Kennedy Halfs

Are you putting a set together? I bought a Dansco album about four or five months ago to carry me through the times when I wasn't finding much silver. I've been filling in holes ever since and it is actually pretty cool. I have a good start on a set (without proofs), about 68% complete if my math is right, and everything has come from circulation. I've only used AU/BU coins except in two or three cases- like the 1987-P I found a couple of months ago- probably grades EF-40 on a good day. There are a few dates out there that I can't seem to find in good enough shape to keep though- 1981 thru about 1985, P & D more or less, and a few others. The 1988s I've seen have been terrible. I did get a nice 1986-D this week, about AU-53.

 

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There are some nice 88's out there. I've seen them a few times, but that 86P is a toughie!! Mine is AU50 at best, more likely XF. Good luck!

 

I'm putting 3 sets together with proofs and the 1998-S matte finish coin if I can find a good deal on one. I've pulled most non-proof coins from circ., but some I've had to buy. The early eighties coins aren't all that expensive from a coin shop. A couple of bucks each maybe. I look for good quality coins while seaching for silver usually. Sometimes I actually find proofs in circ. and a lot of silver which finances the coins I have to buy.

 

I don't want to take things too far off topic, but I was wondering what you guys think about silver prices. As we all know the value of these coins (especially the 40% Kennedys) is directly tied to the price of silver. I certainly mean no disrespect by this, but will the recent tragedy in Louisiana and Mississippi cause spot silver to rise? I know that in the past people have invested more in tangible items, like precious metals, after a horrific event like the recent Hurricane.

To all of you who were affected by Hurricane Katrina good luck and Gob Bless!

 

No one really knows from one day to the next what silver prices will do. My local dealer offered me 4X face value for the 90% silver coins and 60 cents for each 40% silver coin. At that price I'd rather hold on to them for a while. On the other hand, silver doesn't really fluxuate in price all that dramatically anyway. An interesting perspective is at this link. Take a read.

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_03/kanarowski072303.html

 

Great Link!! Thanks!

 

Moen - I think your dealer is ripping you off on the 40% halves at $0.60 each. That's a pretty big discount. Maybe he would offer a better deal on a trade for something else in his inventory instead of an outright sale.

Regarding silver, I think it is very undervalued, so you might do better just holding the halves for now. It's one of the things that got me interested again in coins about a year ago. Low-grade silver coins of all denominations and bullion coins should rise dollar-for-dollar with silver. High-grade coins may move more or less depending on buyer sentiment. The problem in the past was the difficulty selling low-grade coins such as 40% halves for the bullion content without taking a huge discount from a dealer, but Ebay has largely solved that problem.

I don't think Katrina will have a direct impact on the price of silver, which is based more on supply and demand. However, if there is increased inflation from government deficit spending on recover efforts, that could give silver and silver coins a boost down the road.

When will silver rise? I have no idea. Sometimes it's easier to know what will happen than when.

 

halves

I felt like I hit the jackpot today. I got five rolls of halves from the bank, the first roll I opened had all 71 and newer, bummer, but the second roll was all silver but three. four or five were 64's. I opened the third roll and it was split even, half Franklins and half Walkers. Needless to say I was pretty exited. I can't wait to open the other two rolls.

 

If it were me, I'd go back to that bank as soon as possible and get as many rolls as they have left. Chances are that you didn't just happen to get all of the silver the first time through. Congratulations and good luck! Now run, and pray that I don't get there before you.

 

halves

Well I just looked through the other two rolls, I was amazed, both were full of franklins and walkers, with one 64 kennedy!! unfortunatley the bank said that was the last of the unsearched halves for now. Now I can go home and search dates. I am still very exited about my find!

 

And you should be. If it happend to me I think I would leave work early and celebrate!

 

Viper,

That's fantastic finding. Enjoy those rolls. Unfortunately, others who have been looking a while have agreed things will tend to even out. That means some shutouts ahead. I'm going through such a tough period.

I have found the more exciting the picks, the faster I want to go, but the slower the better so as to savor those moments.

Willie

 

>>will the recent tragedy in Louisiana and Mississippi cause spot silver to rise?<<

The answer is a definite unpredictable! A lot of factors, as evidenced by the gold-eagle article. Silver has been fundamentally undervalued for quite some time.

You might want to look for some older posts by SilverStreak, Bullionaire (believe a couple of retired former coin/bullion dealers), and some others, on the "Gold is Money Forum". It appears a lot of the best posters have left that forum, probably because of the frequent lengthy political trash and OT rantings. But there are some great threads on there. Kind of like searching rolls. Separate the wheat from the chaff.

Willie

 

Moen says >>My local dealer offered me 4X face value for the 90% silver coins and 60 cents for each 40% silver coin.

Moen says >>At that price I'd rather hold on to them for a while.<< I agree.

Cloud says >>I think your dealer is ripping you off on the 40% halves at $0.60 each.<< Although I would not say "ripping you off" because you can do as Moen did, and walk away, I would say 1.2xface is no bargain for 40%.

Let's loook at "APMEX.com", only as an example. The way I read the deal is: At $6.97/$7.00 bid/ask spot silver today, APMEX will buy say $100 face 40% at 1.77xface, less $9.75 S&H, equals 1.6725xface net. $100 face 90% at 4.71xface, less $9.75 S&H, equals 4.6125xface net. [Edit: Looks like you prepay the shipping, and the minimum purchase amount is $1,000]. This appears to be quite a bit higher in relative terms to what the dealer is quoting. Am I missing anything. Although I freely trade financial instruments, I have never sold any of my gold or silver to anyone.

Also, it is my understanding APMEX will let you personally deliver to their Oklahoma City showroom free of charge by prior appointment. That would make the price even better if you were going through there anyway, but perhaps more expensive if you figure in travel expenses.

Willie

 

The way I look at it, each circulated 40% half originally contained .14792 ounces of silver. Allowing for a little wear, round down to .1475. At $7 per ounce silver, each one has a bullion content of $1.0325. I can see a dealer paying as low as 80% of this, or about $.83 per coin. Even that seems low when I type it. But at $.60 per coin, the dealer is discounting the silver value by almost 42%. This is a little extreme. It isn't much in cents per coin, but it is a very large percentage discount. I would think, but haven't verified, that it is probably pretty easy to get close to $1.00 per coin by selling them on Ebay. In a silver bull market, they might even sell at a nice premium to bullion value in an auction market like Ebay.

I agree that my use of the term "ripping you off" was probably too judgemental.

 

I hope I'm not hijacking the thread...I got good news!

I've just recently started sorting through half dollars, and i sent my mom to the bank to cash in the first $1,000 of halves i've searched. She got there and got them counted and the girl comes back and says that earlier today someone came in and cashed in a bunch of , direct quote, "old, worn out" halves. The girl had to go ask the manager is she could have them, and the manager was on break and my mom had to get to work, so she couldn't get them, but she left our phone number and said she'd be back tomorrow around noon.

My guess, or hope, is that most of these are silver halves - franklins and walkers and "old" worn out ones. I'm really really really excited about tomorrow to see if my mom can get them.

The bad part is that I won't know until Saturday morning if she got them because my mom works second shift!

 

Welcome. Sounds awesome. Let us know how it turns out.

Willie

 

I found one roll today at a bank. I was rewarded for my efforts with two '64's and a '68.

 

I've opened 100 rolls since Thursday and got the following:

1964- 1
1966- 2
1967- 5
1968- 4
1969- 3

It is a little better than my averages have been, but nothing to crow about. I've still got to sort through 50 rolls for errors, proofs, Dansco candidates, etc.

 

That's not bad Bigswick! I'm going for $1500 in halves next week when a new Fed shipment arrives. Wish me luck.

I received a roll of 2005 Kennedy P's and a roll of D's from the mint today. They are almost as clean as proofs. Very few nicks and scratches with a nice shine. I wonder what the mintage totals will be for the 2005??? Still haven't seen my three 2005 mint sets that I ordered at the same time.