Engraver of the United States Mint at Philadelphia for nearly fifty years,
Charles Barber amassed a collection of more than 200
pattern coins,
and almost no one knew about it.
Charles Edward
Barber was Engraver of the United States Mint at Philadelphia from 1879 to 1917. During his
long career, he was able to assemble an excellent collection of pattern and
experimental coins produced at the Mint. Some were the work
of his father, William Barber, others from his own hand, and a smattering of
examples from George Morgan, James Longacre and
Anthony Pacquet.
Barber does not
seem to have been a collector in the sense of wanting to display his coins to
others or participate in discussions with other hobbyists. Few people outside
of his immediate family were aware of Barber’s collection until an obituary
notice in the Philadelphia Inquirer mentioned the he had a “splendid collection of
patterns.”
In 1991 Stack’s
Inc, a major New York
coin dealer, donated a collection of Charles Barber’s personal papers to the
Smithsonian. Photocopies were also provided to the ANA and ANS courtesy of
David Ganz. Among the papers were two small
notebooks: one for coins and the other listing medals. The coin book is
evidently a record of the coins owned by Barber in late 1916 or early 1917. The
entries are approximately grouped by coin denomination, although there appears
to be little other organization to the lists. There are also several different
handwriting styles suggesting that more than one person made the notations. The
overall impression is of a list made as coins were
pulled from a box and described by Barber as someone else made quick notations.
The present author feels that the notebook is simply an ad-hoc list made at the time coins were removed from storage boxes.
The lack of order or structure suggests the coins were personal souvenirs and
not a true historical collection.
An interesting feature of Barber’s collection the large number of
specimens of the Saint-Gaudens experimental ("pattern") double eagle, and four copies of the rejected
Columbian Exposition Special Award medal. For someone who held a deep
distrust and animosity toward the sculptor, Barber did not stint on investing
in his coins.
The table which
follows lists all of the legible entries in Barber’s pattern coin notebook. The
notation is as close to Barber’s as possible including abbreviations. Where an
entry is partially legible, the omitted characters are represented by “x”.
Pattern numbers for the 8th Edition of Judd’s U.S. Patterns have
been provided by Saul Teichman.
Date
Description
Quan.
Possible
Judd Pattern Number & Author’s Comment
Page A
Nickels
1882
E.P.U. over V
7
J1684
1883
Liberty over Head
2
J1714
1882
E.P.U. over V.
Large [Plch]
5
J1680
1882
E.P.U. over V.Copper Large [Plch]
3
J1681
1883
75 N[ickel], 25 C[opper] Alum[inum]
4
J1709
1882
I.G.W.T. over Head
3
J1677
1883
Pure nickel
1
J1704
1883
33 N[ickel], 67 C[opper]
2
J1712
1883
50 N[ickel], 50 C[opper]
2
J1710
1882
Ray type
3
J1693
1883
Cents over V
5
J1717
xx83
75 N[ickel], 25 C[opper]
5
J1707
xx71
V Nickel
1
J1050
xx71
V Copper
2
J1051
xx71
5 cents, copper
3
J1054
xxx3
Liberty over head, copper
2
J1715
xxxx
3-cent Head V
Page B
1881
I, III, V Copper
J1666/J1669/J1672
1881
I, III, V Nickel
2
J1665/J1668/J1671
1896
Nickel 5-cent
3
J1770
1896
Nickel 1-cent
2
J1767
1884
E. Johnson 1-cent
large plan[chet]
3
J1721
1884
E. Johnson 1-cent
thin plan[chet]
4
J1721
1884
5-cent
3
J1724
1884
5-cent & 1-cent
Alum[inum]
J1722/J1725
1881
V, III (2), I,
Alum[inum]
J1667/J1670/J1673
1869
III Large Planchet
J676
1869
III C[ent] nickel
1881
III C[ent] nickel
J1665
1869
1-cent C[opper]
2
J667
1883
5-cent without word
“cent”
1863
1-cent
3
1883
5-cent, (4)
regular, (2) without word “cent”
1913
Buffalo nickel (2), (1) re B. nickel, ob.
blank
Second entry means:
reverse of Buffalo
nickel, obverse blank, ie: a uniface piece showing
only the reverse design. – Pollock 3533?
Facing page B
1900
Ob 5-cent - re blank
Uniface, obverse of
Liberty
nickel
1900
(1) Re 5-cent – ob
blank
Uniface, reverse of
Liberty
nickel
Page C
1870
Barber Standard Set
$1, 50, 25, 10, 5
J809/J825/J876/J927/J996
1871
Longacre $, ½, ¼, 10-cent, 5-cent silver
1870
Standard Sets:
3-50, 3-25, 3-10
1873
Set of 6 Trade
Silver $
2
J1276/J1281/J1293/J1310/J1315/J1322
1882
$, ½, ¼ Copper
J1699/J1701/J1703
1872
$, ½, ¼ Amazonian
Silver
J1195/J1200/J1205
1870
Barber rvreg issue 50, 25, 10, 5
J815/J831/J882/J933
1870
Barber same
J815/J831/J882/J933
1870
Half Dime Copper,
Barber
J811 or J817
1892
Columbian Half
dollar
1893
Columbian quarter
dollar
2
1869-70
Standard Silver
10-cent
12
1916
Proof 10-cent
1
J1981 or J1984
(J1794), or is this the regular issue Liberty Head?
1869-70
Silver ¼ $
2
1869
Standard Silver
50-cent (3); 25-cent (2); 10-cent (2)
