Underweight clad half dollar

Ifyndit · May 16, 2009

I found a 1971 clad half tonight that has a totally different "ring" to it when dropped. I weighed it on a digital scale and it only weighs 8.8g (it should weigh 11.34g). I know it isn't a magicians coin (I've found a ton of those) but could it be a planchet error? What do you all think?

Coinkid · May 19, 2009

Nice find! This is a legitimate error. The planchet that this half was struck on was punched from clad stock intended for use for quarter planchets. If uncirculated, it should be worth about $150, according to Ken Potter, the best error coin specialist in the business. In the article below, he explains that a coin error of this type should weigh in at 8.8 grams, which is exactly what yours weighs.

Congratulations!!

http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/Kennedy_struck_on_quarter_stock/

-Paul

Ifyndit · May 19, 2009

Thanks! That just made my day! What really bums me out is I had two more of these that I found about a year ago but I returned them back into the wild thinking that they weren't anything special. This one caught my curiosity so I decided to keep and post it.

Now I know. I'll keep my ears listening for that odd sound when sorting through my weekly purchases of halves.

Thanks again Paul!