This year, the Smithsonian released a privately struck medal whose design incorporated two different coins. The obverse shows the obverse of the 1878 $1 design by Charles Barber, and the reverse shows the reverse of the 1891 proposal by William Barber, the son. Both proposals, as we now know, were rejected in favor of Morgan's design. Upon seeing this, I became curious about the sides of the coins that were not available in this commemorative, meaning the reverse of that 1878 and the obverse of that 1891. But a Google search was fruitless. I couldn't find what those two proposed Barber $1 designs look like, in their entirety. Can you share a link wherein I can see both sides of each of these coins by the father and son? Or maybe you might somehow have a replica tribute? Finally - one more question. On that NGC label, it says "1878 m." What does the "m" mean? Thanks all.
UPDATE: My search led me to The Barber Coin Collectors Society, and I wrote to them for information. Hopefully, they'll be able to help.
Here’s the 1878 pattern with reverse. https://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/item/1878-1-j-1554/61915/6486796175335578644
Thanks! And here I am wrecking my brain for 2 days. That design is really quite nice! I guess I wasn't using the right key words. Now I'll try "1891 Barber Dollar Pattern" and see what I get. Thanks again.
I can't find anything on an 1891 pattern dollar nor anything with that design on any denomination for 1891, and not on any other years I looked at on uspatterns.com. It's not on the list of pattern coins in Barber's personal collection (https://uspatterns.stores.yahoo.net/charbarpatco.html?viewfullsite=1 which doesn't mean it didn't exist). It seems odd that Charles Barber would be doing a pattern dollar in 1891.
Yeah, isn't it weird that nothing much is available on the net? Well, let's see - maybe the Barber Coins Collector Society can help. Thanks for that link.
Oh, yeah, maybe. I thought it must be quite a common abbreviation which I just didn't know, due to my experience level. Maybe, I'll contact NGC.
Generally like both, but the 1878 reverse is sort of a sickly-looking eagle to me...glad the Morgan won out.
Roger Burdette says there was no discussion about changing the dollar in 1890/91 and he has nothing in his database. It could be from a medal or drawing, and might not have had another side. His verdict is "bogus". I agree that the concept of "Barbers' Morgan" is pretty lame. If there was actually a pattern coin struck with that design, we'd know about it. I briefly searched the Smithsonian collection and there are 531 hits for "Charles Barber". There are a lot of designs, drawings, and medals without images, and many undated, so maybe it's one of those. For 1891 there are just the known pattern pieces for the new 1892 denominations.
The obverse of the "dollar" in the OP looks a lot like the pattern for the $50 gold piece or "half union." Here is a picture of that piece from "Wikipedia." The coin was the center of a scandal that grew out of trade that future Treasury Secretary, William Wooden, made with the mint. He had both of the $50 gold piece patterns and the mint wanted them for the national collection. He gave them the coins in exchange for a "trunk full" of U.S. pattern coins. Wooden later wrote a book on patterns with Edger Adams circa 1913.
