What's The Proper Grade For This 1961 Franklin Half Dollar?

Pics do not show surfaces well enough to evaluate accurately. Photographing proofs is not easy.



to the CCF!

Thank you. I had a tough time wit the pics... I see now how difficult it is to capture them..

Do these help?

Thanks again.. Nice to have someone to bounce things off of.

Doug

Thank you Sir. TGP?

I thought "proof" coins has the powdery look to the raised surfaces.... Thank you for the info on the bath. I will read up on it before making that happen.

What do you think a coin like this is worth? It's nice no doubt. But, I've seen some things on Youtube etc... where some of the values for the 61's are crazy. how far back in the safe should I put this one? hahahaha

http://cointrackers.com/coins/370/1...half-dollar/
Says that the normal 61 proofs are around $22 a pop. There are some error proofs worth ~$1000 ish

I have a 1959 which is comparable value to your 1961, I paid $13 for mine. I doubt yours is worth much more than that.

PF 67 CAM

The problem with Franklins and value is that by the late 50's and early 60's the US Mint was beginning to get that they could make a lot more profit with proofs and mint sets. The numbers produced soared over the decade.

For instance, in 1951 they made almost 17,000,000 business strikes in Philadelphia alone, but less than 60,000 proofs.

By 1961, business strikes had dropped 50% to about 8,000,000, but proof production increased 5000% to 3,000,000.

People weren't using them for daily transactions, but they were holding onto them for value. In short, we ended up with a market flooded with very high quality coins that no one was supposed to spend and as a result are very common, even today, almost 60 years later.

It's always seemed like such a shame that the late Franklins are worth so little, but they were made in such (relatively) large numbers and were so aggressively marketed as investments that they have survived in such huge numbers.

The short answer to your question is no - don't pay to have it graded. You can buy a 1961 Proof Franklin already graded PR67 by PCGS for $40, and probably less if you shop around. It will cost you at least $30 to have yours graded.