Half dollars are drying up in my area, so I was wondering if I should start keeping some of my clad halves?
Only if you find any with errors or are totally uncirculated rolls or single coins . Otherwise I was always under the impression circulated clad coinage will never bring a premium.
Honestly? My parents kept clad ikes and kennedys and SBAs. I now have em all and whenever I get any I stash them away with the others. Those coins got me started in collecting when I was little, and maybe if I ever have kids they can go to them and help them start collecting. They may never bring much of a premium, but they aren't commonly seen like other coins. They still get people's attention and most kids these days don't have a clue and could care less about them. So yeah why not keep them?
Yeah, I'm not gonna buy anything clad. Only interesting pocket change MAYBE. If it ain't silver or gold it ain't worth buying. Not saying I don't have some because I do. It's just not something I'm willing to spend money on. Bronze or ancient coins that's a totally different story.
I'll take some of that back or add to it. Early American coppers 1700''s thru say 1950''s I'll spend on.
Why certainly he should keep them if it pleases him or you to. It's what makes you, the collector happy is what counts. It's just that many of us would rather turn in what we do not collect and buy something else that we do like.
Collect what ever brings you peace joy & happiness. I one tried collecting a bunch of hot ladies but that didn't sit well with the wife. Coins you can't go wrong with coins. Please yourself not others it's your collection. Enjoy the hobby. It's usually fun.
I keep all of the Not Intended for Circulation coins and Proofs which I may find, along with error coins. There also appears to be a market for the high grade 1982-83 coins from both mints due to the lack of mint sets being made those two years, so I usually keep the AU or better examples of those two dates.
Indeed! Mostly though I save the Gems and varieties when I can find them. My favorites are specimens with a clean shield on the reverse.
Saving Clad Half Dollars is strictly a personal choice which, after 20, 30, or 40 years, you'll ask yourself "What the Heck was I thinking?" In reality, clad half dollars may be "drying up" in your area but there are literally millions, upon millions of them in Federal Reserve Vaults and circulation. Banks will order $500 boxes for you as long as you don;t bring them back. In short, a waste of storage space since, unless they are a somewhat valuable variety (which is an extremely THIN and FICKLED market), they'll never be worth more than 50 cents. Now, if you figure out a way of living say, 500 years, then maybe they have some value but certainly not within your or my lifetimes. Having said that, searching CnClad Kennedy Half Dollars for varieties can be a very rewarding activity. Storing thousands of dollars worth........not so much.
I wouldn't suggest holding onto circulated examples unless they are varieties but right now the market for clad half dollars is actually pretty strong. BU rolls bring over bid which is typically a dollar or two per coin and ranges as high as $7. Buyers are looking for BU bank rolls or twenty nice mint set specimens. They will reject large numbers of inferior rolls or mint set rolls containing culls. Kennedys and Ikes both have a fairly "healthy" market right now.
There are proportionally fewer clad Ikes in PCGS MS67 than Morgans, and PCGS has zero clad Ikes in MS68. There are 14 different Morgan issues with higher Pops in PCGS 67 than the entire clad Ike series. More generally, if you have anything clad pre-1995 in MS67 or better, you've got something pretty special. It's my opinion that, with a few isolated exceptions, any clad coin at 67 or above between 1965-1995 is a strong long-term keeper. They're getting no respect right now, so there won't be a ton of additions to the populations, and are scarce as hen's teeth to begin with. I believe the younger collectors among us will see the day when Superb Gem early clads start fetching serious money. Heck, most MS67 Ikes are 4-digit coins right now.
YES, BU "Bank" Rolls "may" bring over bid but not always. This statement is true for most CnClad series of coin up to perhaps the mid 90's with Kennedy's and Washingtons leading the charge. As pointed out, the MUST be "BU bank rolls". Put together rolls from US Mint sets attract dust, not buyers. I have lots and lots of really nice 72P, 72D, 73P, 73D rolls which would serve me better as a bank deposit instead of trying to sell them because, as a buyer, I WAS paying a premium for them. I do not mind the loss but I get a little testy when I take it in the shorts. An eBay sale would demand double to triple face value to break even given the current eBay structure and demand/penalty for FREE shipping charges. But that's just my opinion. If the OP wants to start saving CnClad Kennedy's then it's ok by me. All I'm saying is to not expect anything in return for the effort on the financial side.