1909-S Barber Half Dollar

F-12

F12 (you probably already know 1909 had new dies, so LIBERTY is stronger and you grade by the reverse)

Just the rim dig on obverse otherwise nice coin

Looks like the normal S vs inverted S variant (estimates 30-50%)

You can always learn more...

"In 1909 a new hub was introduced and this hub had a substantially stronger LIBERTY in the headband. The resulting detail allows lower grade 1909 coins to have a full LIBERTY even down to otherwise VG8 details. Collectors who rely on LIBERTY alone to determine if a coin is VF20 will make mistakes along the way until the realize that the coin in balance must be viewed to determine the grade. These mistakes will be costly in that they may overpay for overgraded coins that have a full LIBERTY and are graded VF20 yet have overall details consistent with F12, and they will be costly in that the opportunity to acquire choice VF30 coinage may be passed up simply because BER is not complete."

-- Tom Bush


"It is not commonly known that the hub used in 1909 is slightly different from the ones used in other years. Maybe it is the same hub, just a bit warped, but in any case, the word Liberty is a bit more recessed in 1909 than it is in the other years, and that applies to the coins from all three mints. What it boils down to, is that you can not grade a 1909 Barber half dollar based solely on the word Liberty as you have been trained to do. To properly grade a 1909, you have to look at the overall level of detail on the coin, focusing in particular on the amount of detail visible in the wreath."

--Mike Nourse - Runs Alaska Coin Exchange and has been known to appear in CCF.

F12. NIce coin

This one came in as expected.