Worth $15 at MOST, and closer to $12. Why would you spend $40 to grade it? Why do I keep seeing this fascination with slabbing cheapo coins?
You keep seeing it because a lot of people do not take the time to learn about the coins they buy, their value, and the costs associated with having a grading service render their opinion on a slab. He probably is not even a true coin collector but someone who thinks that a 100+ year old coin is worth lots and lots of money and knows just enough to not know how much he does not know about old coins. One word says it all, clueless.
The guy came to learn. I started about 50 years back and I'm still learning everyday. Wish you guys would play nice. The coin has a nice original look. VG sounds right. Not worth having graded but still a nice looking coin. So many of these have been messed with.
"Nice original look" has nothing to do with spending 3 times what the coin's worth to get it graded... This is learning at the grass-roots level. With what the OP saved, he can buy 3 to 5 more Barber quarters.
The coin is quite lovely and would grade around G6 or VG8. However, it is a common coin and worth relatively little. Therefore, certification costs would be far too high to justify sending it in. Regardless, it is still lovely.
