Soooo, I hit a coin store downtown today intent on scoping out some barber dimes for my set, but semi keys must be VG or better. I have now officially noticed an alarming trend. Barber dimes with full rims, front and back, but no letters in liberty being graded as VG and dimes with at least 2 partial letters being graded fine. What are your thoughts on this.
My brother and I were discussing this a few weeks ago and it appears to him at least that many of the older series were being more generously graded. Particularly in the Barber series where traditionally you needed all of a letter to be there for it to count, but they are now counting half aletter plus half a letter equals 1 whole letter. He called it "market grading" , but I called it... well, I called it something that I can't say here. Needless to say I am opposed.
I don't like blanket statements concerning grading of barber coinage. Much like the "full horn" on the buffalo nickels, I think we rely too much on the number of letters remaining. I think all those concerned would be better served at looking at the entire coin when determing grade, and not focusing too much on a single detail...Mike
Like I tell everyone questioning a grade, ignore it and make your own call on it. Personally, I think the Barber design was one of, if not the worst US coin design in history. Not just because it's horribly plain, but because the details ware so uneven and so unpredictable. I always assume with most other design, if there are at least three letters left in LIBERTY, it's a Fine. With Barber coins, all the letters may be there, as is often the case, while the rest of the coin's details are shoddy at best. Don't go by the letters on Barbers. I go by three things:1) Are all the outlines on the head wreath visable and not worn smooth. 2) How much eye detail remains. 3)Are the kernels of corn on the reverse wreath visable. If all these are good, you have at least a VF Barber. Guy~
In my personal opinion, Barber Dimes with nice, full rims and no lettering are G-6 coins. Grading is subjective, and there may be people willing to pay VG money for original coins with full rims, but I'll stick with my grade assessment.
I see what you're saying and while I agree to a point I have to say that in my experience a barber, especially a dime with no LIBERTY just doesn't have the overall detail to make it to VG (not counting the letters). I have however seen a few that with one or two letters do make it up to VG and some with 2 1/2 or 3 letters with nice fine details, even a select few with 1/2 or 1 letter with VG detail, but from the way the barber wears it seems that a good litmus test for the most part is looking at the letters.
My opinion is that no matter what you are grading you should stick to a given set of standards and let it be at that. And the standards I use are those published by the ANA. In this case, for F 12, those standards say - Obverse - Some details show in hair, cap and facial features. All letters in LIBERTY are weak but visible. Upper row of leaves is outlined, but bottom row is worn smooth. That seems pretty clear to me.
I agree, if you buy a coin using your own grading format, what can you expect someday when you try to sell it? You may be one of those guys on eBay that we make fun of.
