[The following excerpt is published courtesy of DLRC Press and its author, David Lawrence. This information was originally published in 1994 in The Complete Guide to Barber Quarters.]
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The first edition of The Complete Guide to Barber Quarters was published in 1989. It was my first book and became the first of the “Complete Guide” series now published by DLRC Press. Currently there are ten titles in the series with several others in preparation. In the first edition I took the photos myself (and it shows) of low grade coins. The date and mintmark positions were tracings made under a stereo microscope and the data analysis was sparse.
For this second edition, most of the photos were taken by a professional—Tom Mulvaney and they are of the highest grade specimens I could find (in a reasonable amount of time). When I wrote the first edition I didn’t think there were many varieties the quarter series. A careful examination by several Barber Coin Collectors’ Society (BCCS) members, especially Joe Haney, showed I was wrong! This second edition has many photos of repunched dates and mintmarks not shown in my previous effort. Also, the PCGS and NGC population reports have been carefully tabulated and historical prices are provided. The Illustrations of mintmark positions from the First Edition have been left out to save space and keep the cost down.
Barber coins have become increasingly popular since the first edition and the demand for many of the tougher dates far exceeds the available supply — especially in the heavily collected grades of Fine through AU. Some dates are so scarce in AU as to be virtually unavailable to the majority of collectors and I don’t believe that raising current values will bring significantly more specimens into the market. They simply do not exist. It is not unusual to find mint state coins in AU sets because the AU supply is so limited. To complete this set in AU you must have more than money. You must have patience and a great deal of luck.
The BCCS, founded in 1989, continues to have several hundred enthusiastic members who use their Society’s quarterly Journal to exchange information on their latest discoveries. If you enjoy any of the Barber series, please join the BCCS. The more members we have, the better we will all enjoy the hobby. An application has been printed in Appendix D of this book.
I wrote this book because I love Barbers and want to keep expanding our knowledge of the series. Please feel free to write me about new varieties or any other facet of these great coins.
David Lawrence
September 1994