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 Replies: 7 / Views: 1,307 |
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New Member
United States
2 Posts |
OK, I have done A LOT of reading in this forum and on the internet in general and have some questions for you all out there!
In the last week I have gone through 2 boxes of halves. 1st Box yielded 1- 1965, 1- 1968, 1- 2000S, 1- 2006P, & 1- 2009D. 2nd Box = nothing....
So my questions as I go through these boxes:
1\ How do I know what a NIFC coin is?
2\ How can you tell a proof while doing "edge" checks or looking at the mintage dates etc? I have heard Proofs have a smooth defined edge?
3\ What makes a coin "BU"? How can I tell this?
4\ What coins should I hold back? I look for 1970, 1987, 64-69, and all 2002+ years. Anything else?
My main objective is silvers and rares. I also want a collection as well so I have held back some of the best looking P&D of each year....
Apologize if you have answered these in other threads just looking for some advice from you experienced coin collectors... :) Thanks!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
1) NIFC are 2002 and newer and 1987.
2) You can't reliably identify proofs just from edge checking, but they should have sharp edges (some regular halves will have sharp edges too.)
3) BU means "brilliant uncirculated". They're coins that show no circulation wear and look brand new.
4) That's a good list. You can also look for errors and varieties but that will require knowledge that will come with time. A good start is keeping anything that looks strange or you haven't seen before and then trying to figure out what it is. Usually it will be nothing special, but you might find something rare. After a while you'll end up trained on what a normal half dollar should look like and unusual things will jump out at you.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
564 Posts |
This topic has been covered many times. Search the forum and you should find many topics on this topic.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
 As usual the first thing you should do is purchase a copy of the Red Book by Whitman Publishing. In that book you would find almost all the general info on those and many other coins. For example in that book you would find that in 1987 halves were not issued for circulation so finding one in roll searching is something to look for since it possibly came from a collection. It really pays to have a book with sufficient basic info. |
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New Member
 United States
2 Posts |
Thank you for your replies! Very helpful - I will get a book as well :)
@captain - I probably sound stupid for asking this.. when you said "sharp" edges do you mean on the edge of the coin or is the border around the edge sharply defined...
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Valued Member
United States
257 Posts |
Both are sharply defined.
Look at your 2000S- unless it's worn, it would have stood out at you in the roll.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
594 Posts |
There is a thread on here for silver miners, I mean, JFK roll searchers.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2130 Posts |
to CCF! Looks as if the others covered it for you. Quote:
This topic has been covered many times. And will come up many more times. |
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Replies: 7 / Views: 1,307 |
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Posted 10/27/2011 10:29 am
