Franklin Half Dollar

I like the Franklin becausehe is the only was-living person on a US circulation coin that was not a president, just as the founding fathers wanted "no kings of the realm on coins"

I would say they are already scare. I only have 2 in as many boxes of halves I have search I only find 40% silver, never a 90%. The only way I have 2 is someone paid one time with one while I was running the cash register, and another person sold me a set of coins "The Liberty Collection" that includes Franklin half, /indian Penny, Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarter, and Liberty nickel when they needed $5 worth of gas to make it home. I fear many are getting melted in current years when found by CRHs and others then sold for melt. With jewelry stores near me and on TV claiming to buy old silver and gold, I am sure they too are melting down coins often to get the metals for cheaper than normal methods.

I hope one day to find them, and if you don't survive on collecting from CRH only, or live in the area some of the CRHers get halves boxes from, you should be able to complete the set. the user arby could probably sell you a set, cause I think he has the most luck finding those things, and Mally has a very nice coin board you could display them in. Sounds like an ad for CCF, come on and join, the users have every coin need you could want or are able to tell you where to find it if they dont have it.

Also the Franklin has a cleaner design than most newer coins that seem crowded with the stuff on them like State Quarters, and any circulating coin that tries to get too fancy in an attempt for the design to have a meaning. Liberty bells design just rings home the idea of freedom.

You could always use FBL's as a key dates.
Some of those are quite scarce.

I'd say go for it. I've been eyeing a ms65 fbl collection but some are too pricey for me so I may have to lower grade on the more rare ones. I have noticed a lot of franklins tone horribly though, not sure why.

OP, you didn't mention what grade of the Franklins you would like to put together. A nice circulated (VF-35 TO AU-50 ) set should fit your budget.
Same thing for Roosevelt dimes.

For a challenge that is tough but not over the top, try the Franklin proofs in 65CAM. Basically just 14 coins, but the full set is an eye-popper!

I am working on 2 sets of Franklins one G-4 / VF-25 with a circulation cameo and a AU/MS set
and I am also working on a set of silver roosies when there are no melt franklins.

I want to complete a set of Franklins someday.

I like the Franklins. They can be completed without much trouble. Of course it was much easier as a teen kid/teen in the late 60s and 70s.

My grandfather had been trying to get a complete set since the late 50s. He had half dollar changers in his laundromats. The only one he had not found was a 1948P. He never would purchase a coin - living through the Great Depression he believed it total nonsense to spend more than face value for a coin.

So we kids got together around 1970 or so and bought him a BU one from the local coin shop for Christmas. Guess what he found in his half dollar changer a month or so later? After ~12 years, he found his 1948 in circulation! The best part was it was about as nice as the one we had bought him for Christmas.

So the only hole I had left in my Franklin book got filled with a nice 1948 from circulation