1960 pf set and 1955 Pf half, Value?

Sorry, I will be unable to take pictures as my camera has a huge reflective light blur every time I try to make a picture of a proof coin, but anyways....

I bought for 50 $ a very nice example of a 1955 Benjamin Franklin half dollar . They only made 379,200, and I thought the coin would look great in my album as my first Franklin half purchase! So condition, is about PF 65+ I believe it to be PF 66, or 67... As it is an impaired proof. I do not know much about impaired proofs besides they were from cracked out proof sets.

So as well as that I bought a 1960 proof set for 29 dollars, and I was wondering what might be the value of these coins, and if I did good. Thank you.

I was doing research and found this:

http://www.littletoncoin.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product5|10001|24551|-1|34179|89306

is that a really high price or did I get a really good deal? And this one is in PF63 ....

 

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Much of the value of the half will depend on the cameo contrast. Also, Littleton is known for having very high prices.

 

Im not familiar with Littletown, anyways thanks for the info.

 

and how do I tell its cameo contrast?

 

Ball park on the '60 proof set. Check the cent. If it's a small date you did very nicely price wise.

Why do you think the '55 Franklin is an impaired proof? By what you believe the coin could be graded at, there is no way that coin could be impaired......

 

dealer told me it was impaired, and unfortunally the cent is not a small date.

 

Oh dear. OK......

Sure wish you could post some pics.......

 

An impaired proof is one that has circulated. If the half dollar is impaired, you should be able to see signs of wear. The highest an impaired proof coin can grade is PF-58, just as a business strike with wear can only grade up to AU-58. If the half is in fact impaired, you paid too much.

 

??? Im very confused ?? He said an impaired proof is one that has been cracked out of its case?? And it shows absolultley no trace of wear.

 

Impairment is all about wear. If the coin was cracked out and handled correctly, it should not show any signs of wear, and will therefore not be impaired.

 

Then you have a normal proof, an impaired proof usually indicates a coin that has been damaged or as Zachkeaton has said circulated.

 

If that were the case then every coin that was cracked out and sent to PCGS and NGC would come back with that 'impaired' notation.......

 

A few points. The problem with your images is most likely not the camera, it appears to be the angle of the lighting. You do not have the correct definition of an impaired proof, but others have already told you it is simply a circulated proof. The 1960 proof set was priced fairly, which leads me to believe that the 1955 Franklin would also have been priced fairly.

 

To add to what Tom has said (posted)........ya got the 'flash' turned off when trying to picture take OP? You wanna see a blast of blinding lite, leave the 'flash' on while trying to image proofs......

 

Would a fingerprint on a proof that has no wear be considered impaired?

 

It would impair the eye appeal, but on its own would not earn the coin status as being circulated.

 

If the half proof is impaired it might not grade at 66 or 67, and the fact you paid $50 for it suggests maybe it's more 63-64.

 

You might be right, I don't specialize in grading proofs. It also does have some small milk spots, if that affects the value, on obverse? There is only 2 I can see.
And also is littleton charging 3 1/2 times its value? Cause that is insane.

 

Well let's put it this way.

If I was going to lay out $174 plus shipping for a 55 Franklin proof, it better grade 67 or higher, or it better be a DCAM proof PR64.

That is outrageous!

 

Certified proof 65 1955 halves are selling for less than $50 on ebay., so you may have overpayed unless yours actually grades higher.