πŸ₯‡ BANNER Rarest US Silver coin minted in the 20th century found 1901 S Barber Quarter

Dr.Tones

Sr. Member
Jan 7, 2013
479
1,300
πŸ₯‡ Banner finds
2
πŸ† Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
CTX3030
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ok guys. I initially wasn't going to post this. While I was hunting last week I unearthed literally the rarest US silver coin of the 20th century. A 1901 S Barber Quarter!!!! VF/XF (details) with environmental damages and a few scratches. Yes... It's a crying shame its a "dug" coin... But hey... It's the find of a lifetime. There's no doubt in my mind about it's authenticity. The site it was found at, simply put, hasn't been touched since around 1920. I've also had several local dealers (one of which was a former PCGS grader) tell me it's genuine. I know either way it needs to be graded and slabbed, but what are your thoughts? Value? Grade? Where to sell? Thanks! Still spinning! Idaho! On the map!!!
 

Attachments

  • DSC02765 copy.jpg
    DSC02765 copy.jpg
    114.2 KB · Views: 1,234
  • DSC02766_opt copy.jpg
    DSC02766_opt copy.jpg
    38.9 KB · Views: 1,094
  • image1-1.JPG
    image1-1.JPG
    911.6 KB · Views: 1,318
  • image2-1 copy.jpg
    image2-1 copy.jpg
    90.3 KB · Views: 969
Upvote 109

coinman123

Silver Member
Feb 21, 2013
4,659
5,768
New England, Somewhere Metal Detecting in the Wood
πŸ₯‡ Banner finds
2
πŸ† Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Teknetics T2 SE (DST)
Spare Teknetics T2 SE (backup)
15" T2 coil
Pro-Pointer
Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202
Fisher F2
Fisher F-Point
Primary Interest:
Other
Wow, Congrats on such a rare coin! I never expected that someone would find that key-date. Congrats in the banner!


Coinman123,
 

testing123

Bronze Member
Mar 29, 2009
2,359
1,986
United States
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030, TDI SL
Now that's a big congrats! For me PCGS would be the recipient of this coin. Either way something like this shouldn't be sold raw...too many fakes out there. You could try selling on ebay, maybe with a reserve but people don't like reserves. Could do buy it now. Its free to try those or nearly so. Could do an auction house but their fees are crazy high. Heritage is well known and other places like Stacks Bowers have a good reputation. I hear you may be able to negotiate the commission but that may be for higher roller sellers. There is a buy, sell, trade forum on the pcgs chat forums that is free to post but you might want to sign up now and post a bit as new members selling high value coins is a bit...suspicious maybe? But that is also free to try. In my experience try to avoid mentioning "metal detecting find" when selling...its great for us nerds but can be negative when selling to coin guys. Excuse any typos...typed on phone
 

Tedyoh

Bronze Member
Apr 13, 2013
1,566
1,619
N.E. Ohio
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, NOX 600, XP Deus II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Wow. My opinion is if I had the chance to sell something that had a face value of 25 cents and make a around about 75,000% to 100,000% profit on it, no brainer. Very nice and congrats!
 

testing123

Bronze Member
Mar 29, 2009
2,359
1,986
United States
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030, TDI SL
You could also try selling it on commission with a well known coin dealer. Harry Laibstain might be worth a call. Or find a dealer well known for barbers...I can't immediately think of one. On commission the dealer has no real risk plus you don't have to sell wholesale, just pay a percentage commission if it sells.
 

mindcrime1988

Bronze Member
Apr 17, 2011
1,540
2,346
Southeast Pennsylvania
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, XP Deus II, DetectorPro Headhunter, BlissTool & Pulsedive
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I agree with many other folks on here, why sell it? Chances are it's only going to go up in value so unless you really need the money I would not get rid of it. You'll probably never see or hold another one. But nobody knows your situation better than you and it is your find after all.

Either way, congratulations on an epic find!
 

treblehunter

Gold Member
Jun 18, 2013
9,675
11,295
New Jersey
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur II
XP Deus
Garrett pro pointer
XP Deus MI-6 pinpointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Its like money in the bank (with a much higher possibility for a much larger return over time), I would never sell it if I found it, unless I really needed that money really bad.
 

Bill D. (VA)

Silver Member
Oct 7, 2008
4,711
6,212
SE Virginia
πŸ₯‡ Banner finds
6
πŸ† Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
F75 SE (land); CZ-21 (saltwater)
Primary Interest:
Other
Incredible find DT!! Whether you're interested in selling it now or somewhere down the road I highly recommend you send it in to PCGS for authentication, grading and slabbing. I recently went through that process with my Lord Baltimore sixpence (also a 5-figure coin), and was first steered to one of the country's leading coin experts who used to work for Stack's (now Stack's Bowers) which is one of the premier coin auction houses. He did some very light professional cleaning on my coin, sent it off to PCGS, and upon return sent it to a professional coin photographer for some hi-res pics. The whole deal only cost me $300 which was well worth it. If you'd like contact info for this gentleman please PM me as I'm sure he would be more than glad to assist you. I also have another friend who used Stack's to auction off his Lord Baltimore copper denarium, and sold it for over $42,000. I know first hand those folks do a great job, and I highly recommend them as well. Congrats again on an awesome find, and good luck regardless of which way you go with it.

BTW - the 2015 Red Book shows the VF and EF values a little higher than in your pic. They're running at $23,000 and $30,000 respectively.
 

Iron Patch

Gold Member
Sep 28, 2007
19,254
8,730
Dirtyville
πŸ₯‡ Banner finds
3
Detector(s) used
Deus
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I don't think it matters what it grades at.
It's still a Banner find.


No kidding there. Even if it was VG it would still be great.


Don't suppose this one was caught on video? Now that is a reaction I would like to see! :)
 

ATpro5

Hero Member
Jan 4, 2013
583
191
SW Virginia
Detector(s) used
Whites Coinmaster,At Pro,Minelab Etrac
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
He posted on Facebook last night that he didn't get the dig on film but he is making a sort of "documentary" on the process he's going through. Sending it off for grading,selling,etc.
 

leenie

Full Member
Dec 30, 2006
134
164
Northwest Indiana
πŸ₯‡ Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Explorer SE Pro xp dues
hi dr. thank you for posting a wonderful find. this is why we scratch around in the dirt. great on the banner god bless you all. dave
 

unclemac

Gold Member
Oct 12, 2011
6,978
6,839
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
what is the story of the site and the hunt and the find? did you know right away or did you have to get home and clean and figure it out?
 

BuckleBoy

Gold Member
Jun 12, 2006
18,123
9,688
Moonlight and Magnolias
πŸ₯‡ Banner finds
4
πŸ† Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75, Whites DualField PI, Fisher 1266-X and Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
No kidding there. Even if it was VG it would still be great.


Don't suppose this one was caught on video? Now that is a reaction I would like to see! :)

the reaction was probably "oh, a barber quarter" LOL

I knew the S mints commanded a premium, so when I dug an 1893-S last week had my fingers crossed on price. Couldn't remember which ones were the key dates. Still worth a couple hundred in the beautiful condition it's in, but not even in the ballpark of the value of this great find.

Congrats,

Buck
 

Argentium

Gold Member
Feb 2, 2008
9,058
5,574
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Detector(s) used
Whites, MXT.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Amazing ! I thought I was pretty familiar with U.S. coins - for some reason I had no idea this key date/mint even existed
Did you know when dug it that you had a key to the series ? (1913-S has a mintage of 40,000 much less pricey though)
congratulations on your BANNER find !
 

Last edited:

Gridwalker306

Gold Member
Nov 10, 2010
6,012
7,406
Canada
πŸ₯‡ Banner finds
1
πŸ† Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, ATPro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Congratulations! That's a remarkable "lifetime" find, and deserves banner. This post should probably go into the "the best of Treasurenet" page as well. I actually got butterflies reading this post haha!

It's nice that the obverse is in pretty decent shape, with a rather full LIBERTY. The reverse looks slightly more corroded/pitted, but MAN that's a great coin!
 

DigIron2

Silver Member
Jan 22, 2014
4,031
2,967
Virginia
Detector(s) used
Fisher f75/1270/1266x/Radio Shack Treasure tracker/
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
holy cow what a score,she's a beauty!Congratulations!
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top