1893 Barber Dimes 1892-1916 VF35

History

The Act of September 26, 1890 permitted the Mint to replace coin designs that had been in use 25 years or more, which made the dime, quarter and half dollar eligible after decades of the Seated Liberty design. Mint Director James P. Kimball, who complained of the "inferiority of our coinage," had persuaded Senator Justin S. Morrill of Vermont to sponsor the measure. The Mint then invited ten prominent artists to submit designs, but they refused the terms because they wanted payment for every entry, so the competition was opened to the public and drew roughly 300 submissions. A panel of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Boston engraver Henry Mitchell and Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber gave only two of them honorable mention, Mint Director Edward O. Leech called the effort "a wretched failure," and Barber was told to prepare the designs himself. The new coins reached the public on November 10, 1891, and regular issues ran from 1892 through 1916.

Details

Charles E. Barber designed both sides of the coin. The alloy is 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, the weight 2.50 grams, the diameter 17.90 mm, and the edge reeded, with a silver content of 0.07234 troy ounce. The New Orleans Mint struck 1,760,000 in 1893, against 3,340,000 at Philadelphia and 2,491,401 at San Francisco, plus 792 proofs. PCGS maintains a separate prooflike category for the date, so PL examples carry a recognized designation.

Features

The obverse carries a head of Liberty facing right in a Phrygian cap and laurel wreath, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around; unlike the Barber quarter and half dollar, the dime obverse has no stars. The reverse places ONE DIME within a wreath, and the O mint mark sits on the reverse beneath the wreath. Hub differences divide the series: on dimes from 1892 to 1900 the wreath leaves have round tips and the leaf below the second S in STATES stands away from it, while from later in 1900 through 1916 the leaves are more pointed and that leaf sits close, which places the 1893-O in the early round-tip group. The 1893 overdate, the 3-over-2 listed as FS-301, is a Philadelphia coin and does not occur on New Orleans strikings.

Notable facts

• Barber's 1891 patterns for the new designs comprise seven unique coins, which went to the Smithsonian with the Mint collection in 1923.
• PCGS records $10,869 for an MS67 1893-O dime sold in December 2014, while the prooflike record stands at $1,840 for an MS64PL in March 2010.
• Charles E. Barber was born in London in 1840, worked as assistant to his father William Barber, the Mint's fifth chief engraver, and succeeded him as the sixth chief engraver on his father's death in 1879.
• The scarcest Barber dime for set builders is the 1895-O, with 440,000 struck and an estimated 1,000 survivors, while the 1893-O ranks as a mid-tier New Orleans date.
• The complete Barber dime series comprises 74 coins, including the proof 1894-S with just 24 pieces believed struck.