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The Philadelphia Mint was the first mint to be established in the US so it doesn't mark its coins with a mint-mark. The US desperately needed an identity but also a means to international commerce so the Founding Fathers decided that a national mint was the answer. The Mint Act officially announced the opening of the Philadelphia Mint and also instituted guidelines for the newly minted currency. A dollar decimal system would be used to assign the currency with legal tender values. Also, an emblematic symbol of liberty must be included on US currency, hence why so many adaptations of Liberty have been used.
The 1905 Barber Half Dollar is one of the lowest, of the series, to be minted at the Philadelphia Mint! Only 662,000 were minted in 1905, by the Philadelphia Mint, and are highly pursued by serious coin collectors. The 1905 Barber Half Dollar is in very good condition, exhibiting large amounts of wear on both sides of the coin. A familiar name to coin collectors, William Barber served as the Chief Engraver, to the US Mint, from 1869-1879. In just the short ten years as Chief Engraver, Barber was responsible for a history-breaking coin design. Being one of the only designs to grace all current denominations, the Barber design was inspired by the Grecian goddess, Liberty, who has been admired and loved by warriors since the beginning of time. Liberty wears an Acanthus leaf cap as a crown, which was very common in ancient Greece, and the "United States of America," and the coin's mint date are also simply stamped on the obverse. The reverse contains the nation's official seal, which is of a heraldic eagle holding a shield. Each of the eagle's talons are grasping a symbolic gesture: olive branches and arrows.