Silver Barber dime from San Francisco!

Collectors and stackers often have their favorites coins, rounds, or bars to collect. I'm no different and have my favorites, but I also have my least favorites to collect as well. In US coinage my least favorites have always been the Barber series of dimes, quarters, and half dollars. Not withstanding, I have collected some over the years when it was a good deal but never really put an effort into completing a collection. @dbooster shared some Barber dimes recently and gave me the inspiration to dig this image up.

I think I just found design less interesting than the other coins the US had produced such as the Morgan dollar, Peace dollar, or the best of all the Saint-Gaudens $20 dollar gold double eagle. When the time came to replace the seated Liberty coin design a contest was devised so that many people could submit their designs and the winner chosen was to receive $500. Augustus Saint-Gaudens (a trained sculptor) was placed on the design committee and soundly rejected all proposed designs. This led to Charles Barber, who was chief engraver at them mint, to ultimately create the Barber design. It didn't come without controversy. Saint-Gaudens hated the design and was quoted to say: "This is inept; this looks like it had been designed by a young lady of sixteen, a miss who had taken only a few lessons in modeling. It is beneath criticism ... There are hundreds of artists in this country, any of whom, with the aid of a designer, could have made a very respectable coin, which this is not." Ouch!

Anyway this is a coin I had a scan of in my laptop, I picked it up several years ago. A 1910 S Barber dime:

About this coin:

Mint: San Francisco

Mintage: 1,240,000

Composition: 90% silver/ 10% copper

Weight: 2.5 grams

Diameter: 17.9 mm

Edge: reeded

Design: Charles E. Barber

What I do like about this coin in is it was minted in San Francisco which is one of my favorite mints to collect. The wear on this coin just goes to show how well used and circulated they were and remained in circulation well into the 1950's. Here's a picture from US Coin Book showing a mint state version of this same coin:

I wish this one was mine, it's probably worth over $700 US.

The Barber dimes, quarters, and half dollars are great to collect or stack because for the most part there were many produced. It's never been my favorite design, but like I said I still own several just because I love the history and the feel of a coin over a hundred years old. I hope you enjoyed my post and feel free to leave any comments or questions. Thanks for stopping by!

And please remember that collecting coins and stacking gold/silver is a great hobby but definitely not for everyone. You can lose money and you have to research before you make any purchase. Before you spend your hard earned money always do your due diligence by researching what you are buying. I am not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, I'm just a guy who loves coins and gold/silver stacking!

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_coinage

https://www.usacoinbook.com/coins/1455/dimes/barber/1910-S/