411 on Kennedy Half Dollars

Good advice, thank you. I'll use flips.

I haven't decided on a plan of action as far as that goes. I noticed that a number of sellers on ebay offer individual coins from mint sets. But I've also got a few brick and mortar dealers in the area - the one I dropped in on today had a large cabinet of mint sets, but I didn't have time to peruse it. I think I'll aim for individual coins, but if I have to get an entire set for a good specimen, that's ok too.

The kids can eat gruel, hahaha.

 

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And they'd better like it!

 

Damn straight, lol. No worries though. I'm not aiming for a world-class collection. Just something to keep me out of trouble.

 

I think you have about the best possible plan here. One of the things you'll see pretty quickly is that the mint set coins will have better strikes from newer dies than the roll coins. This effect is even more pronounced in other denominations. There aren't nearly as many varieties in the mint sets and and most of those that appear in the sets are more common. My favorites are the '74-D DDO that appears in about 6% of the sets and the '88 rotated reverse in about .7% of sets.

I highly recommend Wiles' landmark work on this series; "The Kennedy Half Dollar Book" -1998. It lists almost all the varieties and delineates those found in mint sets.

Don't be too picky at first when you look for Gems. Some of these just don't come extremely nice. A Gem '74 won't be as spectaclar as a Gem '79 for instance.

 

All bank roll picks except for the 70D and 1987-P!

 

You win! Lol - that's impressive.

 

Dansco albums are about as good as albums get; there's no PVC in the plastic or anything. Just be careful when sliding the plastic open and closed that you don't scratch the coins. The coins may tone a little in there but hey, maybe you'll even find that desirable. (It seems to be very slow and if you keep it in a dry place around room temperature they'll probably be fine).

Not sure about the 8166; I own the 7166 which leaves out the proof/silver proof issues (but still has all the P & D business strikes, except for the silver bicentennials). It runs out of holes at 2007 but you can get empty album pages to go past that.

 

What do you guys think about packages like this...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190770449748

He's got the run of 70s coins, P and D, still in the mint cello. Works out to $1.50 per coin, which sounds very reasonable. I suppose they could still be rather dinged up, right? The wrapper isn't much protection.

 

Doesn't seem like an amazing deal, but not a terrible deal either. You could get the coins cheaper but it's an easy purchase, and fills a good 1/5 almost of your collection. And they're definitely MS coins, low or high.

 

Uhhhh...........1972-D No FG is the rare one! The others (82P & 82D are quite common!)

Actually, for the 72P, be on the look out for the DDO (doubled die obverse) which is quite scarce in MS grades.



1972 also had a nice DDR (doubled die reverse) for both the P and D mints. Doubling is best seen on the last S in STATES.

Come to think of it, the 1972-D also has a nice DDO to watch out for.

 

... I have a couple Kennedy Dansco's like the OP's and the coins fall into the hole without any pressure needed. All my other Dansco's require pushing the coins into place. I do use cotton gloves and only apply pressure to the rims, never using my fingernails. I also run a fan behind me and turn around and whisk my hands through the draft before touching the coin to ensure that the moisture from my hands doesn't dampen the cotton gloves. I also try and make sure that proof coins are the last coins to be added before the set slide is complete. The slides for modern Dansco's are very soft and sometimes my cotton-gloved hands scratch them when cleaning them off before re-inserting them; which leads me to believe that the slide will scratch before the coin as long as you are careful. I always take every slide out of an empty or newly purchesed Dansco and clear any dust or schmutz out before I bring my coins any where near it. I to also, if possible, never remove the bottom slide after the first coin is added to a set slide. Also, I do recommend the slip case cover for any Dansco album, it just makes sense to me

Good luck to you and your hunting,
Erik

 

That's not a bad price but..........yes some of them might be lower grade.
Another option is local shows. Sometimes you'll find sellers that carry broken up mint sets to sort through.
If you live in the Amish country I'm familiar with I could direct you to a local show with such a seller that would be reasonably close.

 

And the 1964 SMS! After extensive research I believe that only 10 to 12 survive today in all grades. John Dannreuther of PCGS has written of these, "Although the exact source of the Special Mint Set strikings of 1964 coinage is uncertain (most believe they came from the estate of dealer Lester Merkin), they have been trading in the numismatic marketplace since their surfacing in auctions beginning in 1993. Their inclusion as separate varieties is analogous to the separate listing of Satin finish examples in Mint Sets, which were first issued in 2005. Both are striking variations that represent a variation from the normal strikes (hence, PCGS listing them as separate varieties)." You can view many of the different varieties that PCGS includes in its Complete Varieties Set, Business Strikes and Proof, here on our Registry Set, including the pickup points of many of the varieties. I am pretty sure that this is free to all viewers and independent of any paid PCGS thingies. The good photos are by Todd Pollock, mostly.

http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/alltimeset.aspx?s=46735

Enjoy! And PS Welcome, John! You will find a circle of dedicated Kennedy collectors here, including myself, 19Lyds, Caleb, cpm9ball, jello, and some others.

Best Regards, :hail:

George

 

I'm in Lancaster County - any good shows around these parts?

Many thanks for the advice Erik. I'll take it to heart. Evidently the slots are not all created equal - sometimes the coins need to be nudged in, other times they fall right in. At least I'm getting some practice with the circulated roll coins.

Thank you sir. Obviously I've come to the right place.

 

I've bought from this seller and had good luck. I've bought from others and it's a 50-50 chance on getting good coins, I've gotten some that were great and some that were not so great.

 

Thank you Lyds. I'll keep my eyes peeled. I'm assuming you're referring to business strikes. Would coins from mint sets have the same varieties?

Thank you Paul. I'll give it a shot then.

 

Hey guys, are SMS coins considered proofs? And if not, why?

The insert that comes with the sets says...

Sounds like proofs to me...

 

I don't believe more than a handful were struck twice. "Proof" is often defined as having multiple strikes.

The SMS's were also stuck at lower speeds to allow time for metal flow. All mint set coins have been stuck like this since 1965 except that not all the planchets have been burnished or polished and not all dies are basined.