I'm doing a little research for a project and I've been unable to find the exact answer to this. On the 1965-1970 Kennedy half dollars, and presumably also the silver IKE coins that are 40% silver, how was this done? Do they take essentially 3 thinner coins, with the center one being copper and just mash them together like an OREO cookie? Or is there some other process?
The exat same way are current clad coins are made, just changing the composition of the metals in the different layers. I never did understand what the heck were they thinking using 40% composition for Ikes and bicentennial "silver" issues. Why make crummy silver coins FOR COLLECTORS? Why not charge a dollar more and make the coins 90% silver?
I'm not sure exactly how clad coins are created, but I know the 1965-1970 kennedys inner core is 21% silver, 79% copper, and the outer clad section is 80% silver, 20% copper. Just another trick by the mint to hide the fact that the dollar was (and still is) crumbling, and isn't strong enough to be backed by silver at current prices.
Basically, yes. But the Oreo cookie is made first. The sheets of metal are bonded together before the planchets are punched out of them. It's the same way all clad coins are made. That's a good question. I've never understood it myself. If you're making coins for collectors, why not go all the way with 90% silver? Actually, the forty-percenters were an effort to KEEP silver in circulation. The 90% silver Kennedys of 1964 were hoarded, not only because of their silver content, but for nostalgic reasons, since they were issued very soon after the president's assassination. It worked for a while, but as silver spot increased in value throughout the 60's, the clad coins started getting hoarded as well, so that by 1971, the mint had transitioned entirely to cupro-nickel.
They were probably just beng cheap and thought they could sell the coins with less silver in them for the same price anyway to collectors.
Who can fathom the vicissitudes of the US Mint? Still, there's a back-story to everything, and in this case it's tied in to the whole mindset surrounding commemoratives. By the 1950's, Congress got tired of commemorative issues being used as local fundraisers, so after the Washington/Carver half dollar, there's a 28-year hiatus before the next commem gets issued in 1982. In other words, Congress wasn't making any money off the venture, so they dumped it - what else is new? My conjecture is that the mint was testing the waters somewhat with the 40% collector coins in the mid-seventies. As far as the Kennedy series goes, you've got 90% circulating and proof issues in 1964, and 40% circulating and collector coins from 1965 to 1970. After 1970, the only time silver appears in the series is in 1976, until 90% silver proofs are resumed in 1992. But in 1982, silver commemorative coins are taken up again, and as they grow in popularity, the mint begins to understand that they can make a profit as the primary market, regardless of what the secondary market does. The secondary market more-or-less rejects all the cu-ni clad collector coins from the 70's and 80's - one dealer told me he can't get people to steal mint sets from that era. Hence, silver makes a long-overdue return. So there's a bit of the history, make of it what you will...
The process starts with three ingots of the different alloys. Two of the 80% silver/20% copper and one of the 79% copper 21% silver.(For simplicity I'm just going to call these silver and copper) One side of each of the silver ingots would be planed off and polished smooth and both the upper and lower faces of the copper ingot are similarly polished. The reason for this is the flat smooth surface allow for better contact and and make the bonding process work better. The three ingots would be stacked silver/copper/silver with the polished surfaces together. Now today they would simply be put through a set of high pressure rollers and as the ingots are rolled out into strip the high pressure would bond the three layers together. back in the 60's they actually used a process called explosive bonding which was exactly what it sounds like. A shapped explosive charge would be placed around the ingots and detonated. The charge would be configured so the the force of the blast would be applied the the entire surface of the ingot stack evenly and the force would bond the three layers together. The ingot stack would then be put through the rollers in a normal fashion and rolled out into the strip. Then the blanks would be punched from it and you get the wonderful "sandwich" we are familiar with today. The same process was used with the coppernickel and copper ingots used to make the coppernickel clad strip.
The "reason" for the 40% Silver coins was that the price of silver, at the time, was too high for a 90% Silver coin so an alternative had to be produced which still allowed the Kennedy to be produced in silver "at the time". It had nothing to do with being cheap or any of the other suggestions which have been offered. It had to do with basic economics. Back in 1964-1970, folks gotta remember that the Treasury Department (and others) blamed massive coin shortages on collectors and hoarders. Its one on the reasons for the SMS Sets and the lack of mintmarks on 1965-1967 coins. Make them less desireable. Mek them less collectible. Also, 1965 ushered in the CnClad coinage era as silver was no longer supposed to be used for circulating coinage however to honor Kennedy's memory, silver was still the alloy of choice for the Kennedy Half Dollar. It wasn't until the early 80's that the Treasury Department and the US Mint began exploring the collecting community as a source of revenue which today, amounts to the US Mint paying all of its operating expenses, via coin sales to collectors, and at the same time, adding millions to the general fund. Yes, proof and uncirculated sets were still sold but that revenue is nothing compared to what occurs today. As for the Eisenhower Dollars, 40% silver was still the alloy of choice as they could have probably chosen 90% Silver, but then they had already invested in the technology fo the 40% Silver so why not continue using it? I'm kinda glad they did this as a 90% Silver IKE would have really impacted the attrition rate during the silver build up in 1980. Of course, something else to consider is that striking am 80% Silver/20% copper coin is much easier than striking the much harder CnClad coins regardless of whether they are halfs or dollars. The quality of the strike is much more collectible.
I like the looks of the 65-70 I put most all I find in a 15 sec e z test dip and they usually come out just like they were from the mint? Cant do that with a nickle. or penny, Uless you look at the side you would never know.
That may be but I once heard another reason that makes better sense to me. Cupro-Nickel (75% copper and 25% nickel, which is what the outside layers of clad dimes, quarters and halves are made of) is a lot harder than 90% Silver. In 1965 the Mint's coin presses were perfectly capable of striking 90% silver dimes, quarters and halves. When the price of silver skyrocketed Congress decided to remove silver from these coins so the intrinsic value of the coin did not exceed the face value. The Mint had no problem converting their coin presses over to strkiing clad dimes and quarters but their existing coin presses did not have enough striking pressure to strike up a clad half dollar. It was decided to change the half to 40% silver with the outside clad layers 80% silver. The 80% silver clad layers were not much harder than the previous 90% silver planchets and the Mint was able to strike half dollars that (at the time) did not have an intrinsic value that exceeded their face value. By 1970 or 1971 the Mint had obtained new coin presses that had enough striking pressure to strike clad halves and dollars so the silver was replaced by the cupro-nickel and copper composition of the dimes and quarters. This is pure speculation on my part but that may be the reason the Mint did not strike a dollar coin until 1971 - the Mint's coin presses simply did not have enough striking pressure to strike up a dollar-size clad coin until 1971. I am not sure but there may have also been problems with dies breaking when trying to strike the large clad coins.
