Hi everyone, Long time lurker, first time poster. I've been coin roll hunting for about a year now. I heard an interview with a guy in San Diego who apparently did it on an industrial scale and he got a visit from the US Marshals. I thought, cool, maybe I could get a visit from the US Marshals if I start doing this (haha), so that's how it all started. Anyway, last week, I found a 1967 half at the end of a roll and this thing is decidedly NOT made out of silver. The edge was indistinguishable from every other clad and it doesn't ring right. I would have thrown it in the discard bucket, except the roll fell over in my hand and I saw the date. It sort of reached up and smacked me that something wasn't right about this coin. Here is a web address of a drop box folder with some high resolution photos of the coin as well as some digital microscope images... (about 1.44 Gigs worth) https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iyax7hmvgqzg35q/hQ4khRMaPD Please feel free to zoom in and scrutinize these to your heart's content. Here is a part of an e-mail I sent about the photos: " About the photos… There are 72 high resolution pictures and 22 pictures that were made with a digital microscope. The camera used was a Nikon D800 with a Nikon AF-S Micro Nikor 105 mm 1:2.8 GED lens. The desktop digital microscope is a generic off the shelf model and no manufacturer labels were on it. The magnification was 800x. The high resolution photos range from 12 to 40 Megabytes each and the microscope pictures are around 250K each. For the sake of comparison, the coin was photographed with a generic 1972 half (the test shot is of the 1972 half) and a 40% 1967 half. The coin in question is pictured individually and together with both the comparison coins and side by side with each comparison coin. There are front and back photos, and edge on photos. The edge-on photos were taken in groups of four rotating the coins 90 degrees at a time, so the entire rim could be studied. There are also some pictures in which all three coins were subjected to the tissue test. Two strobes were used in the photos. In varying pictures, the strobes are at different positions so that different details can be seen. My friend and I also measured the coin with a micrometer. It is within 1/10th of one mm of each of the others in both diameter and thickness. On weight: On a balance scale, the coin is lighter than the 40% silver specimen and heavier than the clad specimen. This morning at Collectors Coin Shop in Houston, their digital scale (which measures in tenth grams) read the following: 40% Silver specimen – 11.8 Grams Coin in question – 11.5 Grams Clad specimen – 11.2 Grams This confirms what the balance scale showed. Obviously, the scale at the coin shop is somewhat out of calibration." I'm hoping someone here can help me figure this one out. To the best of my knowledge, there were no clad half dollars produced before 1971. Yet, this one from 1967 is obviously not made out of silver. Is there anyone out there who might be able to help me on this one? I'm out of my league at this point.
I looks a bit odd but I have found 40% halves that look like regular clad on the edge before. I don't know if it's possible to have it be regular clad. They didn't start to make them until '71.
It looks clad to me. Your coin has two different shades of gray in the edge. 40% does not have that red color that copper clad has.
Try posting it to the errorcoininformationexchange. It is a yahoo group. Please share the results, either way. I'm intrigued by it. Welcome to CT, by the way. It is my cyber home
Hi guys, thanks for the replies. I'm thinking I'm going to post it around to other forums here and elsewhere and see what comes up. @jensenbay - Do your anomolous clads pass the ping test? This one doesn't and it looks different under the tissue test as well. I occasionally find a 71 or 74 that has a silver-like rim and this is how I vet them. Haven't found one made of silver yet, though. @silentnviolent - Thanks for pointing me there, I'll let you know if I get any feedback. @rickmp & enochian - The high res photos were taken under very bright light. The copper really shows through on the front and the back. Under normal light, only the area around the deep relief sections of the face and between the eagle's wings shows copper, like there wasn't enough nickel covering the planchet that went in the press.
Unless they are newish looking (nice condition, mint state), right? Did you forget this thread? http://www.cointalk.com/threads/ta-da.229906/
40%ers are clad, but of a different composition than is usually associated with the term. The inner core is 79% copper/21% silver and the outer is 80% silver/20% copper. Even with only looking at the thumbnails, and at least to my eyes, the coin in question has the appearance of a 40%. The edges on such coins can show quite differently from one to the other, so I wouldn't put much weight into the appearance of one specimen.
Hello everyone, Mystery solved. I managed to find a guy today with an electron microscope and I had the coin spectra analyzed. The plating (not much at all) is 75% Silver and 25% copper. The core material (the vast majority of the material in the coin) is 20% Silver, 80% copper. So, the mint sure had me fooled into believing this was a copper-nickel coin. Going to put it in the odd-ball book and label it "20% silver half dollar." Cheers to all my friends.
I hate to nitpick, rick, but that's not actually what you told me. You said that 40%er's don't have that red color.
