1986 D Kennedy Half Rotated Die Error

As greenprint said, see if it is a Magician's coin -- which will give a dull thus when dropped on a surface. 1986 is not known date for a rotated die error.

Magician's coins are manufactured from real coins and used for a trick known as "Scotch and Soda." If you google that term, you will find images etc. Basically they hollow out a half dollar, alter another coin to fit inside, and then glue that coin to the back of yet another half dollar.

They normally can be separated by putting into a glass and shaking it while the glass is upright. Normally from a store they have what is called a "bang Ring" to separate them.

Sorry if my instructions were not clear. Water won't do it. It is the physical force of the coin hitting the sides of an empty glass (the glass is in an upright position so the coin is quickly being shaken back and forth a long the bottom) that jar the halves of it loose to make them separate.

Did you see if it makes a dull thud, or does it ring like a normal coin should (try it with a normal half also for comparison).

Hmm... that's a bit light.
I just weighed six of Magician's coins I have them (found them roll searching over a few years). They ranged from 8 grams to 11 grams. None of them were 12.5 like a normal half.

The known rotated die errors for JFK halves are the 1971-D and 1988-P. This is why I still am skeptical, although I think it would be great to discover an unknown date!


The only other advice I can give is to look very carefully around the inside of the rim on the REV. Although the machined ones are good, a very tiny seam can generally be seen by eye - especially with magnification.

Also, it might not separate b/c sometimes they are very hard to separate even with a bang ring - one of mine took forever and a lot of hitting.

If you take a normal half dollar and drop it from a small height, then do the same with this one, and they sound the same, I think I would take it to a coin shop to verify it. But have them explain to you how they can tell it is an altered coin if they say it is.

The other option is to pay a fee to a third party grading company for them to verify it it and put it in a slab if its a genuine error. But I personally would go the coin shop route (not just an antique dealer).

Please keep us posted either way. If it is a genuine error, then there are those on here who can direct you how to get top dollar if you would want to sell it.

Please don't quote me, but I think a rotated die half is around 100.00 or so? Maybe someone else will chime in who knows.

I hope it turns out to be legit.

Even if not, these are fun to fool family and friends - look at youtube for tricks to do with it

If the coin was altered the way they make magicians coins, it might look like this:


If it was, then look for this seam on one side of the coin that has a double line near the rim:

They don't seem to car what the rotation of the altered faces direction. that might be a suggestion. The obverse looks a bit like a MAD coin near the date area. So keep us posted on this one as to what you find.

Known - Says who?

Kennedy half dollars that I've seen that have rotated dies where:
1965 SMS
1966 SMS
1967 Business Strike
1971-S Proof
1972-D Business Strike
1973-D Business Strike
1986-D Business Strike
1988-P Business Strike

Here is a picture of the 71-S rotated 180 degrees
IMG]http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/...jcn2jcdy.jpg[/IMG]

Some of the coins can be seen in this set: http://www.PCGS.com/SetRegistry/sho...aspx?sc=2045

A couple I have into PCGS right now for photos and grades, a few I have in NGC slabs that I will try to grade later.
Tim

If you want to add to your list, here are a few for you.

1971-D RPM-001, RPM-002 and RPM-003 (I'm still looking for RPM-003) http://www.varietyvista.com/12%20Ke...%201971D.htm

1972-D RPM-001 (still looking for this one) http://www.varietyvista.com/12%20Ke...%201972D.htm

1973-D RPM-001 (still looking for this one) http://www.varietyvista.com/12%20Ke...%201973D.htm

On DDOs, don't forget the 1971 (P) DDO, 1972-D DDO, 1976-D DDO and the 1980-P DDO
On the 71-D and 72-D, don't forget to look at the reverse (the 71-D DDR-004 has some nice doubling going on).

I found a 1986 half that weighed 10.5 grams, did a search, and found this thread. I didn't want to mess around and figured the coin was an altered coin to I took a pair of pliers to it. It came apart and it has a 1945 large penny of some foreign type inside. When in doubt, tear it apart.