Experience. You can never really be 100% certain but you can separate SMS from others with an exceedingly high accuracy rate.
People don't like moderns and more people don't collect SMS than almost anything else. People would be simply amazed to see the strange and...
Mint set collectors believe they are proof sets and proof set collectors, mint sets. Nobody at all wanted them. The mint called them Special...
30% are destroyed or degraded Among the survivors; 25% are MS-64 or unattractive for other reasons 40% are MS-65 35% are MS-66 5% are MS-67 or...
I don't necessarily disagree but you obviously haven't looked at very many '67 SMS half dollars. About 96% of them aren't cameo at all and only...
Way cool! It might sound like a lot of work but I strongly suggest you remove these from the packaging and soak the coins in 91% alcohol or...
For a coin to be Gem to me it has to be fully struck by new dies and it can't have marking, chicken scratches or other distracting characteristics...
Questions like this really have no meaning so no answer is possible. They have no meaning because reality is composed of what has come before and...
1982 was a strange year since the mint had suspended mint set production and was resuming commemoratives. There was a "gold coin" program that...
It's not so much the lack of popularity that makes me doubt they were US Mint issue as the lack of distribution. In those days sets of this sort...
I've not seen it before but doubt it's a mint product. '82-P and D half dollars have a pretty good premium.
I'd plan on getting one but there isn't a rush at this time since your collection is small and the cost of SDB's is high. Unfortunately SDB's...
I might not have been clear. In my experience even tiny amounts of ammonia can ruin the luster on coins. I've never tried it with soap.
It doesn't take much ammonia to ruin a coin. But it will remove haze on clad coins. Be sure to experiment before using it.
...And by 1980 I was starting to see them on Denver issues as well.
Back in the day I thought the type "d" reverse quarters were made exclusively at West Point but this is obviously not the case for a few reasons,...
Eclectic, esoteric, and aesthetically pleasing. Nice coins!
I'd suggest that if you buy them raw to seek out nicer coins. Beware of Ikes still in the mint set packaging because many are ruined by haze....
The oddest thing about this is that the number of people collecting modern proofs and BU by date and mint is continuing to climb as the production...
J&J Coins (Hammond, IN) had a fantastic '67 set with a heavily frosted half sitting in the case for years and years at a price above market value...
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