I'm probably in the minority here, but I think the 95-O is overrated. It seems to be always available in various grades in dealer inventories and the major auctions. Maybe I just don't want to afford a higher grade example than my VG8? Perhaps, but I'm much more excited finding the 96-S, 96-O, 97-O, 94-Os, and the 05 micro o.
^I just saw the rerun of that episode, cracked me up
Go BIG or GO HOME. ©Bill
Jed Clampett/Buddy Ebsen did own a 94 s dime in real life.He sold it in 89 ? through Superior galleries.
Stewart
The thing that made the set fun, and most important criteria for me in building it, was that the coins all looked good together. I love the dark grey/white look of circulated Barber coinage, so I tried to match them all in the same dark-concrete color range. Nice, original circulated Barbers have almost a cameo look to them that I still find greatly appealing. When it was finally done the book had a great old-time collection feel to it, somewhere I have images of a couple of scanned pages from the book.
I sold the whole thing for a small profit to pay off my wedding photographer. Three were some days I couldn't decide what I liked looking at more, the pictures or the coins.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
The quarter set is a natural progression in VG also.....
The dimes I have debated the grade, but a matched set looks the best in my eyes.....
Have not decided on a G, VG or higher grade for this set however, that 1895-O might be the grade factor.....
A VG Dime is what 3 letter in liberty & a full rim on the reverse?
<< <i>
<< <i>....Me, if I was gonna do Barbers, I would do raw VG halves in a Dansco, for the pure fun of it.... >>
LM, those were the good ol' days, ...very fun & more challenging than you might think to find original pieces even in VG to get that evenly matched set look.
Best success in your Barber dime set, sounds fun and I learned a lot from the experienced collectors' posts here.
Don
Been working on this set for quite a bit of time, need to drive to some farther away coin stores I think.....
Be picky when adding to your set is a good bit of advise.....
Learn as much as you can about the series, including how to grade the series, before starting the series.
Buy the key and semi-key dates first, in the highest grade that you can afford, preferably certified by one of the big 3 TPG services.
Buy the common dates in a lower, but still attractive grade, like VF - XF. Paying a premium for certified examples in this grade range isn't really practical, there are plenty of nice, original, raw, common date Barber dimes available. By buying the common dates in the VF - XF grade range, instead of the higher grade range that you were suggesting, this will free up some funds for the "better dates", in "better grades", than what you were previously suggesting.
I personally think that a nice original, evenly matched set of Barber dimes, with the common dates in the VF - XF grade range, and the key and semi key dates (in the highest grade you can afford), to be a much more impressive set, than the one that you are suggesting. Let's face it, when other collectors are viewing your finished set, the first thing they will look at is the condition of, and overall look of, the key dates such as the 1895-O, 1901-S, etc. After concentrating on the keys and semi-keys, than the overall look of the common date coins comes into play.
Good luck with your set!
Connor Numismatics Website
Thanks again guys...
BTW I found this cool site...
Barber Dime Rarity Survey
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
Glad to hear you have decided to go with VF/XF and to keep the set in a uniform grade. There's alot to be said to go for the keys first...IF you can find them !
I appreciated the link to the rarity scale... I have not seen that for some time. Thanks for linking it to this thread.
I first started with the Liberty Head Nickels before adventuring into the dimes, and like Casey, I preferred AU 58. However most of my Barber dime set is still raw in a Dansco album.
Everyone who has posted before me has given you excellent advice and we all wish you the best of luck finding these dimes. Look at as many holdered coins as you can - ie: PCGS, NGC, ICG and ANACS - in the grade of your choice ( so as you'll get a better feel of what to expect in the grade you're looking for ) before you start outlaying serious money for the keys you're looking for first.
Again, the best of luck to you. And, welcome to the Barber Fraternity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
I sent you a PM.
Connor Numismatics Website
My thoughts:
The dime set is a great challenge! Good luck.
I personally like evenly matched sets, in a single grade. Viewing an album with AG-to-MS65 material gives me a headache. My advice, when it comes to the more common dates would be to pick a reasonable middle grade, such as F, VF, or XF, and than begin building a nicely matched set. Only purchase nice, original material. Even this will take some time. Slowly but surely, start filling an album. This will end up being a very impressive set to view, something you rarely will ever see.
What about the holes in the album (key dates)? For these, buy certified Big-3 original examples, at the best grade you can afford. G4, AU, MS64, whatever…. keep these dates in plastic for protection.
I’ve essentially done this with the Quarters, and it’s a blast…
Enjoy the ride!
Dave
I also build a G-VG set every year and am presently working on the same XF+ toned
set that Casey is, except mine are raw.
Ccex and Casey both are expert in the Barber dime series and have important
points. I'll add a few myself.
<AU - MS for all common dates.> Prices jump dramatically from XF to AU. Original XF
pieces are a fraction of an AU coin. Better value there.
<AG3 or better for 1895-O: Comments on this?> I disagree with Casey here. The '95-O
is overvalued like the 1916-D dime is. It is acknowledged to be the anchor of the set.
I suggest something in the F-VF range. Buy it slabbed if you buy before you know the
series well.
<Semi Keys (1901-S, 1903-S, 1895, 1896-S, etc.): F10 or better. Thoughts?> The '01-S
and '03-S are priced pretty flat from Fine and up. The CDN has the 1901-S at $260 in
Fine and $490 in AU. Much better value at the XF-AU range. The 1895 is an amomaly.
I just paid $480 for a PCGS PR63. The CDN has the mint state version at $485 in AU.
A no-brainer. The '96-S, along with maybe the '94-O, is one of the toughest to find original.
It is also flat, $210 in Fine, $235 in VF and $290 in XF. I would look for a nive VF-XF.
<ANACS/PCGS/NGC/ICG - any opinions on these TPGs would be greatly appreciated.>
Older ANACS net-graded slabs are a great source of trading material, especially if the serial
number starts lower than 23XXXXX. PCGS is the most liquid. Many NGC 65's will not cross to PCGS
but NGC is better with toned Barbers in the 63-65 range. I sold 3 ICG slabbed MS Barber dimes on Teletrade.
The '07-S in 63 brought 60 money and my '10 and '11 in 65 and 66 went for 64+ money. 'Nuff said.
<Best price guides?> I use the CDN buy price for circs and Heritage's archives as well as the CDN for MS.
<Best On-line dealers (besides e-Bay)?> PM me.
Good luck!!!
Steve
Letchworth Coins
Falmouth Stamp & Coin
Allen's Coins
U.S. State Quarters.com
JJ Teaparty
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
JJ Teaparty enjoys a pretty solid reputation of being a great dealer with strong prices. Many board members have commented on being comfortable buying raw coins from them without as much worry as other dealers. I've never bought raw from them. But I have made slabbed purchases that I've been very pleased with. I've also returned a few coins with no hassles. Top notch in my book.
Edited to add: Another online dealer you might consider is Brian Greer. Brian is a long-time seated dime specialist that typically has a decent inventory of Barber dimes (mostly raw). His web site was recently established about a month ago and the link is below. I just wish he had some images! But he also has a no-hassle return policy.
Brian Greer link
Buying the keys first is excellent advice. HOWEVER, they just don't pop up in the Barber series all the time. The 1909-S VDB is a Key for the Lincoln Cent folks. I know I can go online and buy one today somewhere. Same with the 16-D dime. Try doing that with nice key VF Barber Dimes or an XF 1904-S Barber Half. So if you see a coin you like, that has the look and grade you want and is available, snap it up. The dimes, quarters and halves just weren't saved thus making a F-AU set a very fun long-term challenge.
Willing to trade any of my Barber Halves that are not XF45 (higher or lower) for XF45 coins. Please take a look at my registry set and PM me.
Looking for Denmark 1874 20-Kroner. Please offer.
I'm expanding my range to include all Barbers: dimes, quarters, halves, etc.
I decided to go with the circulated grades from VF30 to AU58, if possible.
I'm targeting key dates first.
I still haven't gotten anything as of yet. Saving up to buy a key date takes time as well as money.
I'm using the Barber Rarity Survey as my guide.
I joined the BCCS last month.
If anyone has more suggestions, feel free.
Thanks again!
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
I am working on the Halves and Quarters in VG currently and that is alot to chew on let alone the VF to AU grades.....
The halves will cost alot.....
Here's an example of the only R7 circulated date (according to the BCCS rarity scale). The Lawrence book gives is an R6. I love this coin so I couldn't resist posting it. PCGS graded it XF45.
very nice
Well, since then, I just made my first foray into the world of Barbers...
1911-S PCGS F12 Barber Quarter
I liked the smooth gray look of this coin. At first, I wasn't going to buy it since, if I dare say, IMO this coin might not be a true F-12. But, since it appealed to my eye and assuming it's a true F-12 (R4 on the BCCS Rarity Ratings Survey - Barber Quarters), I thought, "what the heck".
Opinions, comments, critiques on my purchase?
Thanks,
-mark
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
The link isn't working. Welcome to the world of Barber quarters and halves.
Connor Numismatics Website
GO YANKEES,
You're getting into the quarters and halves as well as the dimes, and all at the same time ?
Good luck !
Personally, I concentrated on one series at a time before I went into the other...in a manner of speaking:
when I was just about complete in the dimes, I started the quarters, and when the quarters were almost completed, I ventured into the halves.
The way I look at it, if I had collected all three series at the same time, none of them would have gotten completed. JMHO.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
Nuff said. Welcome to the boards and to collecting barbers. If I wasn't so far into all dimes I would do the complete Barbers 10c 25c and 50c in nice AU, But at one time I have had all the dimes by date mm and most varities.
Good luck in whatever you decide to collect.
Jon
1911-S 25c PCGS F-12
I'm targeting key dates from all the Barber series. I'm saving up for the big one!!! Which I hope to get in AG3, but would settle for FR02.
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
<< <i>In all the Barber series you must have patience. In my opinion, that is the true key to building a terrific set. Also, I would not shy away from darkly toned mid-grade pieces as these might be the most original coins out there. Lastly, the idea of mixing AU/MS coins with F with G/VG is a mistake as far as collection eye appeal. I try to pick up original dimes and quarters when I find them and have built a VFish half set. They are a true challenge. >>
Tom,
I resolved to avoid MS coins like the Plague. The very highest grade I'll go for is in the lower AU range (50-55) for the dimes.
However, for the QTRs and Halves, I'm primarily looking at 12-45 range, if possible. The coin I'm gearing up for is the 1901-S 25c in any grade. Once I get that, it's all downhill from there. I hope to get it within 2-3 years.
Point taken on the darkly toned coins.
Thanks,
-mark
Photos of the 2006 Boston Massacre
Its been four years since your first post - how are your sets coming along ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
So I just need to budget, what, $25k for an 01-S? OK... so it'll take some time, that's all.
<< <i>Once I am done with the halves and dimes I eventually will do the quarters, but they will also be in VF.
So I just need to budget, what, $25k for an 01-S? OK... so it'll take some time, that's all. >>
Bill,
Ira has a great 1901-S Quarter - PCGS VF 35 on eBay now and he's been listing it - relisting it - for almost a month now.
Started at $30.8K - then he dropped it a grand a month - now it opened at $20K [there's a reserve but no idea what it is ]
and now the coin is somewhere around 24K and the reserve has not been met.
TomB,
I TTT'd this Thread because its almost 4 years old - and I was curious what the OP was doing with his goals.
I thought it very adventursome to attempt all three Barber series all at once. It can be very frustrating when
you have 220 coins to locate instead of just 73 or so for one set of Barbers.
I agree with you - once you decide to go with a specific grade range - its best to keep the keys [ ie: 1895-O Dime ]
in the same general grade as the rest of the set. I was very fortunate to have located my 1895-O in a PCGS 58 holder
almost immediately upon starting this collection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases