Barber Half Dollars

Could it also be just a bad design that wears easily? The barber nickels, dimes and quarters seem equally scarce in higher grades.

Actually the answer has already been stated. Not to long ago people just didn't save coins. They used them. Way, way back when I was a kid people used all coins for money. No one I knew collected coins and most people I knew could't afford to collect them so they spent them. My Dad used to give me my allowance in Silver Dollars and I spent them all regardless of dates, type, mint, etc. Walking Liberty halves were so common that no one even thought of them as a collectors item. Any coin you can imagine was just a coin and used as just a coin. Vending machines everywhere took coins and no one thought to look to see what they were so coins just got circulated over and over and over. Barber coins were just coins when I was a kid and to get a sitting Liberty anything in change was just normal. We used to use coins so they got worn.

Jim- We were all thinking that. :-)

Carl- Thanks for the response. That perspective is very helpful.

Think of what a Half Dollar actually bought when it was first minted !!

The average salary of a working man was approximately $5.00 per week.

No one in those circumstances was saving Half Dollars. The coin was the work horse of all circulating coins, much like the Quarter Dollar is today. Only the affluent could afford to save them - and most coin collectors of that era thought the coin was ugly.

My Grandfather saved coins - and I have his coins - which I hope to hand down as well.

Here is one that he plucked from circulation. When I was 14, I made the mistake of removing all that ugly tarnish ...

"Carl, it's great to have a perspective from a 200 year old man! JUST KIDDING! I'm an old guy too.

Thanks for your input."


TOO FUNNY. LOL

perhaps with a name that contains "bucks", a couple grand is affordable, but it certainly isn't to many of us!

Also, look at the quantity minted. With Barber halves most are in the one to three million minted. If a few hundred million people each used just one with a one million made, it would get worn fast. Clothing too was harsher back then so carrying any coins got worn just from being in a pocket. Naturally some coins were made with dumb places for dates such as the Standing Liberty quarter. And too don't forget all the machines that were made for coins. Today most people just use a plastic card for money. Was no such thing back then. Might have been but I just don't remember ever seeing one.
Kids too used to play games with coins. That too did some damage and a lot of wear.


Why I still remember when US coins first starting coming out too.

Because they circulated for a very long time, as people were not pulling Barber halves out to collect. Their face value was expensive 100 years ago. Even 50 years ago.

And halves were much more circulated back then unlike today. The circulating of halves really didn't end until they were all hoarded in the 1960s.