What happened to the Franklin Half Dollar Market

I was into these a couple yrs ago..then checked some prices today and was amazed at how low FBL's have crashed...what happened?

 

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Collector demand went down is a more obvious answer.
But I do agree. FBL doesn't seem to significant at the moment.

 

Since 2015, most coins have undergone a market correction. But things have leveled out over the past year. Just my observations.

 

They are ugly. Franklin collectors finally realized it

 

The premium for FBL was out of line of collector demand/funds.

 

The series has been heavily hit by grade inflation. I have seen multiple coins even from the older blue holder era go up a point or two. I think that is a large reason for the prices crashing. There is so much overgraded junk out there.

 

This is certainly part of the reason. It's been well over a year since I've gone to any show, even a small local one, because the grades on the slabs bore no relation to the coins inside the slab, at least in this old fart's opinion.

With regards to FBL, the PCGS FBL is so relatively easy to get (barring a few date/mm's) that it really shouldn't have any significant premium. The NGC FBL in general is harder to get and worth more of a premium, but their technical grading is easier than PCGS's so that causes an issue.

 

There are a few factors which have hurt the Franklin. I used to be a serious collector of Franklins, built an award-winning set, and then sold it.

For a few years, Franklins were quite popular. This peaked in the early teens. Yes, the hobby as a whole has been sorta treading water (or going down, depending on who you ask), but Franklins declined more than the rest of the hobby.

Overgrading was part of it. Grading Franklins felt like the wild west - you'd see 65s that should have been 63s, 67s that should have been 65s, anything with attractive color shot up multiple grades.... It was chaos.

The dominance of the ridiculously inadequate PCGS "standard" for FBL and CAC's blind following hurt the sector even more. When collectors realized that their so-called FBL coins weren't actually FBL, I think many people soured on the venture. Some FBL dates are legitimately scarce, but many of them are quite common, as Skyman mentions. And when you use the loose standard of PCGS, they become quite easier to obtain.

Sectors rise, sectors fall, and nobody can predict the whims of the collector. Franklins have never been the most popular series to collect, so it was really more of a surprise when they were getting hot a few years ago than that they cooled off after that.

 

While Franklin's are a great looking coin I stop short at beautiful. They remain in demand but so much has happened in the market prices have dropped.

 

Spectacular coins are still doing very well to much better, most Franklins FBLs included are common and common readily available coins have been going down for a while in most to all series. The ability to go online and find hundreds to thousands of examples of something at once has created a bit of a price race to the bottom for sellers to get those things sold.

 

I assembled a spectacular Franklin set in the 1980-90’s. That set was stolen from me some years ago.... Point is, at that time the absolute top dollar I spent for truly spectacular examples was maybe $75.00. That was 25-30 years ago...... I have recently assembled another set of very nice examples. Not spectacular, but quite nice. I spent on average $50-$75 each for them.

Point being, in my simplistic view, Franklins have been vastly over priced since the advent of the TPG’s. It is a common series and all dates are readily available..... I’ll step on some toes here, but the TPG’s did not do the Franklin half any favors. It’s not a coin that is defined by sharp features thus the difference between most MS examples are indistinguishable to all but the most educated and discerning eye. In my view anyway, it is a welcomed correction.

 

I figure the price dropped because I finished my set.

 

I had the same experience, well except for the part about them being stolen, sorry to hear that. But I did my PDS and proofs set with nice examples for probably less than a thousand bucks total. You’d be hard pressed to do a low end proof set with that amount just a few years ago. I don’t follow prices of Franklins, but I thought the prices were just out of hand a few years ago. The market needed a correction.

 

Had no idea they were in the tank. I've spent a little time looking for a type example and every time one catches my eye the price tag is absurdly high in my opinion.

I'm not a fan of strike designations either on an unrelated note. Well I guess when the amazing coins that miss the added designation get discounted then I'm kind of a fan.

 

Is it possible that the FBL boosted the series up for awhile and then as the market was flooded with them interest waned? I do not know how long that designation has been around but for the last 2 years I could not talk to any dealer about a franklin or nickel without having FBL and FULL STEPS being crammed down my throat. Personally, I am much more interested in Thunderbirds(Superbirds?) and Bunnies.

 

Collectors have recognized and pursued well struck Franklins since the 60s. The TPGs started designating it in the 90's. And for most dates, FBL is common enough that there is practically zero interest in a non-FBL example, unless it is a variety or attractively toned.

 

FBL is a coin grading term. It refers to Full Bell Lines

 

Only bad witches are ugly and only ugly Franklins are bad.

 

This is what happened to key the dates of popular series. “Rare” coins have been proven to be nothing more than scarce. The market corrected.

 

I'm a new collector of half dollar coins. I'm not much on Kennedys tho. I like the Walking Liberties and Franklin, but I take my time with both of them. I'm almost through with Franklin. I have a way to go for Walking Liberties. The Walking Liberties are priced too high for me to get one every once in a while. I did get some pretty ones from ebay. Cost about $30, but well worth it.