65 Kennedy Questions

'65 halfs are kindda complicated. I'll talk only about the SMS.

These were made by several different processes as the mint sought a replacement for both mint and proof sets that could please everybody. Of course they mostly failed and pleased almost nobody. Most proof set collectors consider these mint sets and most mint set collectors consider them proof sets. In reality they are pretty much both dependent on the specific specimen.

These coins were made on the same presses that had produced proof coins. Some of the diies were prepared exactly the same as proof coins, some were just regular dies more finely made and some were hybrids. Some planchets were at least partly polished and some planchets were the same as regular planchets. All the coins were struck at lower speed and higher pressure than any other halfs. Almost every one was struck only once rather than twice like proofs. Some dies were reworked after striking thousands of coins and some dies were sandblasted before use.

There are lots of different looks for these coins. A very very few appear to be fully proof and many others (~.3) are fully PL with frosted devices. Some look like junk and some are beautiful.

Almost all are distinguishable from BU issues though used SMS dies were apparently reused to strike BU's in San Francisco.

 

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I bet it would be hard to get that $700+ price out of it without correct attribution on the holder.

Yeah, I'm sure removing silver from all the coins had nothing to do with it.

 

Apparent to whom?

Just looking at the CONECA files for all denomination from 1965 – 1970-D, with the numerous amount of Doubled Dies listed, not one is both SMS and Business Strike. Has anyone produced coins struck by a certain die in both a SMS and Business Strike condition?

The facts do not support this conclusion. Even the “Director’s Report” for 1966 and 1967 illustrates that San Francisco Mint only produced SMS Kennedy half dollars for 1965 and the Denver Mint is the only branch that produced circulation strike 40% silver Kennedy half dollars dated 1965 – 1970D

 

I believe you're mistaken. I have the mint reports but haven't read them in years. As I remember San Francisco struck all denominations from 1965 to 1967. It's true that no dies are known to have been used for both SMS and business strikes but only a small percentage of SMS dies are identifiable and only a tiny percentage of the San Francisco output has been checked for varieties. I'm more confident that quarter dies were reused than other denominations. San Francisco stopped making most coins for circulation at the end of 1967. Of course this could be mere coincidence as well.

The country was in a coin shortage and the mints were running almost full out for three years. The die shop was the bottleneck in those days so it would certainly make sense to reuse dies. I have seen business strike quarters and nickels that appear to be struck from SMS dies. There are, of course, other explanations for how this might occur if I'm right. This was a most exceptional era. The new coins were almost completely ignored by almost everybody. The effects of this will persist indefinitely.

 

You mean like going from this:



To this?



I guess I failed to State that I returned the coin to PCGS along with a copy of James Wiles attribution letter and got it placed in its correctly labeled holder.