Legend Rare Coin Auctions’ Regency Auction X in Las Vegas was highlighted by the Bob Simpson Mint State Barber dime collection, which is ranked as number one on the Professional Coin Grading Service registry. Per Legend, the set started as the Law Collection back in 1994. When the collector who assembled the Law Collection retired in 2009, Legend sold the set to Simpson, who improved upon it. Simpson decided to sell it due to a lack of space and a change in collecting tastes, and Legend aimed to provide pre-sale estimates that represented its perception of the current wholesale level.

Here is one of three Barber dimes from the Simpson Collection Coin World is analyzing:

The coin: 1895-O Barber dime, MS-66 CAC

The price: $44,650 

The story: With a low mintage of 440,000, the 1895-O Barber dime is the regular-issue key to the series. Even in well-worn grades like About Good 3 it sells for more than $200. 

In Mint State grades it is a legitimate rarity, with PCGS showing just 10 graded MS-65, one in MS-66, and just one in MS-66+.  

Simpson’s example previously sold in 2005 for $41,400 to Legend and was placed directly into the Law Collection, according to the catalog. 

At Heritage’s June 23, 2014, auction of the Gene Gardner Collection another example in PCGS MS-65 with a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker showing quality within the grade sold for $28,200. With that as a reference, the $44,650 that Simpson’s example brought seems reasonable considering the fact that it’s a well-known key date. 

Legend adds, “You rarely see 1895-Os as satiny and lustrous as this, which leads us to believe that this coin has been well protected from the day it left the Mint.”

Read the rest of this Market Analysis on Simpson's Barber dimes: 

$30,550 the price for high-grade example of not-so-rare 1911 Barber dime 

First-year Barber dime from 1892 exhibits attractive toning

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