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The Barber Half Dollar has long been recognized by collectors as a deceivingly difficult series to complete, even in a setting where every coin must grade “only” G4. Unless you’re familiar with the nuances and history of the Barber Half Dollar, it may seem strange that completing a set of these coins in, say, G4 or VG8 is so tough.
That is, until you realize that the Barber Half Dollar, designed by Charles E. Barber and in production from 1892 through 1915, was a workhorse coin of its day. Couple that with the coins’ oft-anemic mintages, and the overriding challenges of collecting this series become much clearer. It all certainly helps to explain the backstory of a rather formidable coin like the 1913 Barber Half Dollar.
The 1913 Barber Half Dollar is a semi-key date whose extant populations are but a fraction of the coin’s original mintage of just 188,000 – all hailing from the Philadelphia Mint. According to PCGS CoinFacts, a mere 2,000 examples of the 1913 Barber Half Dollar are believed to exist across all grades, with likely just 200 remaining in the Mint State grades. PCGS further estimates that only 100 specimens grade MS65 or better, making the acquisition of “Gem” (or better) pieces extraordinarily difficult, let alone expensive.
Despite all of this, the 1913 Barber Half Dollar boasts one of the largest certified populations of any issue in the series. However, most of these are circulated examples, the majority of these grading lower than F12. Remember, we’re talking about a 20th-century coin that, series wide, becomes conditionally scarce at the grade of just F12!
Even in that grade of F12, the 1913 Barber Half Dollar sets collectors back by some $350 – not surprising, given the $125 retail price even in a grade of G4. As we work our way up the grading scale, the 1913 Barber Half Dollar fetches $1,000 in XF40, and in MS63 it’s a $2,600 coin; prices soar past $5,000 in the coveted grade of MS65. The record price for the 1913 Barber Half Dollar was hammered in 2020, when a specimen graded PCGS MS66+ took home a whopping $19.387.50.