One Sided 1976 Kennedy Half Dollar Proof?

Dear All,

Thank you for all your informative replies. I myself thought plated as well, but if that were the case the weight would be fractionally higher but it is not. Both coins in the photo weigh 11.3 grams (i.e. both the coin in question and the one next to it that I included for a comparison).

Then I too thought polished, but if that were the case the high points would be pretty pronouncedly worn and while the coin shows signs of having circulated it is not really worn much ...

Later tonight I will try to take a half-way decent photo of the reading (edge) and post it to see what the thoughts are on it.

Thanks again for all your input.

Hello again, once again thank you for all of your reviews thus far.

I have now taken photos of the reeding (edge) of the coin. The first photo is of the coin in question, the second is of a regular business strike, in both photos the "heads" side of the coin is facing upwards. Hopefully these are decent enough to view here.

I appreciate any opinions based on these added pictures.

Just to add, in vignette. Based on everyone's feedback and data. I see the following:

- I don't think it is plated. The reasons to support this view are:

A) The weight is the same as a regular business strike coin (11.3 grams) plating the coin would increase the weight slightly. This not being the case I rule out the possibility of the coin having been plated.

B) Doing a one sided plating job would be extremely hard (in my humble opinion)

- I know a lot of folks thought the coin had been polished. If it was only "shiny" then I would concur, but the thing is that it is mirror like -- not just shiny. Even inside the small "o" in the "in god we trust" inscription. Now I have done a lot of polishing of metals (aluminum, stainless) and even had to bring some of it up to near mirror like level. How anyone could polish a minute area (like that inside the "o") boggles me. I don't think it is possible (perhaps under a microscope with minute polishing tools and many hard hours... but then that is stretching it a little don't you think?)

But then to say it is a bonafide one-sided proof is also not correct, the reason for this is:

A) The only proofs made of this coin were in the San Fran Mint, however this coin bears no "S" mint mark

B) The actual JFK head is not cameo

Thus I would conclude that when this coin was struck the die had not been sandblasted yet (I read that this is done prior to minting with the die when making business strike coins) and thus left a mirror like impression on the coin in question here. I am not sure what type of error category this would then fall into... or if this reasoning is sound but that is what conclusion I have been able to arrive @ based on all the data I have been able to get and evaluate. Whats your take on that?

(Sorry to go on for so long)

How do you know it is not the case? If it was plated you don't know what it weighed before it was plated. A clad half can weigh any where from 10.89 grams to 11.79 grams and still be within mint tolerances. So there is no way to know if the weight has been changed or not.



Take coin, paint one side with melted wax. Let cool. Plate coin. Warm coin and remove wax. Very simple.

Dies are not typically polished to mirror finish at the mint. Usually they are shipped to the Canadian mint, polished and then sent on to San Francisco. Where would a polished Philadelphia die have come from? Slight chance it was shipped to Canada by accident, polished, noticed and returned to Philadelphia before sandblasting. But why would they have used it in that condition? And if they did there would be a lot more of these known.

It is an interesting piece though.

I guess if you want to waste your money, that is your prerogative. However, you probably should have taken the time to read some of the other threads posted here by wishful collectors who also ended up wasting their money- https://goccf.com/t/112166

There is a wealth of knowledge on this forum yet some people seem to completely ignore it. I am not sure what you are trying to accomplish by sending a letter, the graders will not see it and they will make an independent determination of the coin which will certainly be returned as Problem Code 02 ALTERED SURFACES.

So it came back today from ANACS. It was slabbed as "1976 AU 55 Details - Obverse Polished"

I assume that this means that either the die was polished or the planchet was polished prior to striking.

Anyone heard of this before? Does anyone know whether this refers to the planchet or die being polished?

I wasnt able to find this "variety" anywhere on the web... trying to weigh my options. I.e. keep it part of my collection or sell it. It if is worth enough to perhaps make a good dent in my mortgage then I'll probably sell it otherwise I would hang onto it. Anyone know where I could turn to to get some more data on this type of "detail" or variety?

As many posters have already stated before you wasted your money, it is a post-mint polished and damaged coin worth exactly fifty cents whether it is in a fancy piece of plastic or not.

Dear All,

Well I certainly learned many things and am, in retrospect, not aggrieved over the route I took - seeing that the lessons learned and data gained were, in my humble opinion, worth the trouble and $.

I would have thought that if it were polished after-the-fact (of minting) it would not have been slabbed by ANACS as it would have been considered an altered (post minting) coin ... but I guess that assumption was in error. So do I have this right, ANACS will slab (certify) polished coins (post minting) but will not slab coins that have otherwise been altered post process (i.e. plated, whizzed, etc)?

BTW, the box that I pulled that one out of also had 14 (fourteen) 65 to 70 Kennedy halves and a 64 half. So none the less the box was well worth the trouble.

And yes, I will certainly stick around to learn more!

I honestly believe that one should not put a price on a good education. Your attitude will take you far.

They will slab cleaned, polished, plated, and whizzed coins. This is why the "details" designation is used; it says "there is a problem with this coin."