Some coins of the last 50 years had as few as about 3% of an issue come off the dies in MS-65 and most of these were then marked up at the mint...
Even if the dies were basined they are too eroded to really call the coin PL. But, I believe, that under the haze there may be very "flat" die...
It's a pretty nice coin really. MS-64 easy. It needs an alcohol soak. It's a little PL so I'd put it at about the 94th %ile. It might look...
Finding good mint sets to check is not easy. The trick is to get as close to the point of purchase as possible which means looking through dealer...
Relatively few dies were used for mint set coins. For halfs they'd get about 25,000/ 30,000 strikes so there were maybe 60 dies used. EDS lasts...
I'm a big fan of Sego. You can check mint sets and dealer stock but this will require a lot of leg work. About 1.5% of mint set halfs are Gem...
Cut them all out and spend any unattractive and valueless coins. Stabilize the others by soaking in a mixture of acetone and 91% isopropyl...
People just didn't collect moderns in 1983. It's a wonder the mint could sell so many mint sets but lots of collectors had found they could buy...
Oh! And I'm at 5.3% ;)
There are a lot of factors that go into these things. It's much deeper than just popularity and politics. Let me tell you a couple stories to...
I'm a little concerned they are all late die state but then I'd be much more concerned if the were all early die state. Otherwise I see no...
I'm playing devil's advocate and gave it only MS-66 despite the fact it could go as high as 67 FS. It's a very nice coin but isn't early die...
AVA members are very helpful to new members. You may get a few free tokens but you'll get numerous offers to sell inexpensive tokens and to...
I have a large collection of these. I am told that they were used on clothing in the 1930's but I have some doubts about this because there...
You'll want to join the AVA. You can put together an extensive collection for almost nothing. There are thousands of issues you can acquire for...
I've seen it before but can't remember anything about it right now. A lot of private producers started springing up in 1982 when mint sets were...
For many years there were about 20% coppers even as they were being hoarded. I figured this was because the zincs rot away so quickly that they...
Very interesting. I've never figured these for pennies before. It really puts the incidence of the coins in perspective especially in light of...
The easiest way to spot the proof coins even after they circulate is the rims. See how the proof rims are square in profile and very even....
You might want to get a few of the cheap blue folders for coins and save the nicest one of each date. You can then compare new finds to those you...
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