The 25 Days Of Barber Coins!!

Hondo - Nice coin to start your set with.

I agree with ANACS on this - my immediate
reaction was 20 - but after looking at it
again - I think ANACS got it correct.

Not enough wreath detail on the OBV to warrant
a VF 30. JMHO

Here is Hondo's half:

These pictures may be of help:




As a specialist (NOT an expert) of the Barber series
my eyes dart immediately to this area. Occasionally I am interrupted by some surface problem but I start here.

The letters and the upper and lower bands may be studied
and compared to get a feel for what to look for.

As to the wreath, I have observed the detail is often lacking towards the bottom. I'll await someone's analysis of the reason.

There is no secret to grading, just access to as many different sources of information and examination of coins in hand.

I neither agree nor disagree with the author's grading
but I offer his opinion as yet another tool.

Thanks MatthewVincent for posting the LIBERTY bands
...that's a great help for the beginning collector of
this series. The band is not the only place to grade a Barber Half.

The wreath is another place to gauge the grade.
I try and get an immediate gut feeling about the grade
as soon as I look at a coin. The Pro's have seconds to
grade - seems like an impossibility - but you'd surprise
yourself when the chips are down.

The only way to grade is to look at hundreds, no, Thousands of coins - keep studying - no one was a grader overnight.

Last January at FUN, a friend had a large group of AU Barber halves he had bought raw and was looking to sell them for a bit of a profit.

I spotted a nice 1905-O in what appeared to be AU 53
and although I thought the OBV was a bit distracting - I thought the coin might get into a numbered holder at PCGS.

I thought wrong - but this date is so hard to find above VG that I knew I had to own it.

I have really enjoyed your contributions Elbesaar. I am searching for three quality pieces for my type album. The examples you have displayed put my worn coins to shame.

Oh wow, those a beautiful. On the 1905-O half, where is the tooling? I cannot seem to identify it in the images.

Picking this coin up at FUN from a friend who's selling off
his Barber quarter collection. I bought four of his beauties
last month, and here is the last coin from his set that caught
my eye ( that hadn't been promised to other collectors )

1912-S PCGS 55