The Barber dime gets its name from the individual who created the design, Charles E Barber. He was the chief engraver for the United States Mint during the years between 1879 and 1917. The design of the dime was shared with two other coins. These were the quarter and the half dollar which were created and used in circulation during the same period of time.
A great deal of internal politics were involved in who ended up receiving the design job. Originally, the design job had been opened up to the entire public. Ultimately, a committee that consisted of four members, one of which was Charles E Barber himself. The committee was created by the current Mint Director at the time James Kimball. Despite receiving more than three hundred submissions for the design of the new currency, only two of the submissions ended up receiving an honorable mention by the committee.
The Director who followed James Kimball was Edward O. Leech. Ultimately, he decided to eliminate the public committee and the open design competition for the creation of the new currencies. Instead, he simply told Charles E Barber that he would be required to create the new design. There are some people who feel that this had been Barber’s intention during the entire time that the committee was in place and the auditions were being held.
The Barber dime was created in a fashion that was similar to all of the previous dimes. Like the incarnations that came before it, the new Barber dime displayed an image of the Statue of Liberty on the obverse of the dime. In this design, she is wearing a Phrygian cap, which was a cone shaped cap that had been worn by members of the western Roman Empire as a sign of freedom. She is also wearing a laurel wreath including a ribbon, and a headband with an inscription on it which reads “LIBERTY”.
The portrait had two primary inspirations that drove the design. The first was the appearance of French coins that existed at the time. The second was the style of Greek and Roman sculptures, a style which has influenced much of the architecture and currency of the United States. In addition, thirteen starts are included as a design element in the appearance of the Barber dime, which represent the original thirteen colonies.