PCGS Displays Barber Halves At Long Beach Expo “Showdown”

This 1893-S Barber half dollar, graded PCGS MS66, is from the collection of Dr. Steven Duckor and one of the spectacular coins featured in the PCGS Barber Halves Showdown during the Long Beach Expo, February 24 – 26, 2005.

This 1904 PCGS MS67 Barber half dollar is of the reasons Dr. Steven Duckor’s collection is ranked number one on the PCGS Set RegistrySM with an average grade of 66.46. The coin is part of the PCGS Barber Halves Showdown, February 24 – 26, at the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo.

The top three complete collections of Barber half dollars listed in the Professional Coin Grading Service's Set Registry^SM will be displayed in a side-by-side "showdown" at the PCGS booth (#807) during the Long Beach, California Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo, February 24 - 26, 2005.

It will be an unprecedented public exhibit of high-grade Barber halves with a combined value of $4.5 million that include many "condition rarities." The coins are from the private collections of Dr. Steven Duckor, Dale Friend and Dr. Peter Shireman, according to BJ Searls, PCGS Set Registry^SM Manager.

"Dr. Duckor's collection of Barber half dollars has been decades in the making. The coins are the cream of all the greatest sets and singles of Barber halves that have come on the market the past 20 years," said Searls.

"This collection's average grade is 66.46, higher than even the coins in the monumental collection of Dr. Thaine Price sold at auction in 1998 and even finer than the Louis E. Eliasberg Sr. collection sold in 1997. Dr. Duckor's coins won the Best Classic Set Award for 2003 and 2004, and he is listed in the PCGS Set Registry^SM Hall of Fame."

The Friend Collection, with an averaged grade rating of 65.79, also is described as finer in condition than the Price and Eliasberg Barber half all-time sets.

"Mr. Friend started collecting in 1993 with the purchase of a 1912-S Barber half graded PCGS MS66," explained Searls.

Dr. Shireman's set, although currently ranked third in the registry, nevertheless, still has an impressive 65.34 rating, and includes the finest known 1908 and 1909-O Barber half dollars, both in Mint State 67.

The interactive PCGS Set Registry^SM was established in 2001. The registry ranks sets in order of grade point average, completion and overall rating. There now are over 13,000 sets registered, encompassing every major U.S. coin series as well as Canadian, British, Euro and Philippines coinage.

PCGS is a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT).