New to CRH

penzfan

Bronze Member
Apr 12, 2014
1,417
994
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030 - Excal 1000 - Excal II - Sovereign GT - RTG/Oleg Scoops - XPointer
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Hey all. I'm new to CRH but it sounds like a fun hobby. After reading about .50c pieces, is it safe to say 1964 and earlier are 90% silver; 1965-70 are 80% silver and all after 1970 except the 1776-1976 S Bicentennials are 0% silver? Thanks to any answers.
 

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1st read through the ENTIRE begginers guide in the stickies section up top- it will answer MANY newbie questions

2nd '65-69 halves only contain 40% silver

3rd welcome and once youve read the beginners guide read through it 1 more time on pick up/dumping etiquette (I believe it was Maverick who posted a nice write up on it as well as a couple others)

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just keep stacking, just keep stacking, stacking stacking stacking
 

Welcome. It is safer to say that the1965-1970s are 40% silver. Also not all 76s are silver. You are correct about the pre-65s.
 

welcome homie, it's a a fun hobby.


By the way, I just saw your user info on the side and it sounds to me like you a. live in the water, and b. are a shark:

Apr 2014
Near the Gulfstream
Tesoro Sand Shark - RTG Beach Scoop - XPointer
6
Beach and Shallow Water Hunting
 

Welcome penzfan. You will find more silver roll hunting than you will detecting and most everything you need to know is in the beginners guide. Learn it and find some silver.
 

Thanks to all replies/advice above. I'll read the beginners section for sure.
 

Half Dollar info.jpg A bit confused with the percentages. My Official Red Book says the 65-70s are 80%...
 

If that's what it says it's a typo error. 40%
 

View attachment 978675 A bit confused with the percentages. My Official Red Book says the 65-70s are 80%...

Well...the picture is a little too small to make out the writing, but if your book says 80% silver, then it is wrong. It is most likely referring to the clad composition of copper and nickel in the nonsilver coins post 1970, but I am only guessing without being able to see the words clearly.


From coinflation.com, here is the current silver value of the 65-70 at $19.88 an ozt,

40% JFK silver half dollar 1965-1970 Half Dollar (40% silver), face $0.50, melt $2.9401, increase in value 588.02%.

Keep on rolling!
 

Maybe it's referring to the outer portion of the 40% coins. The inner core is mostly copper and a small amount of silver while the outer portion is mostly silver and a smaller portion of copper. The coins are made of two different alloys. Not one alloy like the 90% coins.
 

I looked and that's what it's referring to. You have to consider the entire composition when figuring the percentage. They are 40% total.
 

Hey Penzfan, going to Pens vs. Jackets on Wednesday night? A little off topic, but I'm a huge Pens fan myself. Anyway, CRH is fun, but a lot of work, especially if you plan on doing any kind of volume. The trick is to not dump where you pick up and don't pick up where you dump. Are you local to SW Pa?
 

Thanks for the feedback to all. Anything special about the 1982 and 83 Kennedy Halves? Thanks again...
 

nothing special about 1982-3 halves.
many of us keep a collection of copper-nickel clad kennedy halves for fun.

1965-70 and some 1976S were silver clad (80%copper/20%silver core sandwiched by 80%silver/20%copper exterior).
Overall they are 40% silver and 60% copper by weight.
 

Thanks ML
 

First Box of Halves

Just went thru my first box of halves.
Results:
0 - 40%ers
0 - 90%ers
0 - 87's
0 - 2003 or newer
0 - S mints

Bummer!

:BangHead:
 

Don't get discouraged by your first box. I had pretty much the same results with my half box yesterday - nothing but a couple of '02 - present halves. Your next box could be a good one - just never know with this hobby.

H$H!
 

More clarification for you on halves:

1964 and earlier proof coins had a mirror-like finish to them (no mint mark).
1965, 1966, and 1967 had "Special Mint Sets" (or SMS), no proof releases for those years.
1968 to the present have an "S" on the coin as the mint mark ("S" stands for San Fransisco, where they are minted.)

In 1968, 1969, and 1970, all of the coins with an "S" on them were considered proof-only releases. These 3 coins are also 40% silver.

The US Mint also made a special Bicentennial set in 1976 that featured 3 40% silver coins: A 40% Eisenhower dollar, a 40% silver quarter, and a 40% silver Kennedy half. These are silver, however there are also NON-silver proofs from this year (All of these have an "S" on them too).

The US Mint continued to make regular old clad proof coins with an "S" until 1991, then they started making a clad AND a silver proof set (each with an "S" on it) for each year starting in 1992.

Starting in 2002, the US Mint began minting coins specifically for collectors, which were never intended for circulation, they are called NIFC, or Not Intended For Circulation.
 

Thanks Boris
 

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