1899 Barber Half Dollars

The 1899 Barber Half Dollar has long been a common site in type sets and certainly date-and-mintmark assemblages. However, as the years march along, collectors have noticed it has become seemingly more difficult, and downright more costly, to locate and purchase choice examples of these large, turn-of-the-20th-century silver coins. Designed by Charles E. Barber and produced from 1892 through 1915, Barber Half Dollars were workhorses of the economy, with those that entered circulation usually staying there for many years – either until they became too worn to be recognized as legal-tender money or a collector happened to pluck one from circulation to steward it in numismatic refuge.

In most cases, the coins serviced commerce until they were worn into virtual oblivion. This left most examples grading less than Good-4. Barber Half Dollars in grades of Fine-12 are considerably scarce, and original examples in the XF to AU range or higher have become categorically rare. This is even the case for “common” dates like the 1899 strike from the Philadelphia Mint, which PCGS pegs as having only 6,000 collectible survivors across all grades.

When collectors realize the challenge associated with assembling even a basic set of Barber Half Dollars with mostly full rims, a bold silhouette of Miss Liberty in her phrygian cap on the obverse and heraldic eagle on the reverse, and original surfaces with honest wear, they often clamor to the series. The PCGS Set Registry boasts hundreds of Barber Half Dollar sets representing a wide range of grades, difficulty levels, and collector budgets.

The price for an 1899 Barber Half Dollar grading Good-4 in 2025 is a solid $50 – a price many would have thought unimaginable just 25 years earlier, when similar specimens were trading for less than $10. Examples in F12 retail for $115, while XF40 specimens go for $275. For a little more than $1,000, a collector could snag a nice MS63 example.