1898-O Barber Dime
Circulation strike struck at the New Orleans Mint · 2,130,000 made
- Mintage
- 2,130,000
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 17.9 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1898-O Barber Dime worth?
In worn condition it trades for about its silver content, 0.0723 troy ounces. Uncirculated coins with full luster or attractive toning sell for more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1898-O Barber Dime rare?
- Not by date: 2.1 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Is the 1898-O Barber Dime silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.0723 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1898 Barber Dime?
- On the reverse, below the bow of the wreath. Philadelphia dimes have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is O, for New Orleans.
- Which New Orleans dates near 1898 are scarcer?
- The 1895-O at 440,000, the 1896-O at 610,000, the 1897-O at 666,000, plus 3 more. So the 1898-O is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1898-O Barber Dime coins were made?
- 2,130,000.
What to check on your 1898-O
- Make sure the mint mark really is a O. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1898-S (1.7 million made).
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1898 Barber Dime Proof (735 made) is the one to compare with.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. LIBERTY on the headband is the benchmark: all seven letters must be clear for Fine and above.
Circulated examples are usually traded for their silver content. Pick out the best ones: original luster and attractive toning lift a coin above melt, while cleaned coins lose most of their collector value.
The story of the 1898-O
New Orleans ramped up hard in 1898: 2,130,000 coins, about 3.2 times the 1897 run. In 1899 the figure was 2.6 million.
The other mints made far more that year: 1898 alone came to 16 million, roughly 7.7 for every 1898-O. That makes the 1898-O the scarcer 1898 coin, though still a common one.
Across New Orleans's 17 Barber Dime issues, the hardest to find is the 1895-O with 440,000 made. The 1898-O is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1890s it's 16th smallest of 24, between the 1896 (2 million) and the 1893-S (2.5 million).
Big Philadelphia runs and two San Francisco semi-keys (1898 to 1903)
Prosperity returned at the end of the decade. Philadelphia struck between 16,320,000 and 21,380,000 dimes every year from 1898 to 1903 and New Orleans reached 8,180,000 in 1903. Across the six years the three mints made 150,614,257 Barber dimes, so most dates from this stretch are easy to find in worn condition and make good, inexpensive fillers for an album. Proofs were struck every year in small numbers, between 735 and 912 a year in this stretch. They are listed on their own pages.
San Francisco is the exception. Its output swung from 5,168,270 in 1900 down to 593,022 in 1901 and 613,300 in 1903. Those two coins are the semi-keys of the period. The 1901-S was the first twentieth century Barber dime of real scarcity. The 1903-S is unusually scarce for a coin struck so late. Both are hard to find in uncirculated condition and carry a collector premium in any grade.
New Orleans dimes of these years, from 2,010,000 in 1900 up to 8,180,000 in 1903, tend to be softly struck, with weak detail in the wreath and on Liberty's hair. Don't mistake a weak strike for wear. Judge the grade from LIBERTY on the headband and the high points of the wreath. Remember that many coins of the era survive only in low grades because they circulated for decades before anyone thought to save them.
How to recognize it
Barber's Liberty faces right, her hair gathered under a Phrygian cap and crowned with a laurel wreath. A narrow band above her forehead carries the word LIBERTY in tiny letters and that band is the first detail to wear away. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA circles the portrait with the date below. Unlike the Barber quarter and half dollar, the dime has no stars and no IN GOD WE TRUST, because there was simply no room for the motto. The reverse was carried over from the last Seated Liberty dimes: a wreath of corn, wheat, maple and oak leaves, tied with a bow at the bottom, around the words ONE DIME. Branch mint coins show an O, S or D just below the bow. The coin is 17.9 mm across, weighs 2.5 grams and has a reeded edge.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Barber Dime (1892–1916) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1898 |
| Mint | New Orleans Mint |
| Mint mark | "O" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 2,130,000 |
| Face value | 10¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 2.5 grams |
| Diameter | 17.9 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.0723 troy oz (2.250 g) |
| Designer | Charles E. Barber |
Other 1898 Barber Dime issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 Barber Dime | 16,320,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1898 Barber Dime Proof | 735 | Proof | 0.0723 oz |
| 1898-S Barber Dime | 1,702,507 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
| 1898-O Barber Dime | 2,130,000 | Circulation strike | 0.0723 oz |
Mintage: US Mint records as published in standard references, each figure checked against at least two independent sources. How we build these pages.