Good Day. 1964 Set, No Mint Mark And As Described. SMS?

The 64 on the SMS half dollar has an aberration below the right most point of the 4 and are supposed to have a different finish.

It's really small, but I don't see it on yours.

It would be odd to find one as I believe most were purchased from an estate by a single collector.

I doubt if this picture is authentic. By virtually all accounts, the 64 SMS coins were test strikes. Because they were never intended to be released to the general public, there was no need to package them.

Also, the picture shows the hard plastic holder which was not introduced until the 1966 SMS releases (1965 SMS coins still used the earlier proof style flat pack). It would be an easy matter to open a 1966 plastic case and insert ordinary 1964 coins.

This is from the Coinweek article:

"Only 12 of the unofficial "Special Mint Sets"-assembled a year before the United States Mint began to sell Special Mint Sets officially to the public-are known to exist. Unlike the official consumer products issued a year later, the Special Strike 1964 sets were not put together in pliofilm packaging - though they do share the sharp detail and satiny surfaces in common with the later releases."

https://coinweek.com/auctions-news/...collections/

Petespockets55, that particular quote was from Coin Week. the article was about a 1964 SMS half that sold in a 1996 Long Beach Expo U.S. Signature Auction.
That article says about the earliest appearance of them in a sale was "June 1991 appearance of the 1964 SMS Kennedy half dollar, when an unusual five-piece set of 1964 Philadelphia-Mint coins was offered in a Stack's sale."
The article seems to suggest that was the very first offering of them on record about 2 years before it became more generally known to exist.


If you search that quote, I'm sure it will bring you to that article from coin week. it's an interestign read. I also don't know if there are 12 complete sets, but seems like for sure there are 12 half dollars, and all the rest of them after that on population reports ect from the grading companies are re-submissions hoping for a better grade or to change the slab over.

Thank you so much, everybody.