Roll searching for Franklin Halves

Hey Cointalkers,

I enjoy putting together sets of circulated coins on the cheap for the fun and the hunt.

I am thinking about attempting a set of Franklin Halves from circulation. Is it even possible? What is my best strategy? Will I find Franklins in rolls of halves or will I be forced to resort to paying above face for specific coins to complete a circulated set?

Thanks for your advice.

 

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This year I've searched 84 boxes of halves, that is $42,000 or 84,000 coins. I have also found at banks another approximate $3500 in loose halves or 7,000 coins. In the 91,000 coins, I have found 13 Franklin halves. Other have had more success and others less. To complete a set this way would be extremely difficult to nearly impossible IMHO. You'd have to get lucky and find someone's hoard that was dumped back into the system. Good luck.

 

Wow! That is a lot of roll searching for very little return. I like the coin, so I may still try and put it together, but it looks like I will be forced to buy them one by one at the mercy of silver prices.

Thanks for the advice!

 

Oh, I've had good return, just not a lot of Franklins. I've found well over 400 silver Kennedy halves of 40% and 90% varieties.

And WELCOME to the forum!

 

As long as we are talking about halves here, I'm having difficulty finding information on the difference between 40% and 90% silver halves. Is it just a matter of what years the coins were minted in, or is there more to it than that?

 

Nope -- that's it. The 64's are 90% silver -- those with years 1965-1970 are 40% silver.

 

That averages out to about 1 out of every 200 !

 

Thank you for that clarification; the one site I did find with information made telling the difference sound like a crap shoot where the only real way to tell was to weigh out each coin individually.

 

Well . . . I guess if date's worn off, then . . .

 

Also, sometimes a proof ("s" mint) Kennedy will be 40%. I have found one such coin from a roll, a 1976s. Easy to detect with the look of it and the sound of it.....flip two in the air, one a 40% silver and one a regular clad.....there is no mistaking the sound of silver.

 

Also, to address your original question......if you want the thrill of the hunt, do a Kennedy Half album from circulation....that can be done.