When Was The Last Year You Found Barber Coinage In Change?

Can't tell you the exact year, but I know it was in the mid sixties. about when I started getting serious about collecting. When my Dad started hoarding '64 Kennedys.

I could see it. CCF is one of the biggest coin forums on the web, and is one of the most extensively indexed by webcrawlers, meaning that CCF is likely to pop up in the first two pages of ANY search related to numismatics. Average Joe off the street finds a really old coin in circulation, Googles it, then signs up on here to ask a question or show off. I can't for the life of me remember when I found this forum, but I lurked for a while and finally signed up to show off a bill that someone spent at my work.

Back on topic, I have never found any Barbers in circulation or bank rolls, but the general consensus seems to be "mid/late 60s". That makes sense, in a way. Back then all silver coins were worth a little more than their face value, but dimes were not a big target for melting, compared to quarters and especially half dollars. The XF-BU Barbers were likely gone by the 1920s, but the under-weight AG-VG coins were sturdy enough for continued use, but not worth melting and certainly not worth collecting, at least 50 years ago. A good analogy is the VF or worse nickels from 1959 and earlier. They are very available (average 10-20 per box, or about 0.5-1% of total circulation) and most collectors think of them as "not worth it" to pull from circulation. So they circulate.

And circulate.

And circulate. And the condition just goes down, down down until they get culled to be melted by the FED.

Barber coins have some rare key dates, but most of them were common, and the low grade common Barbers today are worth just a pittance above melt value.

I agree with Finn. I think that is exactly why some of the new members post, because they did find an old coin in circulation.

I have agreements with several Mom and Pop Markets and stores where I live, as well as with some bank tellers and buy all the Silver, and Older Coins that come in to them.

In the last 10 years or so, I have received a really surprising amount of Silver Roosevelt dimes. 17 so far this year, and 68 in 2015. 1 Mercury dime in the last 5 years. NO Barber coinage of any sort. No Franklins, but one 44-P Walking Liberty half ( 12 years ago, yeah I'm one of those guys, lol, who keep list)Not one Silver Quarter of any denomination. 2 Buffalo nickels, dateless and well worn, but still Buffs in Circulation.One AU 1938 Jeff, that was obviously robbed from Gramps Collection and was probably MS till it hit circulation. Lots of Wheat Cents, including an absolutely beautiful 1926 Woodie in AU. 11 Indian Head cents, and get this ONE Large Cent and ONE Half Cent. One from a Book Store and the other from a bank Teller. Both, btw seemed to be detector finds.

I think that most will support the mid to late sixties theory. I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes up with an odd ball 70's find, or if someone older than myself talks about how common or uncommon they were in the 50's.

I ,for one, can remember finding buffalo's well into the mid 70's. I have 4 rolls, more or less, of AG-G Buffs from this period.

I'm also really curious if there was a regional difference. Or if roll hunting for silver uniformally killed it at the same time; across the Nation. In the same way that Silver Dollars were still Circulating in Northern California and Nevada into the early 70's. Mostly bring backs from Reno/Tahoe/Los Vegas. My Grandfather owned the Silver Spur Casino in Carson City NV. I can remember getting a Peace dollar in change in the 60's; in Carson City. I also remember what we pulled from the counting room, but don't include that because it doesn't reflect national averages.

when I say new members, I don't mean "I found a coin in my change, used google, found the CCF and here I am"

I mean "I'm new to coin collecting. I've been on the CCF a month (or two) and OMG L@@K! I found a VF35 1902 Barber quarter in my change at McDonalds today! WOOT WOOT! LOOK AT ME!"

I have seen that latter scenario at least 10 times in the past several years and quite frankly, I am a non-believer.

As new member ( proudly almost 250 posts lol)my opinion is that if someone find a nice coin and want to post here to share , it suppose to be a very welcome thing , it's not because someone has less than 100 posts that means she /he is new on the collecting world.
Also Everybody was a new member someday lets remember that .
I work with cash/coins as bookkeeping and I'm sure the fact of I live in a rural zone of a small city -upstate ny )It helps to find old coins sometimes , my last one I posted pics here last month , a Barber dime 1901.
Its change from customers that goes to shopping where I work , a big retail store , and I can tell by the average of our customer's age that they are putting back in circulation some of their collections

1908 half dollar in 2013 while roll searching





I first saw the REV, and it took me a second to realize what it was. I "knew" it was impossible to find Barber coins in circulation nowadays so my mind did not see it as one at first.

Searching half dollar boxes, I pulled a 1902 Barber half last year.

I haven't found one yet. I was born in the early 80s so I bet most were found long before then. I assume the accidental one gets mixed into the bank now and then though.

I have found about 10 merc dimes in my lifetime the most recent being last December.