1902 Barber Dime

1902 Barber dimes are quite numerous, with their original mintage having approached 30 million pieces. Their high mintage and the fact that they were saved in large numbers means all three business-strike issues of the 1902 Barber dime are readily available today.

Here’s a breakdown of the mintages and values of 1902 Barber dimes:

• 1902 – 21,380,000; $5

• 1902-O – 4,500,000; $7

• 1902-S – 2,070,000; $12

• 1902 proof – 777; $600

*Values are for coins in a grade of Good-4, unless otherwise noted.

As is typical for the era, the Philadelphia-mint Barber dime is the most numerous with more than 21 million pieces originally minted. Next up is New Orleans (O), which saw only about one-fifth of the original production of the Philadelphia mint dime that year but in the grade of Good is valued only a few dollars more than that issue.

The San Francisco mint dime is the scarcest of the three business-strike issues from 1902. While only a relatively small number were produced (one-tenth as many as the Philadelphia issue that year), the S-mint dime is not dramatically more expensive than its Bay Area branch-mint counterpart. The proof dime is not generally included in most Barber dime series collections, and is largely pursued only by enthusiasts.