Terrific 1913 F15 Barber Half Arrived Today

[TomB]

Howdy folks, did you miss me? I wasn't around much yesterday as I was at the hospital for my first epidural for my ruptured discs. It went well, much better than some have said their procedures have gone, and I am feeling better today.

 

I was hoping this coin would arrive yesterday, sort of as a cheer-me-up type of thing, but it was in today's mail. This is a case of an ebay auction living up to its billing, and one where the seller would have been better off not using the BIN feature.

 

A little background on this coin for you who do not collect this series. The 1913 Barber half saw a mintage of just 188,000 coins. That's it. That's fewer than any of the 1921-P, D or S Walking Liberty Halves or 1916-D Mercury dime, less than one-half of the 1932-D or S Washington quarters or 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents, and the same number as the 1896-S Barber quarter. In other words, not many of these coins were made. You may also notice that the other coins on this list are vaunted rarities in their respective series, with price structures to match. Lastly, these coins were not held in bank vaults or as deposits, they were dumped into circulation the moment they were produced and then heavily used for nearly two generations. Almost all survivors are nearly slicks.

 

A few days ago there was an ebay auction for this coin and the seller, who sells antiques, had this coin in inventory and had forgotten about it for over a year. They put it up on ebay with a BIN of just over Greysheet. This is absurdly inexpensive for this coin, in this market. I happenned upon the auction 39 minutes after it was started and immediately hit the BIN button. The seller commented to me that he listed the coin ridiculously cheap and I did not try to make him feel any worse so I said nothing.

 

The coin itself is a strong fine, I grade it F15, with nearly complete LIBERTY in the headband and completely original surfaces. It has never been cleaned, had tape residue applied, obtained scratches, gouges or rim bumps, and has never been dipped or otherwise abused. This is a rare coin.

 

And guess what? The total for this especially scarce piece, in an incredibly attractive, mid-grade state, including shipping and insurance was less than $200!

 

Anyone have a Wisconsin extra leaf quarter around?!?!?!?

[TJ]

Now that's a great find and story TomB. Congrats! My kind of coin-collecting!

 

And hope your back is getting better...

[nwcs]

You know, barbers actually look good like that.

[DonHeath]

Great coin and story. This series just looks great in f-vf..

[gmarguli]

Nice original looking coin. While I think that F15 is the correct grade, I can see it in a VF20 slab (not that you are going to slab it). It just needs a little tooling on Liberty to insure the VF grade.

[michael]

tomb a fantastic thread

 

and really great coin

 

great rarity is not confined to high grade and/or pre 1800 coinage or supposed key dates

 

tom i hope and pray for a speedy recovery for your ruptured discs

 

tom if i might ask you what was the cause ? and can it be corrected?

[kryptonitecomics]

Congrats Tom....I learned something new as I have never really owned that many Barber Halfs......wasn't aware the 1913's were so rare

 

Nice circulated example to boot......man you have to love some of those BIN's

 

Remember this one in the MS66 Photo certified holder than I BIN'd for $124:

 

 

 

 

It's now in a PCGS MS66 holder

 

The guy I bought it from sold watches and jewelry...not coins........

[Hoot]

Great acquisition Tom! Now, that coin would be a perfect match to my newly acquired 1914 that I posted last week (that's equally rare). Please send and I'll be sure you get your due.

 

Hoot

[michael]

hoot your 1914 barber half is really excessively rare like that

 

i have never seen such an animal in this graqde and good looking to boot

[Wihlborg]

Tom,

 

I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better, and hope you’re back to running the aisles at coins shows soon. As for your coin, I’m glad that you paid less than $200 for it, that way I don’t feel bad offering you $250 for it. Seriously, it’s a wonderful coin and a great eBay pick up.

 

Congratulations!

 

John

[Merc]

That is a nice 1913 half. Your grade of a just miss VF (F15) looks correct too. I bought a 1913 half in VG8 a few months ago. That dealer had a 1913, 1914, and 1915 all in solid VG. The 14 and 15 had some rim bumps so I passed on them.