Barber Dimes (1892 - 1916)

Barber Dimes - A public competition for the design of the new dime was held, with more than 300 drawings submitted. Only two were deemed worthy by the judging committee, but in the end Edward Leech, successor to Mint Director James Kimball, disregarded the committee and directed Chief Engraver Charles Barber to draw a new design.

Charles Barber was the Chief Engraver at the United States Mint at Philadelphia. While his coinage design is considered relatively plain and unimaginative, it's portrait graced most of our dimes, quarters, and half dollars minted between 1892 and 1916. Perhaps the most well known of these Barber Dimes is the 1894-S, of which only 24 are known. An interesting vignette of that coin is the tale that a young girl actually spent one of those specimens around 1910 for an ice cream cone.

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