Barber Dimes 1892-1916 Coin

As early as 1879, municipal dissatisfaction with the Seated Liberty proposal was heard in Washington and Philadelphia. It was felt by many that the realm's coin designs were back-tariff, but few could have predicted how mundane a change could actually be. New mint engravers submitted designs throughout the early 1880s, but the only outcome was the production of a new nickel in 1883 intended by Chief Engraver Charles Barber. In 1891, when there was much discussion of a communal competition for new designs for the dime, district money and half cash, Barber reported to Mint Director James Kimball that there was no one in the country who was clever of helping him in preparing primary designs.

This same egoism was also found in one of the principal sculptors of the day, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who confided to the Mint Director that there were only four men in the world competent to do such a redesigning: three were in France, and he was the fourth. Kimball insisted that very than unfilled abroad to find the best fabricate talent available, it would be viable to find able designers in America. To that end a panel of ten of the leading artists and sculptors of the day was commissioned to guess which would be the best designs for the new currency. Rather than make any decisions about a topic competition, the panel instead discarded the language of the competition as future by Mint officials on the basis that the preparation time for plaster models was too dumpy and the monetary compensation too trifling.

The Mint Director discarded the panel's suggestions and threw the competition open to the shared. The outcome of a shared competition were likewise discouraging. Of the more than 300 drawings submitted, only two were accorded a good remark by a four-associate panel appointed by Kimball (it should be imminent that one of the panel members was Charles Barber).

Kimball's successor to the mint directorship was Edward O. Leech. The latter was well awake of the evils Director Kimball had encountered annoying to get new coin designs. Leech avoided what he termed the "wretched letdown" of committees and public discussion all together by modestly directing the chief engraver to draw new designs which, of course, is what Barber hunted all along.

What Barber did was to temper the large journey worn on the Morgan dollar by adding a Liberty cap and cropping Liberty's wool shorter in back. He then sited his initial B on the truncation of the shaft. The converse uses almost the same wreath used on the Seated Liberty dime of 1860-91.

What Barber did accomplish with his new dime, while, was to draft and place into production a coin that would endure the salient requirements of complex, high-alacrity coin presses. As a Mint employee he was acutely sentient of the penury for coins to be planned so they would assault up with one drive from the coin plead. His mistrust to outsiders was, no doubt, due in part to distrust, but in all fairness he did understand the testing specifications necessary to achieve millions of coins for commercial purposes.

The first Barber dimes were struck on January 2, 1892. Over half a billion pieces were struck during the next twenty-five time. Some issues have mintages as small as 500,000 (such as 1895-O, 1901-S and 1913-S), while others were struck in quantities as large as 22 million (1907-P). At one time or another four mints struck these coins, and the mintmark of Denver (D), San Francisco (S) and New Orleans (O) can be found on the junior transpose below the loop in the bow (there being no mintmark for coins struck in Philadelphia).

Barber dimes are, for the most part, a completeable set of coins with no significant court or mintmark rarities, excluding for the legendary 1894-S. The low relief sketched confident that most coins would be sharply struck, excluding for a few issues from New Orleans (known for weak strikes over the decades). This necessary of any great effect rarities in the Barber chain stands in downright compare to the next sequence, Adolph Weinman's "Mercury" blueprint, where squishy stunning facts make that chain such a challenge.

There is one great shortage in the Barber dime string, one of the rarest coins in all U.S. numismatics-the 1894-S dime. Allegedly, 24 pieces were struck on orders from San Francisco Mint Superintendent J. Daggett. Only ten specimens can be accounted for today, which presents one of the great numismatic mysteries of the earlier hundred days: Where are the other fourteen 1894-S dimes that were reportedly struck? All the known 1894-S dimes proofs, and all were struck from the same set of dies. Much has been written on this fascinating shortage over the time, and there are many interesting stories and theories about these coins. Undoubtedly the best known untruth is that Superintendent Daggett gave three of the coins to his daughter Hallie and told her to keep them pending she was as old as he was, when they would be worth a lot of money. On her way home from the mint, she useless one of the dimes on a dish of ice cream. Today that coin is known as the "Ice Cream Specimen." The other two she kept and lastly sold in the 1950s.

Grading Barber dimes are a relatively unadorned handle. On high grade coins, signs of circulation will first seem on Liberty's cheek and in the fields. For a coin to be uncirculated, all the mint patina must be outfitted and steady over both sides.

Proofs were struck in each year excluding 1916, and the only overhang find in this series is the 1893/2 overdate. The 1894-S dime is the only number to have been counterfeited in any appreciable records. Dangerous forgeries have been made by shifting the mintmark on an 1894-O or adding one to a Philadelphia coin. Others were made in the mid-1970s in The Philippines.

The series is regularly cool by beginners in Good to Very Good grades, while more advanced collectors choose mint territory and testimony examples. Recently, however, collectors have showed a renewed profit in this and the other Barber series in XF and AU grades. Several issues of these intermediate grade coins are extremely challenging to locate. Curiously, some issues are more demanding to locate in snag-unbound XF or AU than in mint condition due to the signpost of original BU rolls.

Barber dimes are also very common with typeface collectors, especially in high grades. Because the series spans both the 19th and 20th centuries, anyone attempting to absolute a typeface set from the century will need an example.

While the Barber dime may require the artistic earn that designs before, and after displayed, this class, with its distinctive 19th century motif, has remained a favorite with collectors over the decades.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 17.9 millimeters Weight: 2.50 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: 0.0723 ounce wholesome silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Lawrence, David, The Complete Guide to Barber Dimes, DLRC Press,Virginia Beach, VA, 1991. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing, New York, 1966.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Indian Head n Buffalo Nickels 1913-1938

It was a tricky time for Charles Barber, chief engraver of the United States Mint. Although Theodore Roosevelt was no longer in staff, his entreat to have more classical designs on our coins, as expressed to Augustus Saint-Gaudens over feast in 1905, was very much bustling.

Barber's uninspired Liberty Headed nickel had been in production since 1883. Under the Coinage Act of 1890, a change in the, its construct was allowable after 25 time. Secretary of the Treasury Franklin MacVeagh, originally a Roosevelt appointee, wasn't about to outdo up the opportunity. Reminding by his son in May, 1911 that a new nickel would be "A permanent memento of the most attractive mixture," MacVeagh, pointedly bypassing the competent but middling Barber, happening the manage for a new invent.

The Buffalo nickel became an actuality minus than two existence later. On March 4, 1913, coins from the first bag to go into circulation were unfilled to outgoing President Taft and 33 Indian chiefs at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the National Memorial to the North American Indian at Fort Wadsworth, New York.

James Earle Fraser, a past junior to Saint-Gaudens and a plentiful dancer best known for his monumental "End of the Trail" Indian figurine, twisted a rightly sole object for the new coin. Up pending that time, excluding for Bela Lyon Pratt's matter and the eagle of 1908, the "Indians" portrayed on U.S. coins were primarily Caucasian with an Indian headress, epitomized by Saint Gauden's Greek Nike control on the 1907 Indian eagle. Fraser's proposal accurately portrays a gentleman Native American, and the face image was a composite of three chiefs who had posed for him living previous. Keeping with the distinctly American theme, he depicted an American bison on the reorder. The inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and E PLURIBUS UNUM are sneakily placed over the threaten, with the denomination FIVE CENTS below. The legend LIBERTY and the meeting are likewise well executed on the coin's face.

Fraser's outline was medallic and striking, and for secretary favored that purpose MacVeagh. Its charisma seemed completely to dodge Barber, who complained that the intention basics were too large and didn't tolerate for the polite post of inscriptions. Barber didn't get very far with this, as the goal remained unchanged over his objections.

Reservations also came from the vending machinery interest, whose campaign were planned primarily for accepting cents and nickels. Particularly persistent was the Hobbs Manufacturing Company, which marketed an android for detecting counterfeit coins. Mr. Hobbs was certain that Fraser's draft would not work in his mechanism, and he asked that significant changes be made to the models. After much bickering over this, Secretary MacVeagh instructed the Mint to proceed with the inventive fabricate and let the vending engine companies adapt their mechanisms to the coin.

Over 1.2 billion Buffalo Nickels were minted from 1913 through 1938 at three mints; Philadelphia (no mintmark), San Francisco (S), and Denver (D). The mintmark can be found on the reversal under the denomination, while the designer's early "F" is below the year.

There were two varieties made. Type 1 nickels, minted only during the first few months of 1913, had the denomination FIVE CENTS on a raised stack. As early as April, brisk erosion in this area became evident on the coins in circulation, so Barber finally got his chance to transform Fraser's intend. He cut away the mountain, creating an exergue into which the denomination was set. This solved the change abrasion conundrum, but then he reserved leaving. He smoothed out much of the designate and granularity in both the Indian's portrait and the bison's withhold. The ensuing Type 2, however, lacked much of the artistic contact of the initial.

Barber again made small modifications in 1916, and some specialists think this a third subtype, but most enter collectors only consider the Type 1 and 2 coins as actual varieties. It is foreign that during all his modifications, Barber never addressed the snag of the meeting bearing down too hastily.

No Buffalo nickels were made in 1922, 1932 and 1933. Some 5,967 dull proofs were made from 1913 through 1916, and 10,189 brilliant proofs in 1936 and 1937. Strike was an inherent trouble with this coin from the start, and many deceptively well struck business strikes have been incorrect for the matte proofs and associate versa. Many mintmarked coins, especially from 1918 through 1934, are almost unavailable well struck.

When grading these coins of this print, you must take the external into account, as many plump shine pieces will not show rounded relief specify on the high points of the horn or the fringe on the tail. Generally, the date and LIBERTY will be faint on feebly struck pieces. The points on the coin that clothes most willingly are the high instant of the Indian's cheekbone and the fleece near the part. On the reverse, the bison's hip, the fringe on its tail and the horn are the first areas to show scuffing.

Collectors of this string have a fascinating array of "tough" dates and rarities to pursue. The most intricate coin to gain is the very atypical 1918/7-D overdate. Another overdate exists for both the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints-the subtle 1914/3. Scarce to singular dates in high grade include all the San Francisco coins from 1913 through 1928, with 1918, 1920 and 1924 through 1927 being the rarest. Denver coins are generally weaker strikes than San Francisco pieces. The gift the aerial with challenges like the 1918 through 1920 issues and the 1925 and 1926 coins, along with the prominent 1937-D 3-legged Buffalo. This awfully current variety (caused by excessive die-polishing to eradicate clash-marks) was not discovered awaiting most of the coins had reached circulation, making well-struck gem specimens very uncommon today. Particularly in the holder of the "3-legger" or the overdates, authentication by experts is advised, as many counterfeits survive.

Recent time had witnessed renewed collector interest in the Buffalo series, no mistrust stimulated by the wealth of new inquiries untaken by nickel specialists. An ever-budding number of numismatists are assembling finish sets of Buffaloes by date and mintmark. Demand is also clear from kind collectors, all whom seek this goal for their 20th Century-or more comprehensive-lettering sets. Although well struck, inexpensive nature examples such as 1938-D are available, many collectors wish to pursue one of the scarcer dates.

By the end of 1937 planning for the Buffalo nickel's successor was well under way, as the figure's mandatory 25 years would end the following year. It was to be replaced by the third coin to stand a likeness of one of our presidents, Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson nickel continues in production to this day.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 21.2 millimeters Weight: 5 grams Composition: .750 copper.250 nickel Edge: Plain

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I.Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Cohen, Annette R. and Druley, Ray M. The Buffalo Nickel, Potomac Enterprises, Arlington, VA, 1979. Lange, David W. The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1992. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Wescott, Michael, with Keck, Kendall, The United States Nickel Five-Cent Piece, Bowers and Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1991.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.