1967 Kennedy Half Dollar

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by VistaCruiser69, Nov 19, 2019.

  1. VistaCruiser69

    VistaCruiser69 Well-Known Member

    B2B7CD86-9442-43E6-B301-C37CBC28A252.jpeg 74E102FF-A22D-4AB0-A92C-4A826455262B.jpeg FAF6B47B-57F0-47D3-AD36-5FE976D76DB3.jpeg As I mentioned in another thread, I found a 1967 Kennedy Half Dollar during one of my junkyard visits about twenty years ago. Sure it’s not mint and worth much, but it was free:)

    BTW- talking about old cars with silver coins in them.... not only old cars but I’ll bet you there are lots of old coins laying down in the floor registers of old homes across the US.
     
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  3. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    It's fortunate that it is 40% silver because it looks to me like it has been polished.

    Chris
     
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  4. John Johnson

    John Johnson Well-Known Member

    It looks to me like it's been replated, maybe for a necklace or something
     
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  5. VistaCruiser69

    VistaCruiser69 Well-Known Member

    From my understanding, just the clad layer is 40% silver but the core is copper. Not sure if this is true or not.

    In regards to the polished look, I have a friend who owns and operates a jewelry store and I brought it to him to look at. The issue was, when I found this coin, it must have been sitting in that car for 30 or so years. The obverse was against the backing of the carpet and/or padding. Over the long period of time, the backing fused to the coin. When I found it, the reverse and edges were good for the most part, but the obverse had the carpet and/or padding fused to it. This material also hardened. So it wasn't anything that could be easily removed. I could see from the edge that it wasn't a silver era coin. I could see the copper layer. I also could barely make out the date, specifically "67". So being in a wrecked car and with this hard material fused to the obverse, I figured the odds that it's worth much is probably not in my favor.

    I analyzed and weighed my options. Obviously the coin is somewhat circulated and since it's got the material hardened and fused to the obverse, I don't know if there is even any serious damage to that side of the coin or not. Plus I did a little research to see if the 1967 Kennedy Half Dollar had any rarity to it. Didn't seem to find anything worth worrying about.

    So I ultimately made the decision to bring it to the friend of mine who deals with jewelry and precious metals and see if he could remove the hardened material that had fused to the obverse side of the coin. He told me that he can try and get it off with some type of steam tool device that he uses on jewelry for customers to clean their pieces when requested.

    So this was the results of what was done. But like I mentioned earlier, I found the coin, it was free. So I took a chance to get it somewhat recognizable on the obverse side. The reverse side is really nice, though a few spot traces of the carpet and/or padding material can be found, overall it's a piece that I can converse about as to how I came to be in possession of it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2019
  6. Mountain Man

    Mountain Man Supporter! Supporter

    I'm sure your jeweler friend was doing you a favor, but if you every take a coin to him again, tell him NOT to polish it. I would have tried a very long soak in acetone to remove the carpet backing, but like you said, the coin was free and didn't strike you as being anything more than face value.
     
  7. VistaCruiser69

    VistaCruiser69 Well-Known Member

    How much would you expect a circulated 1967 Kennedy half dollar to be worth, realistically?

    https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...r.TRS0&_nkw=1967+kennedy+half+dollar&_sacat=0

    I notice that most, if not all are a "buy it now" auction for under $10.00
     
  8. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    The reeded edge looks normal for a 40% Kennedy which should rule out being plated.

    Chris
     
  9. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

  10. VistaCruiser69

    VistaCruiser69 Well-Known Member

    From what I was reading yesterday in regards to the Kennedy Half Dollars, after 64' they ended up making them out of copper core and less silver because people were hoarding them in bulk amounts. There were even instances of them being melted down just because of the silver content. Even after they started eliminating most of the silver content from the coins, people were still hoarding them, until they completely removed the silver content from these coins. Also learned that there were no rare errors listed on the 1967's. Great coin but not too valuable at all when found out in general circulation.
     
  11. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    In that polished condition it's worth about $2.00 but if unpolished it could be worth more. It's damaged so it's value is based on junk silver prices. Please don't let your friend polish any more of your coins.
     
  12. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    The 1965-1970 Kennedy's were silver clad.

    Chris
     
  13. chascat

    chascat Well-Known Member

    Plated or polished or both.
     
  14. VistaCruiser69

    VistaCruiser69 Well-Known Member

    I definitely would have completely had it left alone if it wasn't for the hardened material fused to the surface of the adverse side of the coin. How I was looking at it was, it's already pretty damaged on that one side and perhaps more damage is hidden underneath the few MM's of hardened material. Since it's not a rare type of coin, I elected to have the materials removed. As I saw it, the coin before it was cleaned was face value (.50) or melt down. I don't plan to melt anything down, but just saying. After the material was cleaned off, still face value (.50) or melt down, thus no value loss or gain.

    Seriously I get why you never should clean up coins and I don't clean my coins. But this one was an the exception to the rule because of the condition it was in at the time I found it but most importantly because it's really not that valuable of a coin in a circulated and/or damaged condition.
     
  15. Jayyk38

    Jayyk38 Member

    That 67 looks exactly like a beat up Kennedy half from a '67 SMS set. Looks like environmental damage from sitting in a dirty old car for 30 years!
     
  16. Michael K

    Michael K Well-Known Member

    The core is not copper.
    It is an alloy of copper and silver.
    The outer layers are 80% silver and 20% copper which is bonded to an inner core of 20.9% silver and 79.1% copper. (Making the total 40%).
    If you cut your coin in half with large shears or machine cutting tool,
    you will see the inner core is not copper.
    I believe the confusion is that it has been called a "clad" coin. Today's clad coins do contain an inner copper core. But the clad, means this coin was constructed sort of like a sandwich. With the outer layers and the inner core.
    In the 40% Kennedy's the inner core is copper and silver melted together.
     
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  17. Oldhoopster

    Oldhoopster Member of the ANA since 1982

    You've been hanging on CT for awhile. Time to get a copy of "A Guidebook of United States Coins" by RS Yeoman. If you ignore the pricing data, the redbook is loaded with info like compositions, mintages, weights, and even a basic grading guide. I would bet that nearly every experienced numismatist on CT that started collecting US coins has/had one.

    I was able to look up the composition of a 1967 half in about 10 seconds. While looking for the composition, I was quickly able to find the mintage (295,046,978), the weight (11.50 gms), and actual silver weight (0.1479 ounces)

    It will be the best $10-$15 you'll ever spend on the hobby.
     
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  18. VistaCruiser69

    VistaCruiser69 Well-Known Member

  19. Cheech9712

    Cheech9712 Every thing is a guess

    Plated
     
  20. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    I disagree! Take a look at the OP's photo of the edge. It looks normal for a 40%er. If it had been plated, it would look the same as the obverse and reverse.

    Chris
     
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