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What's The Difference With These Kennedy Halves ?

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 Posted 11/30/2012  2:20 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list
The mint regularly updates the details, probably every year. It is how we got to the "Spaghetti Hair" on the Washington quarter. I can see the changes as I look through my albums.
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 Posted 11/30/2012  2:23 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mds308 to your friends list
I hate to bust the "It's Just Wear" bubbles.

Here is an MS66 from ebay. Notice the weak hair?


What's-The-Difference-With-These-Kennedy-Halves-?
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 Posted 11/30/2012  2:30 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list

Quote:
I hate to bust the "It's Just Wear" bubbles.

Here is an MS66 from ebay. Notice the weak hair?
Told you.
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 Posted 11/30/2012  2:31 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add cc99999 to your friends list
new hubs replaced old worn out master hubs.happens all the time.
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 Posted 11/30/2012  2:37 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mds308 to your friends list
When my hubs wear out can you guys send someone over to replace mine?

Thanks. I knew it wasn't wear. In all the years I've handled these things I never noticed one with crisp (spaghetti) hair. Thanks for all the responses. I was hoping I had some mint set break-outs or something special.

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 Posted 11/30/2012  2:43 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add SsuperDdave to your friends list
The '99 is clearly a different master die - even the lettering is changed.
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 Posted 11/30/2012  3:21 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Foxwoods Man to your friends list
What's throwing a wrench into the comparison is one is circulated and one that is near uncirculated. The details are more crisp on the 99 which is probably the combination of a different die AND wear....

Here's an uncirc 88 taken from ebay:

What's-The-Difference-With-These-Kennedy-Halves-?

and a 99 also from ebay:

What's-The-Difference-With-These-Kennedy-Halves-?

I totally agree that the die is different. The LIBERTY is definitely not the same

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 Posted 12/01/2012  01:36 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add CelticKnot to your friends list
Unless I'm mistaken, they polish / touch up dies every once in a while to get more life out of them. That maintenance by definition removes material and thus details, which could explain a MS coin with fewer details in the hair.

Kennedy's hair looks like it was sanded off on that '65 up there and obviously the coin itself wasn't doctored (assuming the MS66 grade is from a reputable TPG), so perhaps it was the die that was just polished / retooled and a lot of the details were lost while removing die damage. (That Kennedy looks a bit rough, though, for MS66 IMO - are all the scratches on the plastic casing rather than the coin?) Now, I did examine a lot of ebay auctions for '65 Kennedys and it does look like '65's in general are weaker strikes (i.e, have less hair detail than other years), but I do see some stronger '65 examples out there too. It seems Wiki might have the answer:


Quote:

With the exception of 1965 through 1967, proofs have been struck each year in the same metallic composition as regular issue pieces. The first Kennedy half dollar proofs were struck in early January 1964. Early strikes depicted Kennedy with heavily accented hair; an estimated 100,000 coins were struck with this feature. This was altered for the remainder of the mintage of nearly four million proof coins. Due to the coin shortage, the Treasury Department announced that no proof sets would be struck in 1965. Instead, Special Mint Sets would be struck to satisfy collector demand. Coins for these sets, minted at the San Francisco Assay Office, were struck with no mint marks early in 1966 with heavily polished dies dated 1965. Similar sets bearing the dates 1966 and 1967 were also struck. A few of the 1966 halves from the Special Mint Sets are known with Gasparro's initials "FG" missing from the reverse, apparently because of an overpolished die. The first year's production was sold in soft plastic packaging; the 1966 and 1967 issues were sonically sealed in hard plastic cases. In 1968, regular proof coinage was resumed, although production of proof coins was shifted to San Francisco and the "S" mintmark added.


I love looking at these coins and I love collecting Kennedys; thanks for sharing! I think any of the suggestions here are plausible, but I personally would chalk up the differences mostly to die quality.
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 Posted 12/01/2012  07:18 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add barryg to your friends list
I recently had the same question about a 1996 Kennedy I found in circulation:

https://goccf.com/t/131877
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 Posted 12/01/2012  07:58 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add upstate to your friends list
I believe I saw a thread which depicts the "Shrinking head of Kennedy" as well.
Over the course of years the bust has actually become smaller
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 Posted 12/01/2012  09:05 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Conder101 to your friends list
True in the op you will notice that bust on the 99 is smaller than on the 88 and while the hair may disappear through wear it doesn't make the bust larger.

And yes they do redo the master hubs from time to time and lately with more frequency.
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 Posted 12/01/2012  6:39 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Gyrene7483 to your friends list
If any of you actually have a copy of the Red Book on the page with the Clad Coinage and Silver Proofs (1971 to date) there is a sentence which states "The design was slightly changed several times between 1971 and the present."

A lot of the questions by new collectors will be answered by opening up a Red Book and looking up that type of coin. Investing in a Red Book even if it is a year or two old is well worth the expense. I update my Red Book about every couple of years now and I've been collecting coins since 1966.

Ed
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 Posted 12/01/2012  7:09 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Windycity to your friends list
The mint has made subtle changes to the dies over the years and when you compare early Kennedy coins with the more recent, they don't look anything alike. Reminds me of the differences between a 1878 Morgan and a 1921 Morgan. Night and day.
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 Posted 12/01/2012  7:26 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mds308 to your friends list
Once again, this is why I love this forum. Instead of dribble, we got lots of factual information with precise answers to our questions. And I absorb it like a sponge. Thank you guys.

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 Posted 12/01/2012  8:43 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add coinsearcher83 to your friends list
I think it was in the early 1990s when the dies were changed to lower relief, thus making the details "pop" more, and the overall design flatter.
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