JFK Half Dollar Roll Hunters: Silver, Proofs And Other Finds

Every time I have stopped at a bank and they had halves on hand (either rolled or loose) it was total crap. I'm thinking I need to either order boxes or stop bothering with halves.

The WORST is when you get CWR's that someone wrote "bicentennials" on... that's when I want to scream lol... Why did so many people put aside rolls of crappy circulated bicentennials thinking they would be a gold mine? ugh... if they had invested the 40 or 50 dollars in stock or even bank CDs instead of stupid bicentennial halves, it might have actually turned a decent profit over 40 years!

@mizugori



You have to remember this (and the Ike and quarter) was the first time a non-regular design was put into circulation en masse (understatement!).

Another aspect is that the general populace was a lot more patriot minded at the time for a couple reasons. Primarily b/c it was the 200th anniversary amd everywhere you looked you saw a 1776 symbol - loved it!

Something that added to this was the US hostage situation and We The People were getting very sick of the ineptitude of the political admin in not doing anything about (nice man, inept leader) so patriotism was on the rise. This was evident by the largest in history (I believe), landslide victory in the next presidential elections.

The novelty of seeing another design was exciting even for non-numismatists. Add to this the idea that still pervades - that halves are rare - and you can see why people hoarded these.

You still can get a premium over face for these on ebay since people do not see enough halves to know they are not rare.

Yes, I remember when the Bicentennials came out. Patriotism was a an extreme high and even I thought about collecting the quarters and halves.

The environment was perfect for these coins and people really loved them - including me.

On another note, I plan on doing two boxes this coming week. It will be the first two boxes I have done in about 6 or 7 weeks.

A couple of months back I got a Mexican 10 peso piece from the early '80s (Cu-Ni, polygonal, head of Hidalgo), in a roll of halves. I made them take it back, since I already had one ; but I kept the 40% that I found in the same roll.

I went through 6 boxes over the weekend. They gave me a total of 3 40% Halves, 5 proofs, a magic coin, a 1912 British One Penny, a 1987-P, 1987-D, and 33 NIFC. The breakout is as follows:

Box # 1
3 NIFC

Box # 2
1968-D
1969-D
5 NIFC

Box # 3
1971-S Proof
1976-S Clad Proof
1984-P Magic Coin w/1967 British One Penny inside
1 NIFC

Box # 4
1987-P
1987-D
1993-S Clad Proof

Box # 5
1967
2 NIFC

Box # 6
1912 British One Penny
2000-S Clad Proof
2003-S Clad Proof
22 NIFC

That's the most halves I've done in a week. I'm broke again this week so I'm going back to trying other denominations until I can afford to get a box of halves again. I was really hoping for my first 90% half from a box, but I guess I'll just have to keep trying.

Someone please tell me which halves are the no "FG"
variety. I found the 1982P but there is another date I believe.

1 box today.

1 40%er and a few NIFC.

Coins with no Initials on the Rev are easy to spot without mag.

Most half dollar varieties ( DDO's/DDR's) unless you have exceptional vision, you are not going to see the doubling without at least some kind of magnifying glass for definitive confirmation etc.


I use a hand held 5X Bausch & Lomb sliding magnifying glass for every coin I want to look at closer.

If I want a closer look, I have a 10X and 20X Mag also, but you will be able to spot doubling on coins with a 5 X mag.


Good luck hunting!