Featured The Coinage of Charles E. Barber, Prooflike Edition

With the recent pickup of a Barber Dime, I have completed a subset of my larger Prooflike Typeset - all of the Barber coinage. It is interesting to compare them side-by-side. I'll be honest, I've never been a huge fan of Barbers: the artwork is functional at best, the designs are boring. They replaced the long-running Seated Liberty series which, while not the greatest, at least had more interesting designs. When the Barber coins were finally put to rest, they were replaced with some of the greatest designs in our coinage history.

However, now that I own them, I have come to appreciate the fine details that some of them possess. Barber wasn't an artistic sort of fellow, but at least he was a skilled engraver. The details on the feathers of the Eagle are some of the best around.

What really sets these coins apart is their prooflike quality. Prooflike Barber coinage is very scarce. Just a quick rundown of the numbers: there are only 18 Liberty nickels (and I own the single NGC graded No Cents PL); 38 dimes; a whopping 40 quarters; and 28 halves (plus a DMPL that I really would like to own). These are the numbers for the entire series! It has been my experience from watching the auctions very closely that you may see one or two prooflike Barbers appear each year, if you are lucky. Most commonly, you'll find beat up and abused 61 and 62 PLs. In my opinion, you really need at least 63 to appreciate a PL, and 64 is my target grade.

Well, without further ado, lets get to the coins. First up we have an 1883 No Cents Liberty Nickel, graded NGC MS-65PL CAC. As previously mentioned, this is the only one (graded by NGC) in existence. ANACS has graded several No Cents PLs, and I've seen a few of them (many of them wouldn't pass muster at NGC). This coin is intricately struck, with a delicate icy blue color. The mirrors are deep and unquestionable. A little minor spotting is present, but the eye appeal of this one is undeniable.




The with-cents version of the Liberty nickel is far more common in prooflike. My example is 64PL. While the strike is average, and the eye appeal is average - its the mirrors that really set this one off. There are strong mirrors, especially on the obverse, that serve to make this a special coin.




The dime was the last piece of the puzzle for me. I bought this 63PL because it was available and I didn't know when the next chance would be to get a PL dime, but once I got it in hand I began to appreciate it more. The mirrors are clear and undeniable, and I'm slightly perplexed why it only graded 63. Die polish covers the surfaces, and I can only assume that graders may have mistaken it for hairlines. There is an intriguing patch of die roughness (maybe rust?) in the obverse field in front of her nose, and much of the die polish is concentrated around this area. I assume that the die rusted, workers attempted to repair it, and then burnished the die to blend in the polish. Either way, I get my PL coin.




Because I have a Prooflike addiction, I had to pick up this second PL quarter. 2014 has been the Year of the Barber for me, I got most of my Barbers this year. This piece has a nice strong strike, with beautiful mirrors. There is impressive cameo contrast on this coin. Both obverse and revierse are afflicted with some haziness/spotting, but a planned trip to NCS will remedy that. This one is graded 64PL. 1892 was the first year of the Barber coinage, and is by far the most common date for PL coinage (13 of the 40 are from 1892). Thus, I was able to pick this coin up for a very reasonable price!




My primary PL Quarter is much nicer. The strike is stronger, the mirrors are deeper, the fields are cleaner. It doesn't have the appealing cameo contrast of the 1892, but it makes up for it by being a scarcer date. This 64PL is a keeper, for sure.




And finally, we come to the big sister of the group: the half dollar. I've always been a fan of half dollars, and this one is no exception. The strike here is razor sharp, and the mirrors are strong enough to shave in. The fields are clean and beautiful, with just a bit of hazing/toning around the edges. While it only grades 64PL, I am perplexed at what's keeping it from a 65.




So there you have it, a guided tour of the coinage of Charles E. Barber, as illustrated by the Poe Collection of Prooflike Coins. I'd love to see your Prooflike Barbers, if you have any, and any comments on mine are welcome!

 

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Nice to see you posting here again Jason.

 

Wow, those are fine proof like examples you have physics-fan.

 

I have seen a PL Barber dime on Great Collections for a while. Don't know if it's still there or not. It looked very nice. Would have lived to have bought it, but would have been around $1000.

 

As usual great write up Jason, hope you stick around to post more, as I've also enjoyed your writing.

 

Here it is, starting bid at $800 at GC in case you were interested

 

Beautiful Barbers!

 

Great post.

 

Jason, you have incredible collecting savvy.

 

Beautiful coins! I've honestly not been much of a Barber fan, but these coins/photos may have changed my mind.

 

Awesome Thread!

 

Terrific write up.

How about adding some of the background story about
1) how you got interested in them
and
2) How & where you acquired them.

 

Thanks for all the nice comments guys.

Treashunt - that type of info is (usually) in my entry in my Registry set. I have it linked in my signature for your convenience. It is not completely up-to-date, so anything purchased in the last few months won't have a full description (yet).

 

Hey! Welcome back. I've been fortunate enough to see multiple coins from this evolving collection and the difference between these and typical business strike coins is profound. This is a great thread.

 

Very nice coins.

 

lucky to find this one years ago

 

I'll throw in a fantasy piece for fun. This was created from Charles E. Barber's proposed design for Puerto Rico Coinage in 1899.

 

Those are really cool coins. The best thing about them, to me, is their basic nature as far as design yet ultra rarity. You hardly ever see Barber coins with a full, viewable "Liberty" unless you trade in expensive coinage. I really like Bust coinage for its plain features and the fact that some look like they were drawn by a 10 year old yet the effort put in to making those coins was profound. Cheers to you Physics on some wonderful coins.