[The following excerpt is published courtesy of DLRC Press and its author, David Lawrence This information was originally published in 1991 in The Complete Guide to Barber Dimes]
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The 1894-S is the only true rarity In the Barber Dime series. Of the 24 pieces minted, just 10 are known today. Two are low-grade specimens while the others have survived without wear, though some have defects. The 10 specimens are well known and all have “pedigrees.” A supposed 11th specimen-the Mitchelson-Connecticut State Library coin (Stack’s #8, Breen #9) – does not exist.
The circumstances surrounding the production and distribution of the 1894-S remain a mystery. In April 1928, The Numismatist (p. 236-237) gave an account by Farran Zerbe, a former president of the ANA. The coins were struck, Zerbe said, to provide the 40 cents needed to close a bullion account at the San Francisco Mint by June 30, 1894, the end of the fiscal year. Any even dollar amount ending in 40 cents being all right the employees struck 24. Supposedly mint employees did not realize they were creating a rarity because they thought they would receive orders to produce additional dimes before the end of the slender year. But December 31 passed without a request for further dime production. Two or 3 pieces were obtained by mint employees “Just to have a new dime,” Zerbe said; when they realized the coins were now rare, they sold them to collectors for $25 or more apiece. The remaining 1894-S dimes went into a bag with other dimes and into circulation. (At the time of the Numismatist article, only 3 or 4 specimens had been found.)
Zerbe’s information, which be said was “obtained from the San Francisco Mint in 1905,” is similar to an earlier account by J.C. Mitchelson, a Kansas City collector. Mitchelson said he was told by mint employees that only 14 of the 24 coins went into circulation, the others being re-struck and presumably melted (Numismatist, 1900, No. 6). This “unintentional rarity’” theory is probably the explanation the San Francisco Mint wanted to put out, rather than admit what may actually have occurred.
What really happened? In 1972 coin journalist James Johnson attempted a complete accounting of the 1894-S story. After the article ran in Coin World Collectors’ Clearinghouse [9/13/72) he received a letter from Guy Chapman of California. Chapman wrote that he had been shown 2 of the dimes in 1954 by California coin dealer Earl Parker, just after Parker had acquired them from Hallie Daggett, daughter of the San Francisco Mint superintendent in 1894. Hallie Daggett told Parker that when some bankers discovered that dimes were not scheduled for production in 1894 they asked her father to make a few. According to her account, he had the 24 made and presented three each to seven people, keeping 3 for himself. He then gave his to Hallie, telling her to keep them because they would be valuable some day. Hallie said she spent one on ice cream, but kept the other two until 1954 when she sold them to Parker. Interestingly a similar story (referring to a “Ukiah banker” and his daughter) was printed in a San Francisco newspaper in 1950 and related in the Numismatic Scrapbook in 1951 (February issue, p 184).
So there are basically two theories: The “Unintentional Rarity” theory and the “Made for Banker Friends” theory. Today, most experts accept the second one (though if true, Hallie must have sold her dimes before the 1950 San Francisco article). The 8 high-grade survivors are considered to be in proof condition – they seem to have come from specially prepared dies and were carefully struck. As Art Kagin, an Iowa dealer who has handled several pieces, points out, this would not have been done just to round out the books. But the special treatment would hardly be surprising for presentation pieces.
In 1972 Johnson listed 9 specimens. Recently, Breen listed 12 in his “Complete Encyclopedia of U S. and Colonial Coins” (1988), but Stacks reduced this to 11 in it auction catalog discussion of the James Stack specimen in January, 1990.
In research for this book, Phil Carrigan, a BCCS member from Illinois, found that the so-called Mitchelson-Connecticut State Library specimen (Stack’s No.8, Breen No. 9) does not exist. This reduces the current number of known specimens to 10. Mitchelson had written The Numismatist that he ‘discovered’ an 1894-s while on a business trip to San Francisco in 1900. His coin collection was bequeathed to the Connecticut State Library In 1913 and it has long been assumed that it included an 1894-S. (Breen lists this specimen as “unverified.”) According to Dave Corrigan, museum curator of the Library, the coin is not listed in records kept by Mitchelson dating back to 1902- nor is it in an inventory taken when the library received the collection. A copy of the Connecticut State Library curators letter to Phil was recently published in the BCCS Journal (II #4).
VARIETIES: I believe only one set of dies was used. At one time Breen believed there were two obverses and designated six of his 12 listed specimens as one or the other (Breen, 1977). However, the 5 specimens shown here all seem to have come from the same die though two of them (Nos. 3 & 5) were assigned to different dies by Breen. Considering all have the same reverse, it is difficult to imagine why two obverses would have been used to make just 24 pieces. (Recently, Breen told me he is no longer sure there are different obverses).
VALUE: The value of a rare coin like the 1894-S depends more on the economic conditions of the time than on price guides. The two worn specimens have recently brought about $35,000 each. The Jerry Buss specimen, which is a somewhat damaged proof, has recently brought from $50,000 to $71,000. The James Stack specimen, perhaps the finest example of the date, could bring $500,000 or more in the right economic climate.
COMMENTS: Counterfeits exist and have fooled professionals over the years. One group from the Philippines in the late 1970s shows suspicious marks around the date and has the type of found only in later dates of the series. Breen notes that genuine dimes have telltale rectangular defects on the base and top of the E of DIME. Stack’s notes most high-grade specimens display faint vertical striations, indicating hasty planchet preparation (Stack’s 55th Anniv, sale, p195).
REFERENCES: You can read more on the 1894-S in James Johnson’s articles in Collectors’ Clearinghouse (1972) and Rare Coin Review, No. 69 (1987); Walter Breen’s encyclopedias (1977 and 1988); and in recent auction catalogs from Bowers & Merena, Stack’s and Superior Galleries where specimens of this rarity have been offered.
THE KNOWN SPECIMENS
(Names have been added for easier identification as so many numbers have been used in recent years.)
No. 1: NEWCOMER SPECIMEN (Stack’s #1; Breen #1; Johnson #2)
Newcomer, Boyd, 1946 A. Kosoff, Will W. Neil $2,350, B. Max Mehl, 1961 Hydeman: 337 ($13,000), Kosoff, Bowers-Empire, Hazen Hinman, Jim Kelly, Leo Young, RARCOA Auction ’80:1578, Ron Gillio 1986 NCNA ($145,000), private collector ($93,100). Choice Proof.
No. 2: ELIASBERG ESTATE SPECIMEN (Stack’s #2; Breen #2; Johnson #3)
John H. Clapp, Stack’s, Eliasberg estate.
No. 3: JAMES STACK SPECIMEN (Stack’s #3; Breen #3&4; Johnson #6 & #8)
John H. Clapp, Louis Eliasberg, Sr. 1947 Stack’s H.P. Lee:348 (first time it was auctioned), Stacks James A. Stack 206 (sold Jan. 1990 for $250,000 + 10%). Subsequently graded PRF 66 by PCGS. Rose, steel blue and pale violet toning. (Photo re shot from Stack’s auction catalog by Mulvaney.)
No. 4: DAGGETT-PARKER-BROWN SPECIMEN (Stack’s #4; Breen #5; Johnson #5)
Hallie Daggett, Earl Parker (1954), Dan Brown, Stack’s, Chicago private collector. Presumed to be in high grade.
No. 5: DAGGETT-PARKER-JOHNSON SPECIMEN (Stacks #5; Breen #6; Johnson #9)
Hallie Daggett, Earl Parker (1954), W.R. Johnson. Abner Kreisberg. World-Wide Coin, Bowers & Ruddy Rare Coin Review No. 21 (1974) offered at $ 97,500. Sold to a Midwestern collector. “Toned superb gem proof.” (Photo re shot from Bowers & Ruddy Rare Coin Review by Mulvaney.)
No. 6: JERRY BUSS SPECIMEN (Stack’s #6; Breen #7; Johnson #12)
Hallie Daggett, “a relative” Earl Parker, James Kelly, Malcolm Chell-Frost, F.S. Guggenheimer: 772, 1973 Kagin MANA: 1114, Superior Galleried Jerry Buss: 617 ($46,000 + 10%), Michelle Johnson 1988 Superior: 4510 $64,000+ 10%. Called “Extremely Fine” in Kagin sale because of reverse defects. On the reverse there is a vertical scratch and what appears to be a planchet flaw on the lower right extending into the mint mark. In the Superior sales it was graded PRF 60. Authenticated by ANACS (photo courtesy of Superior Galleries).
No. 7: NORWEB SPECIMEN [Stack’s #7; Breen #8; Johnson #4)
Charles A Cass, 1957 Stack’s Empire sale: 881 $4,750, Bowers & Ruddy, Q. David Bowers, Mrs. Norweb, 1987 Bowers & Merena Norweb: 584 $ 70, 00 + 10%, 1990 Stack’s 55th Anniv: 504 $85,000+10%. Recently graded PR 62 by NGC. Has a significant mark on Liberty’s cheek. Maple leaf below D is weakly struck. Faint vertical striations on the reverse. Light lilac and gray overtoning on gold. (Photo courtesy of Bowers & Merena: Stack’s also provided a photo.)
No. 8: RAPPAPORT SPECIMEN (Stacks #9; Breen #10; Johnson #1)
Rappaport, A Kagin, Reuter, Kreisberg, Bowers & Ruddy, Pennsylvania estate.
No. 9: ICE CREAM SPECIMEN (Stacks #10; Breen #11; Johnson #7)
Robert Friedberg bought this coin over the counter at Gimbels Department Store, NY. in 1957, A. Kagin, New Netherlands 51:581, A. Kagin. Harmer Rooke 11/69, James G Johnson (the researcher of the 1894-S), 1980 Steve Ivy ANA:1804, $31,000, Bowers & Merena 1981 ANA: 2921 $25,000, 1989 Bowers & Merena: 191 $31,000+ 10%. Grades G4 with old reverse scratch through ONE DIME plus some other light circulation marks on the obverse. Graded VG by New Netherlands. Authenticated after lvy sale by ANACS to Numismatic Funding Corp. Though referred to as the “Ice Cream Specimen,” there is no reason to be sure that it actually is. No. 10, below, is also well worn and any of the 14 missing specimens could have been the one spent by Halite Daggett (Photo courtesy of Bowers & Merena.)
No. 10: ROMITO-MONTESANO SPECIMEN (States #11; Breen #12; Johnson #10)
Romito (acquired in 1911), Montesano, consigned to Stack’s 1942, but withdrawn. 1990 sold by Lauri Sperber in private sale for about $35,000 Graded AG3 by NGC. Has an obverse circular cut.