1894-S Barber Half - High S Vs. Low S?

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 3,329
pfriddle Valued Member United States 151 Posts	Posted 07/10/2011 5:40 pm A friend of mine called me today to ask a coin question that I can't answer. He's working on filling an old Whitman Barber half dollar folder. He picked up an 1894-S at a coin show today. The folder has holes for High S and Low S. He wasn't able to find any mention of it online or anybody at the show who had heard of it. My guess is that they're referring to mintmark placement but that seems a little dumb on a relatively high mintage coin with hand punched mint marks. I figured if anybody would know something about it, it would be somebody here. So, what is it? What would you do? Just pick up 2 of them to fill the holes? Thanks, Phil Report this Post to the Staff

SsuperDdave Moderator United States 23522 Posts	Posted 07/10/2011 6:20 pm Yeah, it's the mint mark location. Odd that it became an "official" designation, for the reason you mention. Report this Post to the Staff
TreasHunt Pillar of the Community United States 2540 Posts	Posted 07/19/2011 11:41 am The older folders contained the two varieties. Yes, it is a Low MM and a high MM. Also, FYI: It was listed as a variety in the Guide Book of US coins (the Red Book) through the 5th edition, 1952-53. It was removed as a lisitng in the 6th edition. Report this Post to the Staff
gregvolk New Member United States 1 Posts	Posted 07/28/2011 1:22 pm Can anyone supply photos to illustrate the difference between the low and high S? Are the two equally common (2M each) or is one more rare than the other? Which MM position (low or high) was used in other years (say 1893 or 1895)? Why do you suppose the distinction was dropped from the Red Book after 1953? Thanks. Greg Report this Post to the Staff
JoshsCoins New Member United States 43 Posts	Posted 01/04/2025 10:57 pm I was recently searching for photos online of reverses of 1894-S Barber halves to compare my 1894-S to examples with other mint mark locations. I happened to stumble on this old topic. This was discussed at some point in an old Barber Coin Collectors' Society's newsletter. At a certain point the numismatic consensus became that the mint mark locations were not distinct enough, particularly as more coins were discovered/examined with more variations of the mint mark location. That must've been a pretty darn old Whitman folder that the OP's friend had! Edited by JoshsCoins 01/04/2025 10:58 pm Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 4 / Views: 3,329

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