The Barber dime series is one filled with legend and romance. There’s the image of little Hallie Daggett skipping down the street in to spend one of her 1894-S dimes her father gave her on a dish of ice cream. There’s the story of the national contest to find a new dime design, only to have the entrants dismissed as “wretched failures.” There’s the surprising rarity of the key dates, and how many key dates there have proved to be in MS65 or better.

The 1894-S is collected with the proofs as well as the mint state coins, but 99+% of the collectors ignore it completely, as its prohibitive rarity makes it too expensive to collect. Key dates in MS65 or better are the 1892-S, 1893-S 1894-O, 1895-O, 1897-S, 1899-O, and at least half a dozen other dates!