BARBER HALF DOLLARS

OLDER COLLECTORS reading this story may well remember that in the early 1950s it was still possible to find old silver half dollars, well circulated, that were called Barber coins. Because they were so worn there was little demand for such pieces and it was not until the 1970s that interest in this series became much stronger. The story of this coin goes back to well before its introduction in January 1892, however.

Unlike today, when the half dollar is little used, in the 1870s it was one of our more popular coins and was struck in very heavy numbers at all three mints: Philadelphia, Carson City and San Francisco. On two occasions during that decade the yearly mintage at the parent mint itself was over 8 million pieces.

Due to the Civil War, coined gold and silver had left the marketplace by June 1862 and did not return until the spring of 1873. Because of the pent-up demand by the public for silver coins, mintage was very heavy as early as mid–1873 and continued in that vein for several years.

In 1875 the design on the half dollar obverse was that of the famous Seated Liberty, originally executed by Christian Gobrecht in the mid–1830s; it had been on the 50-cent piece