New to coins, got some halves, would love some advice!

As the title states I'm new to coins. These things look nothing like the $2 bills I'm used to.

Coins have been interesting me lately. I'll pick through pocket change looking for wheats, silver, steel, etc. Marginal success, but then again no real idea of what to look for, so who knows how many worthwhile coins I've tossed aside.

I was at the bank today and noticed the teller had $10 in half-dollars in her tray. I asked her if I could have them, and she informed me she had $20 more in rolls. I said "I'll take 'em!"

Got home, opened them up, found no silver, first of all. No big surprise. The twenty loose coins are in decent-ish shape, but only one coin caught my attention. I'll come back to that. The two rolls are in pretty good shape, though. Many of them I'd wager (just based on some research, I really have no experience with this... YET!) are AU or close to it. Particularly the late 90s, obviously, but some of the 80s and 70s are pretty good looking as well.

In the two rolls I did pull out 4 Bicentennials and a 1987. From what I understand these aren't particularly uncommon, but are above FV. So, I'll take it, lol.

The one coin that really caught my eye is a 1974 that I got from the loose coins. I ignored it at first, but when I set it down I realized something felt off about it. I picked it up, looked at it again, saw nothing, but it still felt weird. Turns out it was literally the feeling: it doesn't have any ridges. I understand that on some coins the ridges get worn off, particularly if they are used frequently in vending machines. This doesn't seem, to me, to be the case, so I figured it was worth making an account on here and dipping my foot in the water.

So, in addition to advice on the ridgeless '74, what should I know, what should I do, what should I look for? This will probably just be a fun hobby for me, like my $2 bills, but I don't want to be completely clueless. I don't have a loupe yet but have started pricing different ones on Amazon so I can look for dd and other errors. So, suggestions on that would be appreciated as well!

I guess that's enough info to start with. If you have any questions about the coins or want better pictures I'm here and I'm bored; I'll do my best to answer anything or get better pics!

Cheers!


Loose Coins


Rolled Coins

 

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from all the halfs that you got , you got lucky that you found a 87..ive gone thru many boxes and never came across a 87
the only one that caught my eye is the 99 D but maybe its the condition and the rest would be spenders.

with the 74 and the BiCent - very common coins even with being worn

what I look for is varieties from the Cherrypickers list, rotated dies and nice ones for my Dansco album --
happy hunting and spending (almost everyone loves getting halves spent)

 

i search thru halves all the time i only collect proofs which have s mint mark and silver and anything different, you can collect what ever you want and if you get tired of it cash it in cant lose, i have a youtube channel where i show some crh (coin roll hunting) and post my monthly results stop by and check me out,,
http://www.youtube.com/user/coinsrus1000,,also have a facebook where i post also ...https://www.facebook.com/glen.coin.1

 

Just to clarify: the '74 is the coin with the lack of ridges. This isn't uncommon?

 

Not uncommon since it's not the way it came from the mint. It's just wear or someone played with it.
Also look for the no FG coins (FG should be at the base of the eagle).

 

And 74 ddo

 

the 87 is a very nice find. Sounds like you are having fun doing it, and that's the main thing.

 

Is there a good list of varieties online somewhere for the Kennedy series? I've been looking for the 74 D DDO, 1987, 1982 P no FG, and anything 2002 or later which is NIFC. Just curious if there's anything else I should keep my eyes open for.