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Is This Bicentennial Half Dollar 40% Silver?

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 Posted 01/28/2026  12:53 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add flipacoin to your friends list
I haven't been able to do further testing and update my results until now. From my research and the results I have, it may be a good idea to send this coin to PCGS for authentication.
Is-This-Bicentennial-Half-Dollar-40%-Silver?
Is-This-Bicentennial-Half-Dollar-40%-Silver?
Is-This-Bicentennial-Half-Dollar-40%-Silver?
Is-This-Bicentennial-Half-Dollar-40%-Silver?
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 Posted 01/28/2026  01:53 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Marv65 to your friends list

Quote:
it may be a good idea to send this coin to PCGS for authentication.

Really? After everybody told you it's a plated coin? It does not have an "S" mintmark on it. Only San Fran minted the 40% silvers. A random silver half dollar planchet winding up in the Denver or Philadelphia mints to be accidentally struck and then ending up in your hands is quite a high improbability.
Do as you will - it is your money but let us know the results of your adventure.
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 Posted 01/28/2026  02:01 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add flipacoin to your friends list
I appreciate the input, but 'because I said so' isn't really a diagnostic. If all the evidence points to the possibility of this coin being authentic but you're certain it's not, there's usually a specific reason why. What is the one thing you're seeing—or not seeing—that outweighs the other evidence?"
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 Posted 01/28/2026  02:11 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Marv65 to your friends list

Quote:
What is the one thing you're seeing—or not seeing—that outweighs the other evidence?"


What part of this don't you understand?

"It does not have an "S" mintmark on it. Only San Fran minted the 40% silvers."
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 Posted 01/28/2026  02:54 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add ratman4762 to your friends list
Sure looks plated to me...What is all this evidence that leads you to your silver conclusion?
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 Posted 01/28/2026  03:02 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add ratman4762 to your friends list
No "S" mint, silver plated will pass tissue test and a plated coin will weigh heavier than a like coin that is not plated. Why is the "hold" button pushed on the scale?
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 Posted 01/28/2026  03:12 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Marv65 to your friends list

Quote:
Why is the "hold" button pushed on the scale?


Shhhhhh! You weren't supposed to see that!
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 Posted 01/28/2026  10:17 am  Show Profile   Check Brandmeister's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add Brandmeister to your friends list
All I see is a coin under a tissue. You need a couple normal cupronickel coins and a silver coin under that tissue for comparison.

A clad half is 11.34g. A 40% silver half is 11.5g. But if you added a small amount of plating to an 11.34g clad half, it could easily add 0.16g to reach 11.5g.

If you are dead set on grading the coin, consider ANACS. It would be much cheaper than PCGS.
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 Posted 01/28/2026  11:11 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add HondoB to your friends list
While the weight and appearance are consistent with a silver planchet coin, they are more likely explained by silver plating. My researches indicate that there are no known examples of Philly-minted silver Kennedy half dollars.
If you feel that strongly that your coin is the only known example, by all means send it in for authentication. Please report back with the results.
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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 Posted 01/28/2026  11:50 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add cladking to your friends list

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Halves minted at the San Francisco Mint (S) were 40% but the rim edge is silver looking. Probably a plated coin originally minted at Philadelphia.


Philly did strike six, if I remember correctly, of each half and dollar on 40% planchets dated 1976.

I can't see the edge well or many surfaces but I don't see anything to rule out the possibility it's genuine despite remarkably long odds.

It might look plated in hand but some 40% do tone similarly.

Don't forget as well that some 40% half dollars are very hard to see the 100 fine center.

Better pictures might go a long way toward being sure it's plated. An angle with diffuse light of the edge with the rim. When the color gradient is consistent across this the coin is plated.

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 Posted 01/28/2026  3:29 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list

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Don't forget as well that some 40% half dollars are very hard to see the 100 fine center.
40% silver coins have 21% silver core.
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 Posted 01/28/2026  3:48 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Errers and Varietys to your friends list
As stated before, it's obviously been plated. It would be a huge waste of money to get it slabbed. It's not silver as Marv said. Do what you want, but you're going to learn the hard way.
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 Posted 01/29/2026  07:20 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add cladking to your friends list

Quote:
40% silver coins have 21% silver core.


Yes. I was also confused about those Philly proof sets. They were three coin sets with the quarter for promotion of the new designs and mint products containing them.

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 Posted 01/29/2026  3:27 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add DoubleEagle20 to your friends list
If it was a Denver coin, I'd say send it to PCGS for verification. Reason being SF mint routinely sent reject proof planchets to Denver for business strike coining. That is why 1974-D Ike silver clad dollars and 1977-D silver clad quarters, halves and dollars exist.

Being a Philly coin, I definitely think it's plated. I have never heard of planchets going from SF to Philly.
Edited by DoubleEagle20
01/29/2026 3:31 pm
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