#1 Barber Half Dollar Buyer Las Vegas & Henderson

History

The Barber half dollar series began in 1892 and continued through 1915. The half dollars were minted in the Philadelphia, San Francisco, Denver, and New Orleans mints. The obverse of the coin displays an image of the head of Liberty with a crown fashioned from an olive branch and a headband with the word, “Liberty” around her head and a ribbon tied behind her hair. The name Barber is taken from the designer, Charles E. Barber. The reverse of the coin displays an eagle with wings outspread and a shield on its chest. The eagle is clutching arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other. The eagle also holds a scroll in its mouth inscribed with the words, “E Pluribus Unum”. Thirteen stars representing the thirteen original colonies appear above the eagle. Mintmarks are situated below the eagle. The Barber half dollar weighs 12.5 grams and is made with 90% silver. The diameter of the coin is 30.6 mm.

After over 50 years of the Seated Liberty series, there was a strong interest in replacing the design. To this day however there are mixed opinions as to the quality of the design. The fact that this design lasted only a little more than twenty years suggests that it may not have been especially popular. This does not mean to say that there are not collectors of the series and, as most coins are not that difficult to obtain, it is not particularly difficult to complete a collection of the entire series. Many of the Barber half dollars were minted in the millions with only three dates, 1913, 1914, and 1915 with less than 150,000 coins having been minted. Even with these small mintage’s, examples of these dates are not particularly expensive, with well circulated examples obtainable for under $150.

Value

Most common dates in the series in well circulated condition are worth between $16 and $20, however they do increase in value to over $1,000 for high mint state specimens. There are some significant rarities in high grade specimens that can attain values in the tens of thousands of dollars. These include the 1901 S and 1904 S. One coin, in particular, that is a variety of the 1892 O can reach in excess of $40,000 in mint state. The variety in this case is that the normal O for the New Orleans mint has been replaced with a “micro” O for some of the coins minted. This O is substantially smaller than the normal O strike and fewer of these coins were issued.

There are many varied opinions on the condition (or grade) of a coin, and the aforementioned values reflect the highest retail prices that have been obtained for those coins that have been assessed by a third party grading company. Such coins have been authenticated, graded and encapsulated by expert coin grading companies to minimize any doubt as to their quality and value and therefore their potential worth.

Since these coins have a high silver content, they are referred to as “constitutional” or “junk” silver and raw, ungraded examples have been sold and melted down just for the silver content making it possible that some coins may actually be more rare than their mintage’s would reflect. However, extremely poor, worn example coins may not have any appreciable collector value and so may only be worth the current value, (or “spot price”) reflected by their silver content.

We Buy Barber Half Dollars

We would like to buy your coins and as a business it is our pledge to offer you the best value for them, however, always remember that the prices you may find online or in price guides usually represent the highest retail value for the coin in an already certified condition. As a trusted dealer we will have our coin specialists evaluate your coins at no cost and offer you a price that is both fair for you, but that also allows us to realize a reasonable profit.