1964 Kennedy Half and Roosevelt Dime - grade?

Hi,
My photos in this thread are for a 1964 Kennedy Half and a 1964 Roosevelt Dime.

With silver at around $33 a troy ounce, I am struggling to determine whether or not to send these (and 50+ similar ones) to the smelter or to list them for auction at USA Coin Book (to keep costs down). I have an account at a commercial smelter, and they will pay me 90% to 95% of spot price. I am not working with the "We Buy Gold Guys."

The decision all boils down to the grade of the coins - AU, MS-60, MS-65, etc. As I am still learning, I can't tell if these are AU (or maybe less) and the various states of MS. I do get the "cartwheeling" effect on some of these coins, and they look pretty good to me, but I am an amateur.

I'd appreciate opinions on the grade of these two coins.

Many thanks!

 

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Well, here's the deal with 1964 silver coins.... Folks knew that was the last year for silver coinage so a whole lot of 64 dated cons were tucked away in mommas sock drawer and the like. Hence now we have plenty of high grade 64 dated coins available to collectors...... Now having said that, I think these two pieces are remarkably well preserved and deserve a better outcome than the smelter.... I won't hesitate a grade. That is too exacting of a science to undertake from a photograph, but even high grade pieces dated 1964 tend to trade near spot levels..... I would put these in a 2X2 and forego the expense of grading. I sure wouldn't want to see them go to melt.

 

I agree with @Randy Abercrombie these 2 coins deserve flips or capsules at the least.

“Junk” silver, or in your terms : smelter bait, usually applies to very worn silver coins; coins with wear conditions of VG10 or less (depending on the date), not a key date and/or having serious damage so as to not straight grade and generally having little to no redeeming collectability.

 

Those 2 coins are only 90% Silver

 

Like Randy said many were put away. I received these from a friend who picked them up from the bank in 64 all in mint state!!!

 

As stated they are both common date 90% silver coins and lots of them were saved so the value is low, even in a higher grade state with no issues. Just put in a flip and keep them. The PM market is still going up.

 

These are too nice to smelt. As stated above, there were lots of them put back, but few would be as nice as these. Not worth sending to a professional grader, but too nice to just melt. As stated, put in a 2x2 or nicer holder and hang on to them.