Dr. Peter and Janice Shireman Collection

关于此套币: NOW THIS SET IS OVER 22 YEARS IN THE MAKING. As of June 2015, the average time of ownership of the coins is nearly 11 years. Twenty-five of the 73 coins are shown as the first-shown pictures on Coin Facts.

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For now, this is the current top-rated mint state Barber Halves in the PCGS registry! What does it take to achieve this? It takes passion, patience, persistence, focus, and luck. Assembling a top-notch set can take decades of searching, hunting and holding. Without a doubt it requires a great dealer. All these features are needed to complete this set successfully at the gem level. Our set would not be the high-end premium quality set it is today without the help of coin dealer, Harry Laibstain. He has helped us considerably along the way. Thank you so much Harry. Your camaraderie, great eye for coins, knowledge of numismatics, and market sensibility have aided us greatly. You have helped us find the right coins and avoid the coins that don't work. This is a long set with 73 coins in the basic set, and 74 with the 1892 micro O half.

Building sets like this is a lot of fun and is a very enjoyable pursuit. We plan to hold this set and refine it for the long-term; such advice we have received directly from David Hall, and it makes great sense to us. The set was sent in for Secure Plus in May, 2011 and a number of coins upgraded to Plus grades, a real tribute to the fine numismatic eye of Harry Laibstain. The immense satisfaction and education we have achieved with building this set is unmatched. We have purchased and researched old auction catalogs, and bought any references to Barber Halves that we could find. The Registry Set concept developed by PCGS is a very important contribution to numismatics and has provided a great means of networking among collectors (Steve Duckor and Dale Friend, especially) and dealers. We were able to connect with multiple other collectors and help each other along the way, and the process continues.

Our journey to build this set began in 1994 with an 1892 in MS 64, and was completed with all 73 regular issue coins in mint state in 2002; the last "hole" to fill was the 1911-S. At initial completion of the set the PCGS gpa was 63.69, but this has been improved greatly in the interim, particularly since adding numerous coins from the outstanding collection of Mr John Hugon. Coins from Mr. Hugon's set include the highest graded coin in our set, the 1906-S in MS 68, formerly NGC MS 69. The sale of the sets of Dale Friend and Steve Duckor has provided us with additional great coins. We also obtained an 1892-O micro O, not part of the regular set, but it is part of, and is listed in, the related set of mint state Barber halves with major varieties.

The earliest collectors of the Barber half series typically collected proof examples for the Philadelphia minted issues, but a trend over the past 50 years or so is to obtain the entire set in mint state and collect the proof examples separately. Thus, collections (sets) put together by Clapp (then Eliasberg), Emery-Nichols, and Norweb were often obtained yearly directly from the mint and did not include business strike Philadelphia minted coins (they collected proof examples of these). Eliasberg bought most of his Barber coins directly from the sale of the Clapp estate, continuing that set mostly intact. A large percentage of the top available coins in the Barber Half Dollar series can be traced to coins put away by a few early collectors. We are not aware of that many collectors putting together complete mint state sets from the 1940's-1950's. Noteworthy collections of Barber Halves in the latter half of the 20th Century into current times included: James Stack (not complete but some exceptionally nice coins), Pryor, Queller, Price, Hugon, Friend, Duckor, and Gardner.

There are many tough coins in this set in mint state. Gems for most of the dates are very difficult to find. Superb gems are even less plentiful. Not all certified gems have the eye appeal we look for. The set is currently being upgraded slowly with a target of MS 65-67. The initial targeted grade for the set was MS 63-64, but the bar has been raised over time, thus providing a lot of upgrading over the years. The last regular issue to be obtained in MS 64 or above was the 1900. The last coin needed to attain all MS 65 or better coins was the seemingly common 1908-D; this coin was obtained in October, 2006. Finding a nice gem of this issue was surprising difficult. Specimens are procured from major collections or sales, when possible. The latest addition to the set is the incredible MS 66 + 1896 from a sale of coins found in a Connecticut museum. We love chasing and finding pedigrees for our coins. The Owner's Comments section of our PCGS registry lists the pedigrees, where known, and speculates when there is good reason to think the coin has a specific pedigree. Coins range from original and toned to brilliant white coins.

The other avid Barber collectors we have met are also a great addition to the hobby and the set building. Some collect the circulated coins that we love as well. Meeting Dr. Steve Duckor and Dale Friend, fellow mint state Barber Half Dollar registry set builders, has been a real highlight of our collecting experience. The Barber half display at the February, 2005 Long Beach show, sponsored by PCGS, was a great opportunity to see three complete gem sets, side-by-side. Many thanks to BJ Searls of PCGS for her help with the set registry. She does an amazing job. Other particular events stand out as very memorable. It was great fun attending the auctions of the sets of Steve Duckor and Dale Friend.

Regarding the PCGS population reports of Barber Halves in mint state, most of the numbers are very accurate for coins in the MS 65 and above grades, as so few coins exist and most can be traced with relative ease. With so few coins in the top grades, and many of these listed in registry sets, a large number can be individually accounted for. There are a few falsely elevated population numbers, but not many in the gem and above grades. This type of knowledge has been gained by our long-term study of the series. Such knowledge is also aided greatly by the fabulous Coin Facts site that PCGS has developed. We strongly applaud PCGS for this great concept and labor of love that is already a great work, and will only improve with time. All of the coins in our set are imaged using TrueView and can be viewed in Coin Facts, including the large-sized images. A lot of the coins in the set are in the top five or top ten condition census for the issues.

A numismatic library is a helpful and important resource to allow more in-depth study and enhances the collecting experience. For Barber half dollars, key literature includes auction catalogs of important collections such as Eliasberg, Norweb, Price, Pryor, Friend, Duckor, Gardner, and others. A few reference books specific to Barber halves have been written by David Lawrence and Kevin Flynn. The PCGS resource of CoinFacts is also an incredible source of information that has information on population reports, auction results, and much more.