Webstore Help Page!

By Paul M. Green
Numismatic News

Barber half dollars in general are the toughest type coin of the past century. Of the Barber halves, the most overlooked group within the set are probably the Philadelphia issues. Overlooking Philadelphia issues is easy to understand. As the main mint of the United States, Philadelphia generally did have the highest mintages and as a result the coins of Philadelphia would usually be the most available. However, in the case of half dollars especially that was not always the case, and that is seen in the case of Barber halves. Included among the Philadelphia dates are some very low mintage and surprisingly tough coins.
Low mintages are not everything when arriving at today's prices, especially in Mint State, and that is where we see that many of the Philadelphia Barber halves tend to be lower in prices than those from other facilities. Philadelphia coins were generally more heavily saved. Plus, in the case of the Barber half, there were proofs every year, and that has helped the type supply today. Even so, it would be wrong to take the Philadelphia Barber halves for granted.
There were a number of factors working against the saving of Barber halves during the period from 1892-1915 when they were produced. The first factor was a simple one: that they were not very popular with the collectors of the time. To start with, collecting was in a slow cycle with the numbers of proofs being sold each year dropping. The national economy was also weak during the early years of the Barber half dollar. Further, no one was really impressed with the design. All of those considerations joined to makes the Barber half dollar a set that was not being filled by many.
The Barber half was a problem for collectors even if they were interested a half dollar was too much money for many collectors at the time. Nor did that situation change for a long time as even in the 1950s many younger collectors were not attempting Franklin half dollar sets simply because they were too expensive. That problem was seen in the case of Barber half dollars quite literally for the entire time they were produced. The average Barber half simply reached circulation and continued to circulate for decades. We see some strong proof of that fact in the New York Subway Hoard put together in the 1940s and purchased by the Littleton Coin Company back in the 1990s. The hoard included 24 complete sets of Barber half dollars, and to be available in the 1940s means that some of the dates had been in circulation for 50 years.
The impact of the lack of saving, both when released and over the years in circulation, makes virtually every Barber half dollar a tougher coin than might be expected not just in Mint State but also in circulated grades. Moreover, with such a long time in circulation, it is entirely possible that numbers of many dates were simply retired as too worn and destroyed, potentially meaning the mintage totals might not be accurate guides as to the availability of some dates today.
The very first 1892 Philadelphia Barber half dollar pointed immediately to the fact that it could not be taken for granted that the Philadelphia mintages would be high. The 1892 had a mintage of 935,245, which was lower than the 1892-S. The 1892 might have been saved, not unusual for the first year of a new design. Today in G-4 the 1892 lists at $28.50 while an MS-60 is at $475, basically an available-date price, suggesting saving around Philadelphia. An MS-65 is at $3,400, slightly higher than the most available MS-65 dates, which are at $3,000. In this case the numbers at the Professional Coin Grading Service serve as a good guide to how available or tough other dates might be. PCGS reports 111 examples in MS-65 and better and over 500 total Mint State examples graded.
The 1893 would have a higher mintage of 1,826,792, but in fact it shows that there was definitely some saving in the first year as the 1893 is much less available in Mint State where it has a price of $535 in MS-60 and $5,500 in MS-65. Those prices are deserved as PCGS has seen around 125 examples in Mint State and of that total only 21 were MS-65 or better.
The 1894 and 1895 would be similar in that both had mintages of between one million and two million pieces. The 1894 would have the lower mintage at 1,148,972, which results in a price of $32.50 in G-4 today while the 1,835,218-mintage 1895 is at $17.50 in that grade. In MS-60 the 1895 becomes the more expensive at $595 while the 1894 is just $500. They switch places again in MS-65 where the 1894 is at $3,900 while the 1895 is $3,500. The close prices are no accident; PCGS shows just a one coin difference in the numbers seen of the two.