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...and, no, I'm not talking about the one in my shorts...

I have been searching halves with no success. Everything has a brown stripe around the edge. I have been unable to purchase loose or in CWR. Is my problem that I can only get boxes of machine-wrapped coins?

Check out the tracking thread that tracks half dollars, dimes, quarters, nickels, etc.

Most of the searchers of half dollars get boxes and they are finding some silver. Does the edge of a 40% half contain some copper so that you need to date check?

I know many of the dimes I have found lately would have been missed if I were only edge checking as they did not look like a silver coin, but since I check each and every coin for date, errors, etc, I was able to find dimes that would have been missed if I were just an edge checker looking for silver.

Good Luck.

PreservingThePast wrote:Check out the tracking thread that tracks half dollars, dimes, quarters, nickels, etc.

Most of the searchers of half dollars get boxes and they are finding some silver. Does the edge of a 40% half contain some copper so that you need to date check?

I know many of the dimes I have found lately would have been missed if I were only edge checking as they did not look like a silver coin, but since I check each and every coin for date, errors, etc, I was able to find dimes that would have been missed if I were just an edge checker looking for silver.

Good Luck.

At first I checked dates, lately just the edges on the halves. Perhaps I am just too impatient.

shinnosuke wrote:...and, no, I'm not talking about the one in my shorts...

I have been searching halves with no success. Everything has a brown stripe around the edge. I have been unable to purchase loose or in CWR. Is my problem that I can only get boxes of machine-wrapped coins?

A dirty brown stripe around the edge is a good indicator you have silver. 90% or 40 %. The brown stripe is tarnishing from the silver coming into contact with acidic paper in the wrapper. Look at the dates.

Send a PM to Country. He is the resident silver coin tracker. He could offer you the best advice IMHO.

this title has cracked me up at least 3 times. Ok thats it lol

I edge sore and then sound sort.

Take the stack of halves in your hands and pass them back and forth a couple of times. You will hear the silver weather it is 40% or 90%.

If you want to practice, put a silver one in a stack and try it out.

I often miss some halves by edge sorting, I doubt that I miss them with sound.

knibloe wrote:I edge sore and then sound sort.

Take the stack of halves in your hands and pass them back and forth a couple of times. You will hear the silver weather it is 40% or 90%.

If you want to practice, put a silver one in a stack and try it out.

I often miss some halves by edge sorting, I doubt that I miss them with sound.

Same here. In my opinion the only way to sort for silver. Rarely miss one. An even better backup is the coin machines that reject silver.

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:

shinnosuke wrote:...and, no, I'm not talking about the one in my shorts...

I have been searching halves with no success. Everything has a brown stripe around the edge. I have been unable to purchase loose or in CWR. Is my problem that I can only get boxes of machine-wrapped coins?

A dirty brown stripe around the edge is a good indicator you have silver. 90% or 40 %. The brown stripe is tarnishing from the silver coming into contact with acidic paper in the wrapper. Look at the dates.

Send a PM to Country. He is the resident silver coin tracker. He could offer you the best advice IMHO.

Well, brownish...sometimes a coppery brown, sometimes an orangish-brown, sometimes a dark brown, sometimes a faint brown streak. I have been looking at some of the dates on coins that don't have an obvious "I'm copper!" and they are all post 40% dates. The ones that fool me the most are 1971. I guess that year has AG-envy.

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:

shinnosuke wrote:...and, no, I'm not talking about the one in my shorts...

I have been searching halves with no success. Everything has a brown stripe around the edge. I have been unable to purchase loose or in CWR. Is my problem that I can only get boxes of machine-wrapped coins?

A dirty brown stripe around the edge is a good indicator you have silver. 90% or 40 %. The brown stripe is tarnishing from the silver coming into contact with acidic paper in the wrapper. Look at the dates.

Send a PM to Country. He is the resident silver coin tracker. He could offer you the best advice IMHO.

Well, brownish...sometimes a coppery brown, sometimes an orangish-brown, sometimes a dark brown, sometimes a faint brown streak. I have been looking at some of the dates on coins that don't have an obvious "I'm copper!" and they are all post 40% dates. The ones that fool me the most are 1971. I guess that year has AG-envy.

Ibedern. I've only edge sorted for silver. Better start actually looking, I suppose. I've always thought the silvers were pulled when people sorted for Canadians.

Just finished a box tonight and had pretty good success. I found 4 silver clad. Almost missed one side searching, but caught it on date sorting. The one I almost missed looked exactly like copper clad on the side(go figure) You might want to consider date searching as I found 6 proofs in the box also. Nothing like the sight of a mirror finish with an S unless it is a 64 silver! I date search looking for silver, proofs, and any error. Also, I read in REDBOOK that there were a few silver clads '71 & 71D. Anyone found one or know much about it? I have never tried sound searching but will check it out.

shinnosuke wrote:

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:

shinnosuke wrote:...and, no, I'm not talking about the one in my shorts...

I have been searching halves with no success. Everything has a brown stripe around the edge. I have been unable to purchase loose or in CWR. Is my problem that I can only get boxes of machine-wrapped coins?

A dirty brown stripe around the edge is a good indicator you have silver. 90% or 40 %. The brown stripe is tarnishing from the silver coming into contact with acidic paper in the wrapper. Look at the dates.

Send a PM to Country. He is the resident silver coin tracker. He could offer you the best advice IMHO.

Well, brownish...sometimes a coppery brown, sometimes an orangish-brown, sometimes a dark brown, sometimes a faint brown streak. I have been looking at some of the dates on coins that don't have an obvious "I'm copper!" and they are all post 40% dates. The ones that fool me the most are 1971. I guess that year has AG-envy.

Check out the RED BOOK like sparechange said. My 2009 edition says some 1971D & 1977D were made from silver clad by mistake. That dirty brown stripe may have been silver.

The sound sort doesn't work for me. My hearing to too poor to tell them apart, even when I place a 40%'er in with them.

Thanks for all the comments, y'all. Learn something every day.

shinnosuke wrote:Thanks for all the comments, y'all. Learn something every day.

Yes you are from TEXAS

Thought "y'all" was just plural. "all y'all" is three or more...

I find the 71's to 74's often have that silver tint to them. I believe this is from circulating with the silver for quite a while in the 70's.

Decided to give half searching another chance after years of only searching pennies, nickels and dimes. Picked up a $500 box today. The results are my personal best for 50 cent coins.

One 1966
One 1967

And, yes, both have brown stripes.

In my area the new coin counting machines don't accept half dollars. Do you have that issue where you are?

My area accepts half dollars, but I don't put them into the machines unless I have at least 20 or so.

Morsecode wrote:In my area the new coin counting machines don't accept half dollars. Do you have that issue where you are?

I haven't dumped halves in so long, I'm not even sure. My plan is to just hang on to them for now...in case US citizens realize the intrinsic value of the Federal Reserve Hiney Wipes they are holding is ZERO.

I never did weigh in on this old thread. I feel that it is important to look at the dates instead of just the edges. I seem to also remember 1971’s that posed as 40%ers. I always did the drop test to see what they SOUND like- just to be safe.

I look at both the dates and the edges. I do not sort large quantities of these because they have usually been searched by competitors. I prefer smaller quantities, but maybe someday I will order a box or two. (I actually did that in 2019)