United States Barber Coinage - Replacement

Replacement

For additional detail on the 1916 subsidiary silver coin redesign, see Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarter, and Walking Liberty half dollar.

According to Burdette, "agitation to replace Barber's banal 1892 Liberty head began almost before the first coins were cold from the press." In 1894, the American Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, in conjunction with various artistic and educational institutes, began to advocate for better designs for US coins, but no change took place in the remainder of the 19th century.

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt started to push for improvements to US coins, and arranged for the Mint to engage Saint-Gaudens to redesign coins which could be changed under the 1890 act. Before his death in 1907, the sculptor provided designs for the double eagle and eagle, though the double eagle required adjustment by Barber to lower the relief before it could be released as a circulating coin. Redesign of the smaller gold pieces, cent, and nickel followed between 1908 and 1913. By then, the dime, quarter, and half dollar were the only coins being struck which had not received a redesign in the 20th century. As the 1916 date approached when the Barber coins could be changed without an act of Congress, calls for a new design increased.

In 1915, a new Mint director, Robert W. Woolley took office. Woolley advocated the replacement of the silver coins when it was legal to do so, and instructed Barber and Morgan to prepare new designs. He consulted with the Commission of Fine Arts, asking them to examine the designs produced by the Mint's engravers and, if they felt they were not suitable, to recommend artists to design the new coins. The Commission rejected the Barber and Morgan designs and proposed Adolph Weinman, Hermon MacNeil, and Albin Polasek. Although Woolley had hoped that each artists would produce one design, different concepts by Weinman were accepted for the dime and half dollar, and one by MacNeil for the quarter.

Woolley had hoped to begin production of the new coins on July 1, 1916. There was heavy demand for small change, and as delays in actual production stretched into the second half of the year, Woolley was forced to have Barber prepare dies for 1916-dated dimes and quarters bearing the chief engraver's 1892 design. According to numismatist David Lange, "Barber must have secretly smiled to himself as his familiar Roman bust of Liberty once again dropped from the presses by the thousands, and then by the millions." There were sufficient half dollars from 1915 available to meet demand; no Barber halves were struck in 1916. The production difficulties were eventually ironed out, and at least token quantities of each of the new coins were struck in 1916, putting an end to the Barber coinage series.