1909 Barber Dime

1909 marked a milestone of sorts for the Barber dime, as it was the last year that the New Orleans mint would strike coins, and also the last year that four different mints would strike circulating coinage with three non-Philadelphia mintmarks. Yet, despite the 1909-O Barber dime being essentially a last-year type coin, that issue is not considered particularly scarce in the lower grades. In fact, none of the 1909 Barber dime issues, save for the obscure proof coin, is considered to be especially rare in the lower circulated grades.

Here are the mintages and values of 1909 Barber dimes:

• 1909 – 10,240,000; $5

• 1909-D – 954,000; $12

• 1909-O – 2,287,000; $7

• 1909-S – 1,000,000; $15

• 1909 proof – 650; $600

*Values are for coins in a grade of Good-4, unless otherwise noted.

Clearly, as the list of mintages and values for Good-graded Barber dimes above indicate, there’s not much of a challenge to assembling a low-grade set of 1909 Barber dimes. Unless, of course, you include the proof Barber dime. However, individuals collecting a business-strike coin set will not typically include any proof specimens. Plus, it is likely that a collector pursuing common-date Barber dimes in Good will probably not be collecting proof Barber dimes to complete a set.