Barber Half Dollar Extra Fine 1915-D

The 1915-D Barber Half Dollar is the last Barber Half to be minted by the Denver Mint and is in extra fine condition, exhibiting minimal wear on both sides of the coin. The Denver Mint mainly focused on commemorative coins but also participated in the Barber Half Dollar production. Only established in 1906, the Denver Mint is still considered one of the newer branches of the mint. In 1921, the Denver joined forces with its sister branches to help produce the Morgan silver dollar, that was soon changed to the Peace silver dollar. Since the Denver Mint was established much later than the other mints, its participation in major coin collections was limited causing collectors to put any silver coin with a "D" mint-mark at the top of their collecting list.

These 90% gems have an interesting history on how they came to be. The Barber design was named after the US Mint's Chief Engraver, William Barber. The coins were in circulation from 1892-1916, but the half dollar wasn't minted the last couple of years before the series ended. The Seated Liberty design had run its course and the Mint's Director, Edward Leech, wanted to officially change the design. Holding a competition, Leech wanted to encourage participation by giving the winner a cash prize. All of the local artists invited declined and Leech resorted to his mint for direction. William Barber was ultimately assigned the task to create a new design for the US currency, that would replace the Seated Liberty. The new design was received with mixed emotions and would be replaced in 1916.