1909-S Barber Half Dollar

The story of the 1909-S

San Francisco made 1,764,000 in 1909, about the same as the year before. In 1910 the figure was 1.9 million.

1909-O came to 925,400 and 1909 came to 2.4 million, so neither mint's 1909 coin is much scarcer than the other. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1895-O (1,766,000) and the 1906-S (1,740,154).

Across San Francisco's 24 Barber Half Dollar issues, the hardest to find is the 1904-S with 553,038 made. The 1909-S is one of the easier ones. Within the 1900s it's 13th smallest of 33, between the 1906-S (1.7 million) and the 1903-S (1.9 million).

Four mints and the end at New Orleans (1906 to 1909)

Denver struck its first half dollars in 1906, 4,028,000 of them. For four years all four mints made halves, the only time that happened in the Barber series. New Orleans struck 5,360,000 in 1908 and then 925,400 in 1909, its final half dollars before the mint stopped coining. San Francisco and Philadelphia each struck between about 1.25 and 2.64 million a year.

With so many mints working, the coins of these years are among the easiest Barber halves to find. They make a good starting point for a mint mark set because every coin of 1906 to 1908 is available in moderate grades. The 1909-O is the scarcest of the period. Mint marks sit just below the eagle's tail and are small, so a loupe helps when reading them on worn coins.

Elsewhere in US coinage in 1909

The Lincoln cent replaced the Indian Head cent to mark the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Designer Victor David Brenner's initials V.D.B. on the reverse were removed within days after complaints. The New Orleans Mint struck its last coins that year.