Blay's Superb Gem 1900-S
1900-S is one of a trio of Barber Dime issues, including 1898-S and 1899-S, of which a significant portion of the original mintage is reported to have been shipped to the Philippines for local circulation. With an original mintage of over 5 million coins, more than the San Francisco Mint’s dime production for the next four years combined, it is likely that a majority of 1900-S Dimes struck were shipped across the Pacific.
Numismatic researcher David W. Lange noted:
About the same time that tourists were discovering obsolete half dimes in the Caribbean, the San Francisco Mint was shipping millions of dimes, quarters and halves to the Philippine Islands. Acquired by the USA from Spain in the 1899 Treaty of Paris, these islands lacked a reliable coinage of their own, so fractional silver pieces dated 1898-S, 1899-S and 1900-S were shipped there in large numbers. Not suited to the local economy, these coins circulated a very short time before being replaced with a unique series based on a Philippine peso equivalent to 50 cents USA. The S-Mint Barber silver coins were simply hoarded as a store of silver by the Filipinos until being mostly repatriated after 1960. By then the coins, though unworn or just lightly worn, had turned very dark in the harsh climate of the Philippines. Seen today, they typically are harshly cleaned though still retain rich detail.
David W. Lange, “USA Coin Album: America’s Coinage Abroad, Part Two”, May 2010
This 1900-S is obviously not one of the “Phillipine Hoard” coins, as the luster is full, frosty, and original. Light powder blue, violet, and amber toning envelopes both obverse and reverse, with patches of sea green and russet visible. The finest details are struck in strong relief, with each strand of hair, cereal grain, and leaf vein clearly defined.
This is the only 1900-S Barber 10c included in the CAC Census as MS67, and is the clear finer of the two coins graded MS67/67+ by PCGS. The contender, the more recent PCGS MS67 #38670448, last sold at Legend Auctions March 2020, lot 253 at $15,275 and is currently included in the collection of D.L. Hansen.
PCGS #04959104
Provenance
Stewart Blay