Circulated Vs SMS Coins

How about you post up an image of your coins.

Sure, Dearborn.

The 1965 and 1966 halves.


1967 dated half.


I would say if any of these fit the bill of what I would think a SMS half dollar would like, I'd say it would be the 1966. Again, I don't know. They were purchased all separately.

So you think they are SMS?

I would have thought maybe the 66 one was.

I wanted to try to include both 65, 65 and 67 BU specimens as well as SMS, but if I already have the SMS coins, I don't think I'll bother.

It only matters in the 8166 album, which has places for both.

You can tell when a coin is SMS but not when it isn't. The SMS are made to exacting standards by finite dies. You learn to recognize them. But there are a wide range of processes that apply in every strike making certainty impossible. However the problem arises with very high grade circ strikes; they are hard to differentiate. As a rule the services assume SMS unless clearly not. This is probably for the best anyway because most of the tweeners are SMS. This is for a simple reason; High grade clad from that era simply doesn't exist; at least its existence is the result of random forces and high grade coins were very exceptional.

This is why it matters. There's a big difference in price for SMS vs business strikes in the higher grades. I automatically assume that every nice 65-67 coin is SMS. If there were ways to differentiate, it would make the search more interesting.

I wonder if this will also apply later on with the 2005-2010 Satin finish coins if they get into circulation. You know at some point someone will get grandpa's collection and coinstar them or take them to the bank. Especially if they take them into a coin dealer and he tells them those are common coins and only worth face value when they are not still in the original mint sets.

I'm curios to know what a circulated statin will look like. Maybe just dull

I can make some predictions about how coins will wear because of things like rims, texture, location of high points, etc but for the main part I almost completely rely on experience; just waiting to see. I've only even studied a couple of the satin finish. I'd expect them to often be nice looking AU's but I wouldn't expect it to be visible on many coins below XF+.

Your contention is certainly right at this time. Even with the low mintages prices are extremely low. The real rarity might lie in choice examples of the circulation issues. It's often the case that some dates rarely come nice. If in the future people collect SF then there is every chance that even circulated examples could be deemed "desirable".