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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,668 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1116 Posts |
I was at my local coin store the other day and ran across this delimna. The purpose of my visit was to try and drive down my average cost of silver, which is way to high. So I was entertaining any idea as to what to purchase so I was looking at Silver Eagles, Maple Leafs, generic rounds, 90% silver, 40% silver (of which he had none), and anything other than numismatic silver. I ended up buying all the Silver Eagles, Maple Leafs, generic rounds, and some 90% morgans. The total purchase amounted to 10 ounces of silver, and 15 morgans. He really didn't have a lot on hand when he brought out some Barber quarters and dimes ($15 face). Now the barbers were not in the greatest shapes but you could make out most dates. So what I'm wondering now is at what point would Barber coinage become bullion rather than an numismatic item. Is when the coins are well worn and you can't make out a date or at some other point? At what point would you say this is bullion or this is numismatic. Not being versed in Barbers I would say that these coins were good at best. All coins had readable dates but the wreath was indistinguisable, some of the lips were worn down, and lettering was worn with no reeding on the coins. I bought the coins for bullion only but still I do wonder at what point does numismatic value succumb to bullion. *** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. *** |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
Any barber in solid and original G4 would be worth it at melt. A lot of them sound like culls and honestly, unless you can make out a date and mintmark and it is a rare date, I would pass on culls simply because they will be underweight and there isn't all that much collector interest in common barber culls.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2424 Posts |
you would think over time barbers would increase in value as they would get older no?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
I have picked up a few Barber halves for darn near spot, three of four have worn down rims, pocket pieces essentially.  Edited by oih82w8
04/19/2012 12:37 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
I occasionally get Barbers(mostly halves) from my local shop's bid board at or close to spot. On average, they are Good but range from AG-VG with some having old cleanings or a scratch or two. The vast majority would not be considered culls and quite a few would be at right at home in a low grade album. Ironically, I get more Barber halves for spot than I do Walking Libertys or Franklins simply because those two tend to make an appearance on the bid board in uncirculated condition for the common dates. Edited by biokemist6
04/19/2012 01:05 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
759 Posts |
So it sounds like the general opinion is that in the AG area, common Barbers cross over to bullion only value, unless they are some of the rarer dates. I would contend that they are sub-standard bullion in one respect: the weight. Fill up a quarter tube with 40 AU 1964 Washingtons, then do the same with 40 AG- Barbers. You'll find that you need 2-4 more Barbers to fill the tube to the same level as the Washingtons. BUT...if melt for an AU 1964 Washington is $5.68 like it is today, you'll probably find that people would generally pay $5.68 or more for a 5-10% underweight Barber. So I'm thinking the answer may actually be almost never. At least that's one way of looking at it. I think that rather than condition determining whether a Barber is just a bullion coin, it may be the price of silver. If silver ever hits, say $200 an ounce, I think you'll see a transition would have been made away from valuation based on face, and more to weight. Actually, that will probably happen well before the $200 mark.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
And remember that as any Silver coin is worn, it's weight is less and less. By the time those Dimes are in AG grades, they may have lost a large amount of Silver making them less valuable in Silver weight. For some reason Liberty Head Dimes are just not as popular as Mercury dimes so their values are less for the approximate same amount minted. A good example is a 1921D Mercury dime is close in mintage to a 1915S Liberty Head Dime and yet but massive price difference. Possibly in the future all those will be just as popular and the prices will go up. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
I don't collect the Barbers even though I have had several opportunities to do so. The design is mediocre, IMHO, and many of them are very well worn. Most of the ones I have seen vary from poor to good in quality. I was recently offered about 40 or so Barber quarters at 35% under spot. That was a tempting offer based on the metal alone but I just could not work up the enthusiasm for them. One of the main reasons I collect silver coins is that I enjoy looking at them. I do not enjoy looking at the Barber design coins. Nothing personal, Barber collectors, just not my thing.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1116 Posts |
In the future, I will use the comments here to beat down the buying price of any Barber I come across. However, I will say that according to the 2011 RedBook most of the coins I got still show a modest profit if I can get the posted value. However, on a few of them I did luck out and the RedBook value is triple what I paid. So overall I'm happy. Now I just have to find a buyer who is willing to pay the RedBook value. I'd be interested to see what their value is in the 2012 book. So thanks for all the comments. [edit] The posting about less silver was very pointed and I should have thought of it at the time of my purchase to get a better deal. Thanks for reinforcing what I should have had already thought of. Edited by ghostrider
04/20/2012 01:36 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3184 Posts |
I would have bought Barber quarters 35% below spot.....easily resellable in my opinion. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
863 Posts |
Id buy all silver under spot.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
Ah, so much silver, so little time...  |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,668 |
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Posted 04/18/2012 11:04 pm
