Lot 1809
1904 Barber Quarter Dollar. NGC graded Proof 67. Brilliant white gem. Only 670 proofs issued. Pop 28; 4 in 68; 1 in 68 Star. Glistening fields rise and fall with original mint bloom. Against this are set serious, "all brilliant" finish whose intricacies of die manufacture insure bold relief on even the smallest design component. Struck with methodical precision throughout including the six-pointed stars of the obverse.
Charles E. Barber's obverse was a mirror image of the Morgan dollar head, with most of Ms. Anna Willess Williams's hair trimmed off and the rest concealed within her enlarged cap. A plain laurel wreath replaced the assorted vegetable matter in the brim; the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was moved above, now that the Latin motto would appear on the eagle's scroll.
The Barber reverse harked back to that of 1804, copying Robert Scot's use of the Great Seal of the United States, though this time without Scot's mistake in positioning arrows and olive branch. In the quaint but precise heraldic terminology of the 19th century: "an eagle, barbed and langued [= with feathers and tongue depicted], displayed, in a glory of 13 stars; on his breast the arms of the United States, argent, six pales gules, a chief azure; in his beak a scroll inscribed E PLURIBUS UNUM; in his dexter claw an olive branch of 13 leaves, in his sinister claw a sheaf of 13 arrows."
Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,500.
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