You know Charles E. Barber, the sixth Chief Engraver of the United States Mint (1879-1917), designed the long-existing Barber Dimes, Quarters and Half Dollars. Do you know his middle initial "E" stands for Edward? Do you know he succeded his father, William Barber, who was the mint's fifth Chief Engraver (1869-1879)? Do you know the two coins William designed? HINT: Both denominations were short lived entities. 1. He designed the 20 Cent piece. 2. He designed the Trade Dollar. NOTE: He designed a few pattern coins, such as this 1877 silver half dollar, Judd #1528: http://store1.yimg.com/I/uspatterns_1907_4804899 Clinker
Clinker, I thought the 20 cent piece used the same Seated Liberty design as the dimes,quarters,halves and dollars.What did Wm.Barber change or add?
Yep, I knew both of those answers and all about the family and designing coins. Hint-let more than one person take a stab at guessing before posting the answers.
Did you know he added the motto to the Saint-Gaudens eagle and double eagles? Did you know he added the chain mail to MacNeil's awesome artistic design? Did you also know any design that ended up on a coin under his reign as chief engraver he tried to get his grubby hands on? Did you know that I can't stand the man?
Barber also removed a lot of the "roughness" from the fields of James E. Fraser's classic buffalo nickel design. SACRILEGIOUS!!
Barber also made the striking of the Peace dollars easier by 'flattening' the die with a wood board & a hammer. He hated anyone who was able to design a coin, since it wasn't him. I apologize, per Breen, it was Morgan (of Morgan $ fame) who did this.
I don't agree with that. In fact, I think time has been very good for Barber, and all his complaints about the coin designs that were forced on him proved to be accurate. They were bringing in Medal artistis and sculputers to make coins and the problem was that coins and freezes are different medium. Barbar coins are handsom coins and the wear terrifically well. The Buffalo Nickle, Peace Dollar, St Augustin Double Eagle all suffered basic problems which Barber understood. Coin World this week has a very decent article on Barber patterns. Ruben
