BARBER COLLECTORS

Mowgli · December 13, 2007 5:17AM

How many Barber collectors do you think there are? A dealer told me he thought there might be a thousand AU collectors versus 100K silver dollar collectors.

rhedden · December 13, 2007 5:30AM

There are many, many Barber collectors out there, but most of them are putting affordable sets together in AG-VG. If you are talking about people who are building complete sets of BU Barbers, there aren't many collectors at that level of interest and financial commitment.

Edited to add: I'd guess there are less than 100 people building BU sets of Barbers in each series; perhaps a thousand doing the F-AU grade sets in each series; and a much large number of people who are more casual collectors doing the AG-VG sets.

TheRaven · December 13, 2007 7:11AM

I am a VG collector of these coins.

My experience is that there are alot of collectors that are putting these sets together that don't really care what grade the coins are in. Have not seen to many higher grade collectors either.....

SDSportsFan · December 13, 2007 7:26AM

I'm doin' the halves in VG

Steve

dogwood · December 13, 2007 7:27AM

Active BU........ 23
Active XF/AU... 55
Active F/VF..... 288
Active AG/VG.. 640

Not very many.
If there were more of us, no one could afford them.

Barberman55 · December 13, 2007 7:34AM

Dogwood's numbers look about right.

streeter · December 13, 2007 7:38AM

I carry a binder of full rim coins(barbers) to hot rod shows and you would not believe how interested people are in them.

I sold a "page" to a guy from Italy because he wanted to show the folks at home that we put 'In God We Trust" on coins. He found it astounding that we did this as far back as the 1800's.

And they are hard to find to replace them.

tombr · December 13, 2007 7:41AM

I'm doing a VF set------they are tough to find. Alot have been cleaned.

Walkerguy21D · December 13, 2007 8:30AM

I try to buy the halves in VF-AU when a decent one catches my eye and it's at a reasonable price. The original goal was to hoard and speculate with them, but as they are scarce and I keep selling them to 7070 guys that need them, I haven't been able to acquire many...
Greg

Casey · December 13, 2007 8:48AM

Add me to the XF - AU dime crowd and count me twice. I have a collection going for both XF and AU.

Barbercoin · December 13, 2007 9:07AM

I collect xf/au Barber Quarters, except for the big three of course. But after I hit the lottery, I'll pick 'em up.

My collecting world is relatively small, but I've lived in many different places (being retired Army) and have a good amount of experience.

IMHO, I'd say Barber Quarter series collectors are few and far between.

USMC_6115 · December 13, 2007 4:17PM

I have a G to VG set completed. Now, I'm going to upgrade the G coins to VG...

TheRaven · December 13, 2007 10:35PM

I see there are more sick and twisted people on this page that like punishment.....

LincolnCentMan · December 13, 2007 10:50PM

I'm doing the Barber dimes right now. My goal on it is to have all coins with full strong rims with no problems. Most of my keys and simi keys are in the VG-VF range. I've struggled to find a nice 01-S.... which is the only one I have left to upgrade to have the set as I want it.

I'll probably work on the halves next. Ultimately, I'd like to have a full set of Barber dimes, quarters, and halves. I'm not looking forward to what it'd take to buy that darn 01-S quarter with a strong rim. At least it's an attainable goal.

-David

Broadstruck · December 13, 2007 10:56PM

Just the freaks and oddities for me

Michigan · December 13, 2007 11:14PM

Been working on a Barber dime set in VF off and on for years. The whole Barber series were "workhorse" coins that circulated hard for
many years after the design changes in 1916, that is why so many are in lower grades. Higher circulated grades are just plain tough
in general with many underrated dates whose price does not reflect their true rarity. The 1915-S dime is underrated for example.

MFH · December 14, 2007 2:59PM

I have let my membership to the BCCS lapse - again - and I would imagine that they have a fairly acurate
accounting of who is collecting what.

Its kind of funny, really, when you're buying, you hope there isn't too much competition, however,
when you're selling, you're hoping there are hundreds of collectors who'll be bidding on your coins.

lordmarcovan · December 14, 2007 3:14PM

I'm beginning to show symptoms of leaning towards collecting VG10 to F12 halves raw in an album, but I'm taking antibarberotics, so we'll see whether I succumb to the illness or not.

Mowgli · December 15, 2007 2:09AM

The Barber Society's half dollar survey was only completed by 116 people who had 14,565 coins.

AG 983; G 3379; VG 3516; F 2267; VF 2140; XF 1083; AU 888; MS 303; PF 11

I don't know if we should infer anything from this sample size but it looks like half the people collect G and VG coins. It doesn't tell us how many collectors there are since we know not all collector joined the BCCS (although you get a lot of interesting information from their journal). The dime survey is starting soon and I encourage the dime collectors to participate - you do not have to be a member of the BCCS to do so.

BTW - I collect dimes, quarters and halves. I started 13 months ago and have found the halves to be the hardest to acquire and the dimes the easiest.

CoinKing1969 · December 15, 2007 2:27AM

I am tring for both Proof and MS barber dime collections. It is tough to find most, wich is fun. I will probally finish my proofs PCGS Proof Barber dimes first and still have most in NGC holders that need to cross. It is hard to find the MS barbers in any holders. My daughter finished her Barber quarters in Good to EF except the big three, in about two months. She is pretty proud of it.

Walkerguy21D · December 15, 2007 2:32AM

<< <i>The Barber Society's half dollar survey was only completed by 116 people who had 14,565 coins. >>

Thanks, I browsed through the new half survey just the other day. It was good to see it updated, but a little disappointing to see some of my former R4 coins now classed as R2's. Good thing I didn't submit mine, or they may have fallen even further

Seriously though, anyone with even a casual interest should check this out, as there is a lot of interesting info in it.
Greg

PonyExpress8 · December 15, 2007 2:41AM

I started my collection of BU halves about 3-1/2 years ago and have found it to be a great challenge but a lot of fun along the way. There are definitely a few working on sets and most seem to focus on F-XF grades that I know personally.

Having met the top 3 registry owners for halves was a great pleasure during this time along with getting to know the dealers who sometimes have such coins available too.

The number of set collectors mentioned at the beginning of this thread is probably not far off the mark although there are very active collectors and casual collectors so where do you draw the line. There are a great number of inactive collections, completed and tucked away of all series as well so it really is interesting to consider but to really conclude an answer is I would think just a best guess proposition.

oldcameoproofsguy · December 15, 2007 2:48AM

I had a Registry set of proof Barber quarters. It was about 80% finished when I sold it. It had an average grade of PR66 and all were at least CAM with about five or six DCAMs.

Sunnywood · December 15, 2007 3:41AM

One interesting feature about the Barber coinage, particularly the quarters and halves, is that they are quite attractive and bold in circulated grades. This makes them very worthwhile for a broad range of collectors at all levels. The portrait of Miss Liberty and the eagle are strong, and stand in high relief as compared with earlier designs, and they are simpler and less dependent on detail than some of the immediately succeeding designs. In general, I would say these coins are among the most suited to collecting in all grades. Thus while there may be fewer collectors chasing Barbers in choice or gem grades, as versus the later series, I believe there are more collectors chasing them in circ condition. I have seen more enthusiasm for circulated Barbers than SLQ's or Walkers, for example. Thre is also the added fun of having four mints to collect, rather than three. I can't imagine the Barber silver coinage without the contribution of the New Orleans mint !!

Sunnywood

TheRaven · December 15, 2007 5:56AM

I agree with you Sunnywood.....

That is one of the reasons why I collect the coins, they still look nice in VG, which can't be said for alot of series.....

Now if we could have just stopped all those people from cleaning the coins back in the day.....

Walkerguy21D · December 15, 2007 6:41AM

<< <i>I believe there are more collectors chasing them in circ condition. I have seen more enthusiasm for circulated Barbers than SLQ's or Walkers, for example. >>

You may have 'seen more enthusiasm', but I assure you, there are a lot more Walker half collectors than Barber half collectors....
if you want data, just refer to the number of sets of each series registered at either service. Of course, the survival rate in higher 'slab worthy' grades is a lot greater with the Walkers. And in general it's a much easier series, slabbed or raw, to complete, due to cost and availability. I won't get into the aestetic differences...

MFH · December 16, 2007 12:08AM

CoinKing,

I throughly enjoyed looking at your Proof Barber Dimes...and I linked onto your other collections.

Very impressive!! I better start working on the 1905 Mint Set to keep you "at bay".

I have to agree with Walkerguy21D, there are far more Walker collectors than Barber collectors
in the mid range circulated grades. I have a modest set - by Walker standards - in AU 55- ave. grade.
My Walker set compares with the Barber half set.

As far as SLQ's, I never liked the coin in less than XF 45...and I have put together a half dozen sets
in my collecting career, usually at a minimum grade of AU 55. My retired set still holds the rank as
the number five finest set of all time on the SLQ's With Varieties...however, there's a huge - and I mean huge difference between being # 5 and being #1... a few hundred thousand bucks is all.

TheRaven · December 16, 2007 1:07AM

I don't think anybody thinks there are more Barber collectors then Walker collectors, but you guys are talking about up circ grades there.....

Does anybody collect Walkers in G & VG condition? A good number do in Barber land.....

Sunnywood · December 16, 2007 2:16AM

Raven, thanks for getting my point ... I think there is more interest in lower and mid-grade circulated Barbers than Walkers in those grades. In fact, while the Walker is a very beautiful coin, in those lower grades it is downright ugly as compared with the Barber half. The Barbers really carry circulation wear nicely.

Sunnywood

Walkerguy21D · December 16, 2007 3:29AM

<< <i>Does anybody collect Walkers in G & VG condition? >>

Judging by the number of complete, or nearly complete, sets of walkers on Ebay at any given time, primarily consisting of these grades for the dates pre-'33, I would say 'yes'. Were they put together back in the '60's? probably some of them. But put up a 16S or 21D in VG with a low starting point, and there will easily be over a dozen bidders for it, if not more. Apparently they still appeal to a few folks!
PS - I do agree that the barber half has more character and appeal in the Good grade range than the walker in a comparable grade....and infinitely more appeal (at least to me) than a Kennedy half in ANY grade. Hope Russ isn't following this thread....

BARBER COLLECTORS

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