Item of the Week: Low-Mintage Dime Deserves a Second Look
The 1913-S Barber dime, with its low mintage, remains undervalued compared to its Mercury cousin—and deserves another look from collectors.
There should be no sleepers among 20th-century coins.
A few types of coins, however, have fallen through the cracks of our knowledge. You do not read much about Liberty Head nickels, other than the 1913, and even if you wanted to, there would probably not be much to study.
So too with Barber coins. Their designs are not as bad as some would have you believe. Barber was a man of modest talents, but plenty of ego, in a difficult position. He made life miserable for Augustus Saint-Gaudens and any other artist who crossed his path while trying to design a coin. While not a spectacular designer, Barber produced a very functional design for dimes, quarters, and half dollars. They might not have received rave reviews, but at the time, America was ready for a design change, and the process was bogged down, leaving Barber as the only option. Fortunately, the design should not have an impact on the price, which should be determined by supply and demand.
The other problem for Barber coins is that they were higher denominations, but were produced at a time when there were some very special coins in lower denominations. Collectors on limited budgets were more likely to collect 1909-S Indian cents, 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents, and 1912-S Liberty Head nickels than a Barber half dollar, even if it had a low mintage. The New York Subway Hoard proves that point, for it contains virtually every date of Barber quarter and half dollar, except for a great rarity like the 1894-S Barber dime.
It is easy to overlook coins. That is seemingly more true in the case of Barber dimes. The dime has not received much attention since the early 1960s, when people were putting together both Mercury and Roosevelt dime sets. At the time, however, virtually no one was interested in Barber dimes. There were some tough Barber dimes, but they didn’t circulate, and in most minds, the 1916-D Mercury, with its 264,000-piece mintage and all the publicity, was as good as any Barber dime. In fact, the 1916-D Mercury dime makes the 1913-S Barber dime all the more interesting. It’s not comparing apples and oranges, as the two were produced a few years apart. The 1913-S Barber dime had a mintage of 510,000, which was low even for 1913. It was not as low as the 1916-D Mercury, but you have to go back to the 1895-O to find a lower-mintage dime. Of all the 20th-century dimes, only the 1916-D Mercury dime has a lower mintage.
Thus, the 1913-S should be costly. The 1916-D lists at $1,350 in G-4, $3,700 in F-12, $15,000 in MS-60, and $28,800 in MS-65. By comparison, the 1913-S Barber dime is at $75 in G-4, $150 in F-12, $1,200 in MS-60, and $3,250 in MS-65.
There should be a difference between 1913-S Barber dime prices and 1916-D Mercury dime prices, but pick any grade, and the price difference does not reflect the difference in mintages. Even if you add in the popularity of the Mercury dime, the difference between $595 and $9 is a bit eye-opening. In MS-65, the difference is nearly $18,000.
Ignoring the 1916-D, that $9 price still seems odd. The 1913-S was not the first year of its design or anything special that would make it heavily sought after. If it suffered normal losses over the years, it has to be a tough dime, and one that is worth more than the prices suggest.
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