Newbie Question re : Half Dollars

[blueberra]

I just received my first $500 box of halves. No suprise -- it was a skunk box.

I did check every coin and have a couple of observations / questions ...

1. the most recent date was 2001. Maybe 2 from that year and a handful from 2000. Is that unusual?
2. the coins were a lot more worn than I would have expected. Very few were AU, let alone mint state. It has been my experience (I worked in a mom and pop store in the late 60s) that halves never really circulated very much. Lots of people would throw the halves they received in change into a bucket where they would collect dust for years at a time. Am I missing something on the heavy wear -- like, perhaps, these coins were regularly used in slot machines?

Just curious.

 

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[Tommybuckets]

Many of us dump coins into free coin counters where available and the coins get shipped to sorting facilities where they go through the machines. The machines are very hard on the coins and add a lot of wear quickly. Even though many halves are sequestered as oddities in peoples change jars and dressers, many are constantly going through these machines. I get tons of coins marked by sharpie pens and I am surprised by how quick a certain pattern or color mark comes back around. I even got a counter stamped silver plated coin back in a roll with some 40% coins that I had discarded two+ years ago. I was surprised how quickly the coin came back to me. Apparently someone had saved it thinking it was silver and then it was discarded and I found it.

 

[Megalodon]

I've only done 6 boxes, so I'm only a little more experienced than you. I also just got my first skunk box last week. That skunk box had the greatest combination of heavily worn or dinged up coins combined with perfect 95's and 96's that I have seen. I also thought the dinged up coins may have come from old slot machines. And yes, dates after 2001 were not released for general circulation. In 6 boxes, I have found only one. Look at the s-mints for proofs and 40% silver.

 

[Dozer D]

Try to find banks that will sell bags off their counting machines, chances for a great dump exists there.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Slot machines put a lot of wear on half dollars over the years

 

[Dozer D]

Slot machines put a lot of wear on half dollars over the years

I wish the slot casinos around here still had LIVE COIN SLOTS instead of paper voucher. Then I go in put in $100 bill in a half slot, play one coin, then cash out, then go to some quiet table corner and check for silver rims. Repeat, repeat, repeat .......

 

[blueberra]

I just finished box #2 and got skunked again; however, there were some 'noteworthy' findings ...

7 post-2001 coins : 2004P, 2004D, 2007P, 2008P, 2008D, and 2 x 2014P
1 1995S (former) proof

Just curious about the first group. Are they coins that someone ordered from the mint (and paid a premium) and just dumped them into circulation?

As far as the impaired proof is concerned, what's up with that?

 

[Dozer D]

I just finished box #2 and got skunked again; however, there were some 'noteworthy' findings ...

7 post-2001 coins : 2004P, 2004D, 2007P, 2008P, 2008D, and 2 x 2014P
1 1995S (former) proof

Just curious about the first group. Are they coins that someone ordered from the mint (and paid a premium) and just dumped them into circulation?

As far as the impaired proof is concerned, what's up with that?

The first group (those of 2002 and beyond) we call as NIFC "not intended for circulation". There are intended for collectors, but not special made like a proof. Some guys save them all, others only keep the best of the best for their own personal collection.

 

[A2coins]

Keep at it!!!!!

 

[A2coins]

Welcome also