Why Were There No 1916 Barber Halves?

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Author	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,520
jack jeckel Pillar of the Community United States 5207 Posts	Posted 04/16/2014 9:31 pm The Barber silver series ran from 1892 to 1916. There were 1916 Barber dimes and 1916 Mercury dimes. There were 1916 Barber quarters and 1916 Standing Liberty quarters. Whey were there no 1916 Barber halves to go with the 1916 Walking Liberty halves. Report this Post to the Staff

Cruisinfusion Pillar of the Community United States 1531 Posts	Posted 04/16/2014 9:32 pm The mint wanted to make future numismatists angry! Report this Post to the Staff
MeadowviewCollector Pillar of the Community United States 4409 Posts	Posted 04/16/2014 10:31 pm There was demand for dimes and quarters but the new designs weren't ready so the mint fired up the presses and coined Barber dimes and quarters. There wasn't a pressing need for half dollars or the mint likely had a stockpile of them from 1915 so they waited until the Walking Liberty half design was ready. There were also production problems with the Mercury dimes and the Standing Liberty quarter. -MV Report this Post to the Staff
matthewvincent Pillar of the Community United States 3486 Posts	Posted 04/17/2014 06:26 am After two years of low mintages 1915 produced about 2.8 million halves. WWI increased demand for coins to fuel the economy. The 1916-D Mercury was only produced in December; one month. The number of Barber quarters produced in 1915 and 1916 exceeded 15 million which precluded a large number of 1916 Standing Liberties. Report this Post to the Staff
Conder101 Bedrock of the Community United States 17884 Posts	Posted 04/17/2014 09:48 am I think Matthewvincent has touched on the reason. Design problems delayed the dime and the quarter until late in the year so the Barbers continued. But the half dollar was ready earlier in the year so they started production while they still had supplies of the previous years Barbers on hand.So there was no need to strike 1916 Barber halves. Report this Post to the Staff
just carl Bedrock of the Community United States 20753 Posts	Posted 04/17/2014 10:15 pm Quote: The mint wanted to make future numismatists angry! Oddly enough that really doesn't come up a lot. 1916 was a real messy year for coins. I wonder if there is anyone at any branch of the Mint that could really answer that. Might be more to it than we all think. Report this Post to the Staff
baldy Valued Member United States 83 Posts	Posted 04/18/2014 5:15 pm The 1915-D and 1915-S both had mintages of over one million each, while all issues from 1913 and 1914 were well under a million. Maybe this was to satisfy demand until the new design was ready? Edited by baldy 04/18/2014 5:16 pm Report this Post to the Staff
jmkendall Pillar of the Community United States 1590 Posts	Posted 04/19/2014 11:48 am Quote: The mint wanted to make future numismatists angry! While I think Mathew Vincent hit square on the head. I remember reading in a book on Buffalo nickels that there was one year that San Francisco minted some really low numbers of Buffalo's, because of low demand. It seems the Mint Director ordered San Francisco to make more lest the ones being released be hoarded by those 'crazy coin collectors'. While that is the story, I have also read where it was years before there were any mintage figures available to the public, so I have to wonder about that. Report this Post to the Staff
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