Just for kicks I got 4 rolls of Kenedy Half Dollars from the bank the yesterday and went through them all. I'll tell you, I think the Kenedy Half on Clad alloy has to be one of the poorest coins ever put out buy the government. Nearly every coin had severe wear on the cheek of JFK, even if the back of the coin looked nearly perfect. Several were worn all the way to the copper core. ANd generally these coins don't circulate much, so it would seem to be very much a bad design for circulation. Ruben
If the edge reeding was flattened or completely smoothed away, then the batch you got probably came from a casino (Atlantic City ). Slot machines are brutal on coins regardless of the denomination.
I went to my bank to get some the other day and the young teller had no clue what I was talking about.
BU examples of Kennedy's are not particularly rare (with the exception of coins from teh mid 1980s). While many coins are pretty beat from slot machines, there are still some very nice examples out there. If you go to the bank and get a box of halves, you should find many BUs from the 1970's, late 1980's, and 1990's. If you do get a box keep on the lookout for silver, 1987's, proofs, and coins minted after 2000. Good luck!
1987 Kennedys were not issued into general circulation. They were released in uncirculated mint sets.
The 1987's were not issued for general circulation, but were only included in special sets released by the mint. You won't see them that often. I've gone through well over $50K in halves this year, and only found one so far.
Kennedys look great compared to the quarters. The quarters have a huge velocity in comparison and have much more wear. There are no examples even in AU from before 1987 and many of the early dates will usually be in VG if you can find them at all. Dates like the '68-D are just buried under mountains of other coins and many have been lost and destroyed over the years. Only about 10% of quarters are dated before 1980 anymore and many of these have major damage or corrosion. Kennedys can be tough and make a great collectible in any grade but they were saved in rolls a little and many people collected them or cut them from mint sets. At the same time the quarters were usually spent from the mint sets and finding rolls of these is extremely tough. Many of the clad quarter rolls are virtually non-existent. On the rare occasion you see a roll like a '69, '71, or '73 it's a virtual certainty that it will be a roll that was assembled from mint sets. Kennedys make a great collectible because they are well-studied and there are great books (like Wiles) about them. Quarters make a great collectible because there is little known about them and you can break new ground. In either case there are what appear to be tremendous bargains in coins which are really tough but sell at reasonable prices. If you want to collect any coin, you might consider tackling it from a little different angle than most other collectors. It's great fun to recognize rarity that only you are aware of whether it's variety, type, grade, errors or production differences. Have fun.
I have also seen that recent half dollars (late 1990's and 2000's) are thinner then the 1970 half dollars. Also many 1971-74 seem to hold up better in circulation.
Eh i don't bye it. The POV is that the most familiar of coins, the Chad Washington QUarter, is something we know little of and is rare in high quality. I doubt this first since there are a ton of mint sets available, but in addition to that, there is a reason why so few of them are saved. Their cheap and ugly. When I hold a Morgan Dollar in my had I'm admiring the beauty and history of it. But when I hold a chad Washington Quarter, or even a Kenedy half or Ike, I'm looking at a cheap depressing coin. These coins over time, regardless of rarety, will never be highly collectable, IMO, regardless of how many steps are on a Jefferson Nickle. Ruben
Well Ruben, that's why they make chocolate and vanilla. And then they make stuff like pistachio - for those of a different mind. But it's all good - to somebody
Well their spending thousands on super state recent mintage coins. But I wouldn't bet that '87 Washingtons MS 64s are going to retain prices over the next 20 years. Just my opinion Ruben
There's no question that these coins weren't saved. If you don't believe it go out and try to find an original BU roll of something like a 1969. I literally haven't seen one since 1969. You'll see these advertised on rare occasion but invariably they'll be coins taken from mint sets. If you search pocket change for them You'll find one coin in about 20 rolls but it will be an ugly example worn to VG. There will be a 25% chance that it will be heavily damaged. About one in a hundred will be a nice attractive VF or better but XF's are very rare and AU's have been statistically gone for decades. There were nearly two million mint sets made but these have been destroyed by the truckload over the years. In '79/ '80 the silver in this sets was worth far more than the set and many were dismantled/ melted. Throughout the '80's this set went for less than face value so dealers and collectors simply cut up the sets and spent the coins if they wanted to sell. Over the years many of these would have been destroyed by fires and floods had they not already met their demise in other ways. Probably 75% or more of these are already gone. The coins are ugly and people didn't like them so the coins circulated. But if you look you'll see that some examples aren't ugly and some that were ugly when they were made look better after they get a little wear on them. Still they weren't saved and people didn't make collections. You'll also see if you look at the surviving mint sets that many of these haven't actually survived. Most of them contain multiple coins with tarnish and corrosion (100% of '68 cents in mint sets have carbon spots on one or both sides). Even after you find some nice '69 quarters from the mint sets you'll see that very very few of them are attractive. Most examples have numerous contact marks and weak strikes. If one still believes that these coins are too common and too ugly to collect then he can try for the really hard coins. The varieties tend to be very rare in high grade because people didn't even look at these coins so they weren't found for years after issue and then there weren't any rolls to check because they weren't saved. There weren't even any collections to check because everyone was busy collecting something else or sitting out of the coin hobby because of the latest bust (like the collapse of the BU roll market in 1965). These coins went into circulation where they were lost and destroyed. Finding the survivors is tough because they comprise a tiny percentage of circulating coins and people STILL aren't looking. There are some very common varieties with mintages of a million or more which probably don't exist in unc and each year become rarer and rarer even in VF. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and if you can't see beauty in even a nice gem '69 quarter then you'll probably never enjoy collecting these coins. But there is new generation of coin collectors coming along who are already collecting clad quarters with the various states on them. These collectors see beauty in their coins and just might see the beauty in an older clad as they become more advanced. There's no certainty that these coins will ever get the kind of demand the older coins do but this new generation of collectors is already making its presence felt throughout the hobby and there is already much more demand for nice old clad coins than there is supply. I'm still betting that this discrepancy grows as time goes by.
This is about the most important point to realize in all of collecting in my opinion. Collecting what others are ignoring or throwing away seems to be a successful stragegy in just about any line of collectibles, including coins. But it takes patience, insight, and a little bit of a contrarian streak where you are able to take satisfaction from doing something a bit different from the crowd even if it means you are considered "wrong" for a period of time.
Rarety and familiararity just isn't enough to sustain collectablility and value. There must be a long term interest in the items being collect. I can show you hundreds of mint condition romance and Archie comic books from the 1950s and 1940s that have nearly zero monetary value. Ruben
Oddly enough, the only coins which will be collectable out of these runs are going to be the bicentential coins. As a series, their damand with outstip supply. And for the rest, they will be in those lilttle books, which I have with, Lo and Behold! near mint condition 1969 and 1968 and the entire 60's and '70s run. I made it when I was about 8. I also have a Nolan Ryan Rookie card if you want it and Giant X-man number 1. Ruben
There's always an exception that proves a rule. While I like all coins including the bicentennial clad quarters, this is an odd one to pick as a standout. This coin was saved by millions of people in rolls and bags. It has been hoarded so much from circulation that these average higher grade than even the 1995 issues. Despite having many multiples of the demand that a 1969 quarter has the price is a fraction of the price of a '69. Don't get me wrong. I do think there is some potential in the '76 quarter because they are very tough in superb gem and this is not generally recognized. This is a fairly easy coin in gem but really choice gems can be as few and far between as most of the other quarters from this era. The finest coins can be found in either the '75 or '76 mint sets but are far more rare in the '75 issue. This date is also relatively boring from the variety standpoint since there's only a single major variety of which I'm aware; the Denver comes with a very nice DDO. There's also a 40% silver issue run on haigh speed presses which is not too common but these are always unattractive. There are dozens of very rare moderns. There are hundreds of rare modern varieties and there are now thousands of moderns which are rare in high grade. There are also PL coins which vary from nearly common to excessively rare. There are many different ways to collect moderns and there are just an incredible number of coins of which only one, two, or a small handfull were made or still exist. While some may scoff at condition rarities, the simple fact is that these can sometimes be the only attractive coins of an issue. Some can be just incredible and appear to be branch mint proofs with full square rims and all. I've seen an '88-D cent which can hardly be told from a proof. Even most of the Ikes appear as PL's. There are major, dramatic quarter varieties which are still barely reported but can be found in even a small pocketful of change. But the reason to collect these is simple; rare coins can be had for a song. There's nothing wrong with collecting more common coins but all collectors appreciate rarity and it's readily affordable in the moderns.
It has nothing to do with finding high grade coins. Interest in the Bicentential coins will be driven by demand for the coins as people will have interest in the historical and nostalgic aspect of the coin. Overtime, this is going to determine its value. Ruben
I'm reminded of the 1883 No Cents Liberty Nickel. It too was a one year only issue, and, at least in my opinion, of historical value. Also like the Bicentential issues, it was saved in huge numbers. The result is that MS coins can still be purchased very inexpensively. When a large number of a particular issue are saved, they just don't command a premium.
