JeffRM Barber 50C

关于此套币: Assembling a set of Barber Half Dollars in VF to AU graded coins presents quite a challenge, typically taking many years to complete. The series is full of rarities, due to original mintage and low survival rates. In fact, the entire mintage of all Barber Half Dollars over a 23 year span is less than the current cent production at one mint for one month today.

At the turn of the 20th Century the Half Dollar represented a large sum of money and was a workhorse in daily commerce. Credit/ debit cards didn’t exist and personal checks were rare. Cash was King, and few transactions required more than a few coins to complete. The Half Dollar rarely sat in one place long; because of its purchasing power was rarely saved. The number of surviving Barber Halves in grades above VG is small- no early hoards have been discovered.

In the Twenties and Thirties coin collecting popularized, but few people made the effort to remove the Barber Half dollars from circulation (too much money with no perceived return). Most halves went on to serve commerce into the 40’s and even the 50’s before being retired. Thankfully a small supply of better condition Barber Halves did survive.

Back in the 40’s and 50’s coin collecting was not as sophisticated as today. Coins were commonly stored in cabinets, open to the environment. Bright white coins were considered most attractive, socollectors often cleaned/ polished their silver pieces to remove the never ending tarnish. As the 50’s and 60’s arrived unscrupulous collectors/ dealers developed methods to “improve” the appearance of slightly impaired coins by mechanical means, thus destroying the coins originality forever. Very few nice Barber Halves made it to 1985 without mechanical or chemical intervention of some sort.

As Third Party Graders popularized the small number of surviving market acceptable Barber Halves was slowly revealed. Although raw original XF to AU coins periodically surface (I have many of them represented in my set), most raw coins available in the marketplace (above Fine condition) have been cleaned or are damaged and will not straight grade. For me the coin collecting thrill of my youth returns when I happen to discover a raw XF to AU Barber Half that grades.

This set began around 1980 when I was a young college graduate. I purchased many dates in the early ‘80s, some of them key dates in nice collectable condition. I also unknowingly managed to find many cleaned and damaged pieces. As the complexity of life developed these pieces sat in my Dansco Album untouched for 25 years until the collecting bug returned. My original goal was to assemble a XF to AU set.

In 2011 I began collecting in earnest again and proceeded to submit my coins for grading at ICG. This was both an eye opening and learning experience; only about half my collection graded. My goal was modified; I now wanted to complete a XF to AU graded set. After discovering that my spare ICG graded slabs garnered little to no market respect I switched to NGC for grading raw coins and crossed my ICG slabs to NGC.

In 2012 I discovered the NGC Registry sets, and completed my set in F to AU condition, with about 75% NGC and 25% PCGS coins. I stayed active, constantly seeking upgrades (raw or graded). By 2013 my set had established itself as one of the better ones out there, but I discovered the market had little respect for anything but PCGS graded coins at the level I was seeking. I began the task of slowly crossing my collection into PCGS graded holders (with a lot of success). By January 2015 the task was complete.

I now have a complete AU set. Although it’s obvious I like AU 58 coins, I don’t believe in spending MS money for AU merchandise. This thought process will keep me from reaching the top in the Everyman’s Registry. My AU 58 1897 O, 1905 O, and 1914 were purchased as raw coins WAY below market value. My current set is comprised of about 33% raw purchases, 33% coins crossed from NGC or ANACS slabs, and 33% purchased in their current PCGS holder.

Completing an AU graded set of Barber Halves takes not only time and money, but luck and persistence. There are VERY few coins in existence for some dates and they rarely become available. Finding them takes hard work and dedication, but that’s what makes this set so fun and rewarding.