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The 1905 Barber Quarter was minted by the Philadelphia Mint and contains an average mintage. Considered to be in about good condition, the 1905 Barber Quarter carries extremely heavy amounts of wear on both sides of the coin, with important details lacking, such as Liberty's headpiece details and the eagle's feathering.Named the oldest mint in the US, the Philadelphia Mint was established in 1792. After the ratification of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers needed to establish a national identity and a means of commerce. At the time, Philadelphia was the capital of the US so it only made sense for the first mint to be built there. The Mint Act mandated that an emblematic symbol of liberty should be depicted on all US currency, lending to the Lady Liberty craze over the years. Lady Liberty is still admired today and stands in New York's harbor has a reminder of what the US stands for.
In just the short ten years as Chief Engraver, Barber was responsible for a history-breaking coin design. Being the US Mint Chief Engraver from 1869-1879, William Barber is known for one solitary design: the Barber design. The Barber design goes down in history as 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. The Barber design wasn't hated but it also wasn't popular, so the Barber Quarter's production ended in 1916.