The following article is reprinted from the Journal of the Barber Coin Collectors' Society, Volume 20, Number 3.

The following article contains the results of the Census and Rarity Survey of Liberty Nickels. It is made available here because the Census and Rarity Survey was open to the general collecting public, not just the members of the BCCS.

During the first half of 2009, the BCCS conducted a Census and Rarity Survey of Liberty Nickels. This was the fourth and final phase of the surveys we started with the silver Barber coins the last three years. Because the BCCS had never conducted a survey for the Liberty Nickels, the purpose of this study was to create a base level of knowledge of the series as to both the populations of coins already in collectors’ hands, and also the opinions of collectors as to the relative scarcity of the different dates in a wide range of grades. This article will look very similar to the previous reports, so forgive some repetition in laying the groundwork for the study and its results.

This project consisted of two parts:

• A Census for collectors to report their holdings for each date and grade level

• A Rarity Survey for collectors to express their opinions as to the relative scarcity of the different dates in the series in various grades.

There was a good response to the survey, with over 80 collectors reporting nearly 6000 coins! It was a somewhat smaller response than the silver series, but more than I expected. With the survey being open to the general public, a number of guests participated via the BCCS website, in addition to the BCCS membership.

While the Census data provides very interesting and useful information, care should be taken when making use of this information. There are a number of important caveats that must be considered, and we repeat them once again.

Limited sampling: Many collectors possess Liberty Nickels as type coins, and others have them as part of a year set (e.g., 1899). Lots more are in the hands of people that inherited them from grandparents, and the like. Although this survey was open to all collectors (not just BCCS members), only those guests who attended a BCCS meeting at a coin show, discovered our web site, or who read about the survey in Coin World or by word of mouth, participated in the survey (or have even heard of BCCS). Therefore, the majority of holders of Liberty Nickels did not participate in the survey, and all of their coins are not represented here.

On or off the market: One assumption that is often made by readers is that a coin Census represents a cross section of the coins generally available in the marketplace. This, of course, is not true, as the reported coins are those that are already in collections and thus off the market. For the keys and semi-keys, which perhaps were acquired after a long search, they are often impounded in collections and potentially off the market for a very long time.

One collector, one coin: Most collectors simply don’t buy coins in proportion to those on the market. Many people are putting together a set, in which case they will often buy only one specimen of each date and mint. However, if the collector believes certain dates are scarce and undervalued, he or she may purchase additional examples as an investment, or for later trades with other collectors. This can result in a collector possessing more examples of the scarcer dates than the common ones. Even if this doesn’t happen, the rare dates will appear to be equally available as common dates.

Upgrading: Many collectors strive for coins in a certain grade range. However, they may have to settle for a different (usually lower) grade of the scarcer dates until they find one in the desired grade, often after a long search. Once upgraded, many collectors will keep the duplicates of the keys and semi-keys for future trades. For the common readily-available dates, many collectors will simply wait to purchase pieces in the desired grade. Again, this would tend to skew the census in favor of the scarcer dates.

Hoarding: Some collectors have an interest in certain dates. Others may have affinity for mintmarked coins. And often, hoarding sometimes occurs with issues that are considered scarce and/or undervalued.

Therefore, when trying to interpret the Census, one must bear the previous points in mind. It is for these reasons that we also conducted the Rarity Survey as a complement to the Census.

Over 5900 coins were reported by 84 participants, including 64 members and 20 guests (via the website). An impressive 60% of the respondents reported complete sets of the 33 regular issues (minus the 1913 fantasy piece), and 10 of those people had two or more complete sets. One member reported four complete sets, and only a few key dates away from a couple more. A few people only reported a small number of coins as type pieces.

Total Liberty Nickels reported by grade:

Some additional details and observations

Excluding the 1913 (which nobody reported), as expected the least reported coin was the 1885, the key date of the series, with 63 coins. Not surprisingly, not that far behind was the 1886, followed by the lowest mintage 1912-S.

The most reported coins in the survey were the common later Philadelphia issues. There was no clear “most common date” in the series based on this census, although the 1912 was the most reported coin, followed by 1911. All in all, there was a very smooth ramp-up of populations from the 119 for 1894 to 388 for the 1912. The years 1890-1893 were less slightly less reported than 1888-9, and of course the later years. For the most part though, P mint coins were more reported the later the year, with few exceptions. Of course, the 1883 No Cents type coin was a big exception to this rule.

There was some hoarding evident in the census, but perhaps not as commonly done as in the silver series. The 1912-D was the subject of some hoarding, and especially the 1909. Because of the number of complete sets reported, the person reporting four 1885 coins really could not be considered hoarding that date, since he had four complete sets, and several additional almost-complete sets. The champion hoarder had 965 Liberty Nickels (nearly one-sixth of the total reported by everybody), with over 80 1909 coins, mostly in G and VG, along with 3 1885, 5 1886, and 5 1912-S.

As can be seen in the breakdown by grades, the largest number of coins was reported in G. However, there was a decent distribution in somewhat higher grades, with only slightly declining numbers in the higher circulated grades. Perhaps the availability of most of the dates after 1891 in most grades accounts for this characteristic. Another possibility is that with only 33 coins in the entire set, the complete series is more affordable even in higher grades than the silver Barber coins, leading to larger numbers of higher-grade coins reported. The low count of AG coins (almost as low as mint state coins) can be attributed to the fact that affordable better grades mean fewer people actively collect AG coins. Also as possibility that collectors with some higher-grade coins simply did not bother to report their lowest grade coins. Fewer proofs were reported than expected, as numerous people are known to collect this series in proof format. It would appear these collectors or investors did not participate in the survey.

By far, the most commonly reported coin in the set in Mint State was the 1883 No Cents, as many type collectors want a top-grade example of the one-year variety. With a relatively low total population reported, the 1883 With Cents had a fairly large Mint State count, as many collectors had a matched type set of both 1883 varieties. In total, however, there were less than half as many 1883 With Cents coins reported as No Cents coins.

There were relatively few examples of varieties reported, the most numerous the different doubled die reverse coins of 1887. A number of other varieties of other dates were reported as write-ins, with mostly single examples of different varieties (mostly repunched dates). More detailed information will appear on the website in the report posted there.

At our Annual Meeting at the ANA, we discussed again that future surveys of the four Barber series would probably focus on varieties, and most attending the meeting thought that was a good idea. Perhaps a new project to take a census on varieties will begin in a future year.

To supplement the Census and help collectors set expectations on how easy or difficult some coins might be to find in certain grades, we also conducted a Rarity Survey, where collectors could offer their opinion of the relative availability of better date coins. Here they could express how difficult it was for them to find certain coins (or those they have been looking for without success). Since there was no prior BCCS rarity survey for Liberty Nickels, we had to start from scratch. Definitions of the Rarity Rating used in this survey accompany the results in the table below in this report.

As before with the other surveys, we asked people not to make random guesses just to fill in the form, but rather offer an opinion only when they had real experience or at least a strong perception about a coin’s availability. People seemed to heed the advice, as most offered opinions only for certain dates they spent time looking for, or for coins in specific grade ranges they collect. As a result, there was a good amount of consensus on most of the date, and relative few that had wide ranges of opinions (although there were a few).

There were no gaps, as we did get enough responses for all dates and grades to make a reasonable assertion of scarcity. While some dates were certainly believed to be relatively scarce in certain grades, the consensus is that there are no big rarities of any date in any grade, with an R5 rating granted to just three date-grade combinations, far less than the other Barber series. We did not ask for opinions on the 1913, as the five specimens struck are well documented. It is listed in the table along with the rest of the series.

R1: Common date and grade
R2: Better date and grade
R3: Tough date – available, but may require some looking
R4: Scarce – may or may not find at larger shows/auctions
R5: Very scarce – only a few offered for sale each year
R6: Almost never seen – only one or two may be offered for sale in a year’s time
R7: Rare – a single specimen might, on average, be offered for sale once every few years

Most of the dates 1898 and later (P mints) were thought by practically everyone as being very common (R1 in most or all grades). Perhaps the surprise exception to this was the 1909, where many people expressed the opinion that it is noticeably tougher than the rest. While not a scarce coin, in higher circulated grades it is considered by many to be a somewhat tough coin to find. The census results don’t appear to bear this out at first, but when the few cases of hoarding the date are taken into account, the 1909 would otherwise have had a much lower population reported.

Of the key dates, the 1912-S was believed by numerous respondents to be tougher than the 1885 in higher grades (but easier in lower grades, however). Additionally, the 1886 was considered to be almost as tough as 1885 in most grades. Of the middle dates, the 1894 seemed to be considered toughest, in grades VF to AU. Another favorite for scarcity was 1888 in XF and AU, but considered mostly available in all other grades.

All in all, this Rarity Survey yielded no major surprises and with so many responses, it was again interesting to see just how much consensus there really was. It would appear that most people feel this series is very straightforward to complete in every grade range, with only a few coins requiring a real amount of looking. Coupled with the relative small number of coins in the set, this explains the large proportion of people that reported complete sets.

This Census and Rarity Survey was intended to provide collectors of Liberty Nickels some information on what is arguably the least understood series of Barber coins. We hope these results will help collectors understand the relative availability and scarcity of the different issues in all major grade ranges. Due to the outstanding participation, along with the quality of the responses, I am once again glad to report that I think we accomplished that.

As stated previously, please use the results in any manner that will be most useful for your purposes, and we hope that the results will prove to be valuable information for you.

For reference purposes which you can print on a single sheet of paper and easily take to shows with you, a PDF file of the Census and Rarity Survey will be posted on the website as well as this full report.

As I mentioned at our ANA Annual Meeting in Los Angeles this year, our Society outperforms other much larger coin collecting clubs with the responses to our census and rarity survey projects. This only confirms the large demand by collectors today for information about Barbers. Perhaps future surveys for varieties will further the learning about Barber coins.

Finally, this concludes the four-year, four-part, Census and Rarity Survey project to create or update our knowledge about relative scarcity of all of the dates in regular issue Barber Coinage. Thanks to everyone who participated in this project over the years. Suggestions for how to conduct variety surveys in the future are welcome. I would be happy to assist anyone wishing to pursue such a project.

In the meantime, good luck and happy hunting for any and all Barbers you may be looking for!

  Barber Coin Collectors' Society      --      Founded 1989      --      Email:   bccs@BarberCoins.org