1894-S Barber Dime
1894-S Barber Dime is one of the rarest coins in US coin history. It was said that 24 1894-S Barber Dimes were struck. The coin was designed by Charles Barber. On the obverse, it features a head of Liberty wearing a freedman’s cap and a band with the word LIBERTY inscribed. On the reverse it features a wreath of American grains and with the words ONE DIME. It weight 38 grains, 90% silver and 10% copper.
There are other Barber coins, such Barber Quarter and Barber Half Dollar, but none of them are as rare as 1894-S Barber Dimes. Only 9 of the original 24 1894-S Barber Dimes have been sucessfully traced. Two of them are pulled out of the circulation and others are in various condition. The story that why only 24 1894-S Barber Dimes is that the Mint Superintendent at San Francisco in 1894, John Daggett, had 24 coins struck as requested by his special friends. And three of them went to his daughter, Hallie. Hallie used one of the coins to buy ice cream and that coin was pulled out from circulation later on. She kept the other two and sold them in 1954.
The reason John Daggett gave three of such coins to his daugther is that he believed one day they will worth a lot of money and he was right. The 1894-S Barber Dimes now worth a lot of money; the finest coin would worth $1 million dollars.