Barber Quarters....are They Just Not That Popular?

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unholyroller Pillar of the Community United States 1903 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 07:39 am I have been sorting through my thoughts on my next collection endeavour and noticed the Barber quarter series and noticed the low mintages along with relatively low prices. Are these just not very popular as a collectible? Possible "sleeper" series? Any comments are appreciated Report this Post to the Staff

matthewvincent Pillar of the Community United States 3486 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 09:28 am Dear roller, I'll be happy to share my thoughts on the Barber quarters at length. But right now I am off to do a few errands. Would you strive to collect the series by date and mint mark, or would you be happy to acquire a dozen or so examples which have the best chance for future appreciation? Let me know. Matthew Contributing Editor BCCS Barber Coin Collectors' Society Report this Post to the Staff
mycrob Pillar of the Community United States 2602 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 10:54 am Seems like it is a sleeper. A lot of people think Barbers are just not as nice a design as other designs for starters. Look at how little interest there is in Liberty nickels versus Buffalo nickels. I have seen low grade Barbers sell for silver melt many times, despite their lower mintages than the SLQ series. Report this Post to the Staff
matthewvincent Pillar of the Community United States 3486 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 11:36 am First, to keep to the topic at hand: the question of popularity. All of the Barber series, while not as popular as say, the Mercury dimes or the Washington quarters or Standing Liberty Halves, remain immune to the finical tastes of collectors. Their popularity was born in the souls of the collecting public such as myself, who received his father's duplicates as a boy. Now at 60, I have adjusted my goals, mindful of my sister who is the sole heir to the coins that I/we possess. In the world of Barber coins "size" matters. The halves are more popular than the quarters, and the quarters are more popular than the dimes. Reality check: both the dimes and the halves can be collected as a complete set by date and mint marks. But only in "average" circulated to very good. It takes time but it is do-able. NOT SO the quarters. The "big three", even in "good," can put a crimp into your style. Let's take out the grey sheet. 1896-S good ask: $ 750 1913-S good ask: $1,500 1901-S good ask: $4,500 That totals: $6,750 Money not an object? OK. Walk into any national coin show with $10,000 in your pocket and try to buy all three coins. Oh, you want eye appeal as well as technical grade? Ain't gonna happen! Not very likely. These three coins will take years to locate and the seller can name the price. Throw the grey sheet in the trash. By way of comparison, the asking price for complete sets, minus the varieties and such, in good/very good: Dimes: $1,200 Halves: $2,175 Quarters: $7,800 So, in my original post I asked just how you might collect these quarters. As for myself, and I am in the company of many other Barber quarter collectors, I must remain happy with what I can reasonably obtain. I do have the 1913-S in VG with eye appeal that cannot be beat, but I bought it more than 20 year ago. Now, if you want to talk about "sleepers" I can give you my opinions at a later date. Matthew Edited by matthewvincent 04/16/2012 11:38 am Report this Post to the Staff
unholyroller Pillar of the Community United States 1903 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 11:37 am When I collect..I get obsessive about completing a set...not including proofs or errors DDOs or DDRs. I tend to strive for as high a quality as feasible without clearing out a bank account Report this Post to the Staff
unholyroller Pillar of the Community United States 1903 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 11:44 am Would also like to hear your thoughts on sleepers :-) Report this Post to the Staff
mycrob Pillar of the Community United States 2602 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 12:09 pm Thanks for the nice analysis, Matthew. I agree, quarters are out of reach for most collectors, if the goal is to complete the set. The really exciting thing about Barbers is to try to assemble even the common pieces with a full Liberty. That's what I've been trying to do- without paying huge prices for the F-VF pieces. I try to buy Barber lots of AG-VG in which there are a few better pieces thrown in. Let me tell you, it's not common to have a F-VF piece in a mixed lot- they have been removed already by previous collectors. I maybe have ~10 pieces in each of my Barber sets (halves, quarters, dimes) that are F or better, so the only way to get them F or better is to pay the price to upgrade, which at the moment, I don't wish to do. Folks, these are tough sets to put together. And if you want them F or better you will be at this a long time. But another wortwhile goal for Barbers is a date set, or just have one much nicer piece (VF-EF). Edited by mycrob 04/16/2012 12:59 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Coinstar Pillar of the Community United States 1510 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 2:23 pm well I guess I am weird BC I collect all Barbers--what is weird is some of the dimes are worth more than the quarters Retired USAF 1983-2003 Report this Post to the Staff
afcop13 Pillar of the Community United States 1409 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 2:48 pm Also curious about your thoughts on the sleepers. I've been working on the dimes - and they are tough to find in F and up condition....... Report this Post to the Staff
matthewvincent Pillar of the Community United States 3486 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 4:21 pm A link and a secret: www.barbercoins.org Please pay attention to the rarity and availability analysis. This is much more valuable than the raw mintage figures might tell you. It will help you to identify the sleepers among the three silver series. For many years the spread between Barber coins in good and very good was non-existent. Even today, goods and VGs are lumped together. Those of us who "know" will tell you that searching through a group of these coins, such as mycrob does, will often net you a few higher very goods. THESE are sleepers, and worth pulling out to hold. More later, Matthew Edited by matthewvincent 04/16/2012 4:28 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Coinstar Pillar of the Community United States 1510 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 6:44 pm the dimes are real bad because back then people got paid that per day at work Retired USAF 1983-2003 Report this Post to the Staff
COMET Valued Member United States 223 Posts	Posted 04/16/2012 7:29 pm From reading a few articles it seemed that the design on Barber coins was not too favorable with the public. Not sure about now but it seems that a lot of collectors would rather focus on other series. But with that been said, I do seem any Barber coins in low grades. Mid-grades are hard to find and so far I have only seen a few around XF. It also seems that Barber coins are usually very worn, if you look around sometimes you can find good grades in junk silver bins. Report this Post to the Staff
matthewvincent Pillar of the Community United States 3486 Posts	Posted 04/17/2012 11:46 am At our Barber site, each of the four series are listed. A short description follows, with a list of difficult to find examples. http://barbercoins.org/BarberQuarters.html From this link: "Although the "Big 3" get most of the attention, many of the other dates in the Barber quarter series are extremely difficult to find in higher circulated grades, including 1896-O, 1897-O, 1897-S, 1901-O, 1905-O, 1909-O, and 1914-S. As a result, putting together a complete set of Barber quarters in higher grades is not only expensive, but takes a lot of serious searching and a great deal of luck. Perhaps only 12 to 15 original AU 1909-O quarters exist, making it quite possibly the 2nd or 3rd most difficult coin to obtain in that grade. That's rare." OK. Quarter collectors already know about these dates. To find any of them requires patience, luck and a fat wallet. It is among other dates that we find the sleepers. Using the rarity and availability data, gathered from among the members of the BCCS, and the information available at: http://blog.davidlawrence.com/index...er-quarters/ you will be able to spot the "sleepers" yourselves. I cannot continue speaking about the quarters without making reference to the dimes which are my specialty. And assuming that unholyroller has no objections I shall do so. David Lawrence commented that the 1900-O dime is: "The most underrated coin in the set. In circulated grades above VG its scarcity rivals the 1895-O ...... Poorly struck with lackluster surfaces." So I wondered, "What about the 1900-O quarter?" Well, with a mintage of 3,416,000 you might think that this is a common date and widely available. NOT TRUE! David Lawrence wrote: "Scarcity: Very scarce in mid grades because of the poor strike. Scarce in mint state because of poor survivorship. Rarity Ratings: G/VG R2; F/VF R4; EF/AU R4; MS R4. Ranking: 44th in mintage ... Comments: Comes poorly struck on the central reverse as a rule, with weakness in the eagle's right ... Buy all the nicely struck specimens you can find." A "sleeper?" If the dimes from San Francisco dated 1898, 1899 and 1900 went to the Philippines, what about the quarters? Same thing. Decent mintages but downright difficult to find high grade examples that have not been cleaned. Folks, all of my conclusions have been drawn from years of experience and the availability of the resources of the BCCS. I refer to these resources constantly. They are freely available to all. In the spirit of: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day ... Teach a man how to fish and he eats for a lifetime." I have shown you the resources from which to learn. Good Hunting! Matthew Report this Post to the Staff
just carl Bedrock of the Community United States 20753 Posts	Posted 04/17/2012 6:00 pm Popularity in any coin decides on the prices. Oddly enough though, Silver Dollars are way up there in recent popularity. And that is odd since finding them in change is as close to impossible as can be. Usually the Penny is the most popular, followed by certain Nickels, then dimes, etc. Again due to popularity since almost all kids can save and collect Pennies, some Nickels, some Dimes. Much less can afford to collect Quarters and/or Halves. And even then, some are more popular than others of similar denominations. For example almost everyone loves the Indian/Buffalo Nickels. And then with Nickels the popularity really drops off with Shield or Liberty Headed ones. With Quarters those State Quarters are by far the most collected coins in the last years now. Although of little to no real value, a great educational tool and kids really like them. So in this instance, popularity is great but the values are still low. Many collectors like the Standing Liberty quarters but due to the rareness of many of them, makes it difficult for the average small collector. The Liberty Head Quarters are a lot more collected than people think. At most of the coin shows I go to those along with Mercury dimes are some of the biggest sellers. So not sure why you would think those are not popular, but try to make a complete collection of those. Not real easy. Report this Post to the Staff
oih82w8 Pillar of the Community United States 7840 Posts	Posted 04/17/2012 6:57 pm I have (and only need) one Barber quarter for my 7070. It's a 1900-P Type III Reverse EF40-Cleaned ANACS. On the Ty-III (that Caswell sent the above images of) the wing tip touches the right lower serif of the T and extends beyond the top of the E. http://hermes.csd.net/~coneca/conte...uestions.htm Edited by oih82w8 04/17/2012 7:01 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Coinstar Pillar of the Community United States 1510 Posts	Posted 04/17/2012 9:08 pm everyone needs barbers--or not-- More for me! Retired USAF 1983-2003 Report this Post to the Staff
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