11/22 box - No silver (yet), but there are other finds here...Photos added

MalteseFalcon

Bronze Member
Aug 17, 2005
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I actually still have about 10 rolls to search through, so I may get silver lucky yet, but in the meantime, I was going to post a question about something else, but then I answered my own question just now by going to ebay.

Listen people, if you only check the edges for silver, you will miss out.

As I mentioned, I have gone through 40 rolls with no silver. But I did look at a clad coin, and could tell it had a mirror finish under a light layer of finger smudges.

So I got out the magnifying glass, and sure enough a 1971-S PROOF!

And also a seriously toned rainbow Kennedy. There was a discussion about rainbow halves in another thread within the past week, so I saved this and took some photos.

The most interesting thing is this: I already have 5 solid rolls of Brilliant Uncirculated 1991-P halves. These things are so shiny I began to wonder if they ever made a run of proof strikes in Philly that year. I put some of them side by side with the 1971-S proof, and it was hard to tell the difference. The difference being of course that the proof coin had a deeper mirror luster, where looking at it, the mirror reflection seemed much darker than the 1991-P.

SO I was wondering if these were worth anything, and as I was posting here I hopped over to our favorite cosmic garage sale (ebay), and found an MS-70 (supposedly) that was certainly inferior to many of the ones I have. Perhaps the shine might be similar, but I have some that look like they were just struck, with only some hair fine light scratching from being in a bank bag, or rolling machine, or whatever. Some of mine, while they have sharp features and are brilliant looking, don't have the quasi-mirror finish that nice uncirculated Kennedys I have seen have, but I included them in the rolls anway. The ones I found that were corroded or scratched, or just not shiny enough, I threw into regular rolls. So the seperate uncirculated rolls are only the very best.

Speaking of corrosion, every single roll has halves that are corroded. Some were worse than others, some had serious copper corrosion (bright turquoise blue), and some were almost black. Many had dates that were almost unreadable. At least it was a sure indicator I had never searched any of those rolls before. I have never seen so much corrosion since I began hunting halves. In fact, there were quite a few 1991-Ps that had corrosion on them. If it weren't for that, they would have been thrown into the uncirculated rolls.


So even though there is no silver, looks like in the near future I will be listing these uncirculated babies on ebay by the roll. Heck, anything above face value is profit, and these were nice. I was almost just going to turn them in with the box, but after a couple of really brilliant ones appeared, I began to feel they were to nice to trade for face value. Hence the research, and hence this post.

I will post pictures in the next day or so.

In the meantime, I need to get back to these last rolls.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long-winded foolishness, and happy hunting!
:)

Edit: Ok peeps here are the photos of this week's "treasure" (such as it is haha):

1. My 1971-S Proof and the main rainbow half I found:

f978f13c11.jpg


2. The 1971-S and one of the nicer 1991-P BU halves:

6c29cb7070.jpg


3. One of the more beatup halves I have seen:

e789a9869a.jpg


4. A fine example of the extremes: you can plainly see 5 1991-P BUs, right above some halves with copper corrosion. THe corroded ones, as well as the rainbows were all once proud (now screwed up) 1991-Ps:

9f31ba2028.jpg


5. A pic of the proof, the three rainbows, and a roll's worth of the BU 1991-Ps:

ee9f03e822.jpg
 

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silverfinder37

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Mar 24, 2003
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Re: 11/22 box - No silver (yet), but there are other finds here...

Good luck on selling your coins. I recently found a cameo proof in a box man was it a beaut.
Best Regards, Ray
 

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MalteseFalcon

MalteseFalcon

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Aug 17, 2005
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Re: 11/22 box - No silver (yet), but there are other finds here...

Woohoo!

The proofs I have found so far (4 of them) are nice, but not perfect.

Nice enough to sell for several times face at least.
:)
 

Postalrevnant

Silver Member
Jul 5, 2006
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Re: 11/22 box - No silver (yet), but there are other finds here...

Congratulations. And yes I fully agree. I always look through the halves fully. You never know what you could see.

But I do just look at the edges on the dimes. Dimes make my eyes cross after about a half box unless I am just checking edges. Even then if the edge looks odd I will check out the coin.

Hopefully there will be some silver in the rest of that box for you. If not we know from past posts some awesome boxes still floating around out there. I sure wish I was able to be half hunting. LoL, guess that leaves more for all of you.

Great job on seeing those proofs. I had not found a proof when I was able to hunt. But I did get lucky and find a good pile of silver.

Postalrevnant
 

Immy

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Mar 12, 2005
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Re: 11/22 box - No silver (yet), but there are other finds here...

Falcon, without even seeing it I can tell you the eBay ad you saw advertising an MS-70 is wildly overgrading his example. Business strike coins almost never achieve 70-status. In fact anything over MS-68 is extremely uncommon. Especially on a coin with as much surface area as a half dollar. Proofs are another story. They're specially made and handled differently and can get assigned these rarified grades.

While your 1991 rolls are probably in the MS-64/65/66 range they'd have to appear completely unblemished, be fully struck, have full brilliant luster and show not even one planchet flaw under 10x magnification to classifiy as a 70. Needless to say, very few non-proof coins live up to these standards.

But I think you could certainly sell them as BU rolls.
 

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MalteseFalcon

MalteseFalcon

Bronze Member
Aug 17, 2005
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Re: 11/22 box - No silver (yet), but there are other finds here...

Thanks, Immy. I had alread decided to sell them as BU, as I am no expert at grading. Not only that, but yeah, I could not believe they were selling that one as MS-70. It had so many obvious scratches, etc. that I think they were stretching the truth in order to make a sale. Anyone with half a brain would laugh at the grade they had for that.

These are not unblemished, perfect strikes. But the best of them have a serious mirror finish, with some very light hair-fine scratches. Best "new" halves I ever got in a box. I have a ton of stuff to do over the next few weeks, but I will eventually get around to selling all I have in the way of silver Kennedy's and these BU halves. I have decided I won't sell any of them until I get an entire roll of 1964 Kennedys, and I am only 4 shy of that. I already have 8 rolls of 40% Kennedys. So by the time I am ready to sell, I will have probably close to $500 worth, and my CRH will be self-sustaining after that.

I won't sell my proofs, Walkers, or future Barbers & Ben Franklins for awhile (if ever). Depends on my need for cash to invest in other coins or whatever. The silver Kennedys are pretty much for immediate turnover.

Oh, and I found no silver in the last 10 rolls, so no silver in this box at all. But at least I came away with something!
;D
 

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MalteseFalcon

MalteseFalcon

Bronze Member
Aug 17, 2005
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On a slightly relevant note, I found a local guy to buy my silver. 2 1/2 X face on 40%, 8 X face on 90%.

Sold 8 rolls of 40% (face = $80) for $200 today. My first step towards self-sufficiency in the CRH department. I have a standing order now for one box a week, but am going to open another account soon with a bank that uses a different armoured car service.
:D
 

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