IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website:https://fairfaxcoins.com
Looks more like XF-45 detail, with obvious light wear on both sides. Dull surfaces and dirt residue indicates cleaning. Eye appeal unfortunately is not very good.
The depression-era and depression-eve Barbers from the 1890s are getting tougher to find in decent condition. That seems to be pushing the market a bit for the other coins, too. It's a little tough grading this coin with photos shot through the coin capsule, but the obverse is plainly weaker than the reverse. The reverse could make low AU, but the obverse holds this one back to EF-45 (or possibly EF-40) as a technical grade.
My concern from the obverse is more than a cleaning. Especially in the area between the eyebrow and the ear, I see multiple pin pricks in the surface. It makes me wonder whether this coin had gunk removed that concealed corrosion. If this coin details with environmental damage, it might be a tougher sell than if it is simply cleaned. That should be easier to determine in hand than from the photos.
No matter what, it's still an in demand date and a piece of history. Not long after this coin entered circulation, the entire economy in the western states collapsed. How that played out in San Francisco - 85% unemployment, bank and business failures, Jack London going to the Yukon, and the city not replacing wooden buildings with brick buildings, thereby making the 1906 earthquake and fire much worse - is fascinating history.
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Posted 08/29/2025 03:45 am
AU details cleaned
