Question about a 1916 s Dime 0

[FTW]

Hi. I was wondering what is so special about the 1916 s Dime?

How can you tell if you have one in good condition? 

[JKK]

Nothing is terribly special about it. The big enchilada is the Mercury 1916-D.

Your Barber 1916-S is well worn but not damaged that I can see. I'd grade it a solid G-4.

[kbbpll]

G6 and it could make VG8; There seems to be some headband left and I think I might see "LI".

I'm curious what you think is "so special" about it. Is a seller feeding you a line or are you confusing it with the 1916-D?

[FTW]

Thanks for all your help. I’m very new at this coin business. One hundred years of collecting by two bank owners has just been handed down to my family and we have no idea where to begin. 
sorry for all the annoying questions. 

Edited December 6, 2019 by FTW

[JKK]

28 minutes ago, FTW said:

Thanks for all your help. I’m very new at this coin business. One hundred years of collecting by two bank owners has just been handed down to my family and we have no idea where to begin. 
sorry for all the annoying questions. 

It's not annoying; please don't take that the wrong way. kbb was just curious where/how you were communicated that a 16-S Barb dime was special, with an eye toward helping you cut through any baloney someone might be giving you. That's what we do here, play Robin Hood. The idea is that if someone is telling you things like that, and you run them by us, we can let you know if you need to be suspicious of that source. It may stand to gain from you, and we do not.

Congrats on the hand-down, although it is probably tinged with loss so that's muted. Feel free to ask questions even if they are very basic.

You asked about condition and how to tell. kbb and I don't quite agree on the grade, but neither are we far apart. There was a LIBERTY incuse on a headband when this coin was struck. VG-8 requires, what is it, at least 2-3 letters visible? I don't think there is enough there to identify even a single letter, but kbb seems to, and maybe he's seeing something I don't. The standard for G-4 doesn't require a single letter, so that's what I'd grade this one. If I saw at least a hint, though, I'd go for G-6 (high end of Good) without question because the rest of the coin exceeds the basic standards for G-4 and it wouldn't take much excuse. Anyway, that's my assessment take on condition.

Edited December 6, 2019 by JKK

[kbbpll]

Nothing annoying at all about your question. I was just curious where the "so special" remark came from. You have a daunting task ahead! So much to learn, and it never ends. You take excellent pictures, which really helps everyone. You could start with your Barber dimes for example. Scroll through the price guide in the F column (Fine grade) and see if you have any that are listed for more than say $100. Those are the "key dates". Or as you go through them, look for ones that appear "fresh from the mint" or much less worn that the others. Post some examples and people on here will be glad to help.

[kbbpll]

Yeah, I saved off the image and zoomed way in, but now I'm not so sure. Bowers says "a net of three letters in LIBERTY", traditionally LI is clear and then a partial letter or two, for VG8. Seems to have too much leaf detail left for G4, so G6 sounds like a good compromise! Welcome to the idiosyncrasies of coin grading, @FTW. I won't claim to be any good at it...

[FTW]

I appreciate all the help. It really is A lot. I feel like I just had most of my homework done for me. As I was going through all the boxes I came across a very large list of all the valuable proof sets and coins that are put away in a safe. We will have access to those soon. But for now I want to make sure that nothing was overlooked.

 We have many rolls of Pennies marked as all “new” that have not been opened dating from 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973,1974 And many More. Not even sure why those were collected. 

Im also struggling with identifying a type 1 and type 2. 
I have a few 1981 proof sets that I would like some help with. 
It’s all interesting but a lot to take in. 

[Greenstang]

FTW

May I suggest that you put each coin you have a question about in it's own post. Otherwise there will just be confusion when people are answering questions about the different coins.