1893 Barber Dime - 1893/2

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Description

This is the 1893/2 overdate variety of the 1893 Barber Dime. Dies were expensive, and a serviceable die left over at the end of a year was often kept and re-dated rather than destroyed: the new digits were punched directly over the old ones. The earlier date survives underneath wherever its strokes fall outside the digits punched over it, which is why an overdate is read from the shapes that do not belong to the date as printed. The effect is in the die, so every coin struck from it carries the same remnant in the same position. Any mintage or rarity ranking given below counts the entire issue for this date and mint, not this variety: a variety comes from one die or a few, and how many coins they struck was never separately recorded. The 1893 Barber Dime - 1893/2, struck at the Philadelphia Mint, is part of the Barber Dimes 1892-1916 collection. The 1893 Barber Dime issue as a whole had a mintage of 3.3 million; how many coins carry this variety is unknown. The obverse features Liberty facing right wearing a Phrygian cap topped by a laurel wreath, with the word LIBERTY on a headband and the reverse displays an agricultural wreath of corn, wheat, oak, and maple enclosing the words ONE DIME. Struck during the Gilded Age of rapid industrialization and the great silver debates, when monetary policy shaped elections and economic destiny. Philadelphia's mint — the nation's first — has produced coins without interruption since its founding in 1792. Struck in 90% silver, 10% copper, weighing 2.5 grams, 17.9 mm in diameter, with a reeded edge. Cataloged as PCGS #4799.