US Coins 1894 Barber Half Dollar
The Barber Half Dollar was introduced in 1892 along with the similarly designed dime and quarter dollar coins. Featuring the basic design of Liberty on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse, the series was produced until 1915, after which it was replaced by the popular Walking Liberty design. The Barber Half Dollar is traditionally one of the less popular series to collect, but has been attracting more attention recently and original pieces have become increasingly difficult to find in any grade.
The Barber Half Dollar shares the same story as the two other smaller denominations, the Barber Dime and Quarter. Designed by Charles E. Barber, it was the result of two contests that both failed with no direct result. The first contest included ten well-known American sculptors, which unbelievably did not include Augustus St. Gaudens, one of the most popular sculptors of the time. The second contest was public, with well over 300 different designs submitted. Unbelievably here as well, none of the submitted designs was approved by the United States Mint.
Finally, the task was given to Charles E. Barber, then-current Chief Engraver of the US Mint. In his Encyclopedia, Walter Breen gives a short but clear point of view as to why he was eventually chosen to design the coins:
“One of the judges [of the public contest] was Mint Engraver Charles E. Barber (as notorious for opposition to outsiders’ coin designs as for dullness), none of the 300 entries won a prize…The new Mint Director, Edward O. Leech, denounced the competition idea as a wretched failure, and turned over the redesigning task to Barber, who had wanted it all along.”
Barber’s obverse design features a bust of Liberty wearing a Phrygian cap with the word LIBERTY appearing on the band. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears above, with 13 stars surrounding, and the date below. The designer’s initial “B” is placed on the truncation of Liberty’s neck.
The reverse design features an eagle with outstretched wings. One claw clasps an olive branch and the other clasps arrows. Thirteen stars appear above the eagle. A scroll within the eagle’s beak contains the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. Surrounding the entire design are the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and HALF DOLLAR.
The Barber Half Dollar experienced a few minor modifications throughout the years to improve the design, but they were very minor and not noted by collectors and dealers until years after the conclusion of the series. As such, not much research has been done on possible transitional varieties, and in general varieties for this series are widely unknown and virtually uncollected.
US Coins
1894 Barber Half Dollar 1914 Barber Quarter
1892-1915 Half Dollar Barber History
Telephone service began between New York and Chicago. Also in Chicago, 30-year-old soap salesman William Wrigley started selling chewing gum instead. The Coca-Cola Company was organized in Atlanta, and the first pneumatic tire was invented.
The year was 1892, and new beginnings seemed to be the order of the day. That was the case in U.S. coinage, as well. Three new silver coins entered circulation that year. Sometimes identified as the Liberty Head half dollar, quarter and dime, they're more often referred to by the name of their designer: the U.S. Mint's chief sculptor-engraver, Charles E. Barber.
The subsidiary silver coins were long overdue for a facelift. All had carried the Seated Liberty portrait for more than half a century, and while it's true that life was more leisurely back then, the pace of change in this case was downright glacial. The Mint had had little incentive to change the designs of these coins. Only one of the three, the Seated Liberty dime, had been made in the previous decade in anything approaching normal numbers. New half dollars and quarters were barely struck at all during the 1880s, because the federal government had more than enough older coins (some dating back to the late 1840s) stashed away in its vaults to satisfy public demand.
The Mint was not oblivious to the need for new designs. In his annual report for 1887, Mint Director James P. Kimball pointedly referred to the "popular desire for an improvement of the coinage in respect to the present designs." Not until 1890 did the inventories of older halves and quarters finally decline to the point where normal production seemed likely to resume, making the time more propitious for giving the silver coins a brand-new look.
In 1890, Kimball secured legal underpinning for the concept of regular design change. He prevailed upon Congress to pass legislation specifying that from that point forward, coin designs could be changed administratively after being in use for 25 years. The half dollar, quarter and dime were eligible at once, although in point of fact, the Mint could have changed them any time it wanted under the standard procedures it had followed in previous years.
Kimball was intrigued by the notion of holding a limited competition to obtain new designs for the silver coinage. At his urging, in 1890 the Treasury invited 10 outstanding artists to submit proposed designs for the half dollar, quarter and dime. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the nation's pre-eminent sculptor, headed the list of invitees. There's little doubt that the contest would have borne impressive fruit, but before it could begin, the artists got together and drafted a set of terms without which, they insisted, they wouldn't compete. Among other things, they demanded that each entrant get $100 for each sketch that he submitted and $500 for each completed model. The Treasury turned them down and instead conducted a contest open to one and all. This produced some 300 entries, but nothing deemed usable on the coinage.
Chief Engraver Barber proved to be the winner in the end. Frustrated by the poor public entries, the Mint turned to Barber in 1891 to design the coins, an assignment he had coveted all along.
Barber came up with similar obverse artwork for all three coins. It features a right-facing head of Liberty with her hair bound up in a cap, a laurel wreath resting along her hairline and a diadem bearing the incused inscription LIBERTY over her brow. The designer's initial (B) is at the base of the neck. On the half dollar and quarter, the motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears above this portrait, the date below and 13 stars alongside. The two larger coins also share a common reverse design. It depicts a heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast, an olive branch clutched in its right talons and arrows in its left talons. Inscriptions on this side include UNITED STATES OF AMERICA along the top border, the statement of value along the bottom and E PLURIBUS UNUM on a ribbon held tightly in the eagle's beak. Thirteen stars are arrayed in the field above the eagle. When grading this design, the points on the obverse that will first show wear are the cheek and the hair below LIBERTY; on the reverse, check the eagle's head and the tips of the tail and wings.
All three Barber silver coins made their first appearances in 1892, and all three had steady, unspectacular careers in the nation's coinage lineup. In the case of the Barber half dollar, annual production never exceeded 6 million at any given mint; the highpoint came in 1899, when the main mint in Philadelphia made just a shade over 5.5 million. On the other hand, yearly output never dropped below 100,000 at any one mint. The low point occurred in 1914, when just 124,610 half dollars were struck in Philadelphia. Besides the main mint, Barber halves also were produced at the branch mints in New Orleans (O), San Francisco (S) and Denver (D), with the mintmark placed below the eagle. Scarce issues include 1892-O, 1892-S, 1893-S, 1896-S, 1901-S, 1904-S and the last three pieces from Philadelphia1913, 1914 and 1915. However, there are no extreme rarities. Proofs were produced every year, with mintages ranging from a high of 1,245 in the first year of issue to a low of 380 in 1914, the second-to-last year of the series. In 1916, the Barber coin was replaced by a new half dollar, the Walking Liberty type.
Barber half dollars were struck for a total of 24 years and in 73 different date-and-mint combinations. Collectors do assemble date-and-mint sets, especially in circulated grades, but in mint condition this coin is far more often collected by type. Meaningful numbers exist in mint state levels up to MS-65, but above that the population is thin.
The total output of Barber half dollars for all 24 years was only about 136 million. That's less than half the number of Kennedy halves struck in 1964 at the Philadelphia Mint, but then, Barber halves were bigger money. Back in 1900, a half dollar would have bought a man's shirt or two pairs of suspenders. Money certainly went further in the "good old days!"
Barber Half Dollar Specifications
Like all other silver coins struck after 1873, the Barber Half Dollar is struck from a composition of 90% silver and 10% copper. When in uncirculated condition, the coins should weigh 12.50 grams (193 grains) with a diameter of 30.6 mm. All pieces have a reeded edge.
Barber Half Dollars were struck at a number of different Mints: Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco and Denver. For the latter three, the mint mark is found on the reverse of the coin, beneath the eagle’s tail feathers.
Although far from being among the most popular series for collectors, Barber Half Dollars have gained some popularity in recent times. Collectors have now discovered that most pieces have been dipped, cleaned, or otherwise mistreated in any grade. As such, this is one of the few series where original EF pieces are often much harder to find than mint state pieces of only medium quality. The circulated pieces in highest demand are those toned to a natural dark-grey color, which has proven to be very hard to find for all dates in the series.
Dates: 1892-1915
Mint Mark: none (Philadelphia), D (Denver), O (New Orleans), S (San Francisco)
Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper
Weight: 12.50 grams
Diameter: 30.6 mm
Edge: reeded
Designer: Charles E. Barber
Barber Half Dollar Mintages
The Barber Half Dollar was produced from 1892 to 1915 inclusive. For each year from the introduction of the series until 1905, coins were minted at the Philadelphia, New Orleans, and San Francisco Mints. Starting with 1906, some dates were also minted in Denver. After 1909, coins were no longer minted in New Orleans. Coins were produced at the Philadelphia Mint every year of the series.
The lowest mintage coin is the 1914 Barber Half Dollar with only 124,230 pieces struck. This is closely followed by the 1913 and 1915 coins, which also have fewer than 200,000 produced. The true rarities for the series occur for some San Francisco minted coins, which are exceedingly difficult to find in high grades.
Despite the higher mintage of 553,038 pieces, the 1904-S is the scarcest non-variety issue of the series in mint state grades.
The table below displays the mintage figures for each date and mint mark combination of the series.
1892 934,000
1892-O 390,000
1892-S 1,029,028
1893 1,826,000
1893-O 1,389,000
1893-S 740,000
1894 1,148,000
1894-O 2,138,000
1894-S 4,048,960
1895 1,834,338
1895-O 1,766,000
1895-S 1,108,086
1896 950,000
1896-O 924,000
1896-S 1,140,948
1897 2,480,000
1897-O 632,000
1897-S 933,900
1898 2,956,000
1898-O 874,000
1898-S 2,358,550
1899 5,538,000
1899-O 1,724,000
1899-S 1,686,411
1900 4,762,000
1900-O 2,744,000
1900-S 2,560,322
1901 4,268,000
1901-O 1,124,000
1901-S 847,044
1902 4,922,000
1902-O 2,526,000
1902-S 1,460,670
1903 2,278,000
1903-O 2,100,000
1903-S 1,920,772
1904 2,992,000
1904-O 1,117,600
1904-S 553,038
1905 662,000
1905-O 505,000
1905-S 2,494,000
1906 2,638,000
1906-D 4,028,000
1906-O 2,446,000
1906-S 1,740,154
1907 2,598,000
1907-D 3,856,000
1907-O 3,946,000
1907-S 1,250,000
1908 1,354,000
1908-D 3,280,000
1908-O 5,360,000
1908-S 1,644,828
1909 2,368,000
1909-O 925,400
1909-S 1,764,000
1910 418,000
1910-S 1,948,000
1911 1,406,000
1911-D 695,080
1911-S 1,272,000
1912 1,550,000
1912-D 2,300,800
1912-S 1,370,000
1913 188,000
1913-D 534,000
1913-S 604,000
1914 124,230
1914-S 992,000
1915 138,000
1915-D 1,170,400
1915-S 1,604,000