The Barber coinage consisted of a dime, quarter, and half dollar
designed by United States Bureau of the Mint Chief Engraver Charles E.
Barber. They were minted between 1892 and 1916, though no half dollars
were struck in the final year of the series. By the late 1880s, there
were increasing calls for the replacement of the Seated Liberty design,
used since the 1830s on most denominations of silver coins. In 1891,
Mint Director Edward O. Leech instructed Barber to prepare new designs
for the dime, quarter, and half dollar, after a public competition
failed to produce suitable entries. Barber's designs were approved by
President Benjamin Harrison that November. Striking of the new coins
began the following January. Public and artistic opinion of the new
pieces was, and remains, mixed. In 1915, Mint officials began plans to
replace them when the design's minimum term expired the following year.
Before the end of 1916, the Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarter, and
Walking Liberty half dollar had begun production. Most dates in the
Barber coin series are not difficult to obtain, but the 1894 dime struck
at the San Francisco Mint (1894-S), with a mintage of 24, is a great
rarity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_coinage>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1148:
The Siege of Damascus ended in a decisive crusader defeat,
leading to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Damascus_(1148)>
1858:
Japan reluctantly signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, an
unequal treaty giving the United States various commercial and
diplomatic privileges.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amity_and_Commerce_(United_States%E2%80%93Japan)>
1899:
The first Hague Convention, among the first formal statements
of the laws of war and war crimes in international law, was signed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Conventions_of_1899_and_1907>
1958:
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National
Aeronautics and Space Act into law, establishing a new federal non-
military space agency known as NASA (logo pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA>
1987:
Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President
J.R. Jayewardene signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in an ultimately
unsuccessful attempt to resolve the ongoing Sri Lankan Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Sri_Lanka_Accord>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
shipwrecky:
1. Characteristic of a shipwreck.
2. (figuratively) Weak, feeble; shaky.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shipwrecky>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
A task becomes a duty from the moment you suspect it to be an
essential part of that integrity which alone entitles a man to assume
responsibility.
--Dag Hammarskjöld
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dag_Hammarskj%C3%B6ld>