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by Michael E. Marotta, 17 May 1994
I usually collect (if that is the word) bullion. I like silver swiss francs and british empire sterling. I am also partial to mercury dimes (:-). I have some bars. Mostly I put my money in 1964 kennedy halfs (I won't even dignify that with capitals).
After reading Bower's book Tremendous Profits from Old Coins, I decided to branch out. I started with Hard Times Tokens. (I like the Jacksonian Era.) But I lost interest in the series of 200 varieties--not including the Feuchtwanger subgenre. After talking for five minutes with a pharmacist who sells coins, I decided to go for the Barber Dimes in Fine and above. There are no keys and 13 semi-keys. The most interesting variety is the 1893 3 over 2. Only one is impossible, the 1894-S, known in proof only: $12,250 in 1965 and $275,000 in 1990 at Stack's.
For these coins, there's quite a jump in price from VG to F, from about $2.50 to $15.00, actually. You see, the dime, quarter and half were real money back then: ". . . shave and a haircut, 2 bits!" (Or $12.50 now.) So, the coins really circulated. Because of the design, circulation took its toll on the details and Barber Dimes, Quarters and Halves are hard to find in better grades. (Proofs do exist.) Better grades are so hard to find, in fact, that overgrading is a real problem. When I bought the coins, I accepted the grading offered based on general coin principles, the same way I looked at a Hard Times Token: can you see the design on the turtle?
Earlier this week thundershowers blew in and I was unable to work for most of the morning. So, I hauled out Photograde and a couple of lenses. What a sad, gray, wet day it was. I downgraded half of them; one went from XF to VG. Later, I took them to another dealer and their staff numismatist regraded them for me and all but one came up--on general coin principles, not according to Photograde. So, now I have a dozen Barber Dimes in Fine or better and one strong VG. Oh, I also have something else: knowledge.
In a machine shop class I took last year, we learned this: "Judgement comes from experience but experience comes from a lack of judgement." The ANA will be meeting in Detroit next year and I'll be there with my lenses and Photograde looking for Barber Dimes in Fine or better.
The lenses are special. After totaling my losses, I dug out an Edmund catalog and bought the equivalent in Bausch and Lombs.
Michael E. Marotta
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