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I have a nice 1971-D half dollar. Its worn. But weighs 11.5 grams and looks for all the world like a 40%. The local coin shop crowd spent some time examining it, and advised me to send it in for certification. I have had it for quite a while; found it in circulation some years ago when I was sorting large volume halfs every week.

Does it have a silver ring to it when dropped? Maybe it’s possible the Denver Mint accidentally struck some coins from left over 40% half blanks. Also, does the second “1” in the date look ok (not altered or hard to make out)?

11.5 grams is spot on for a silver (40%) half dollar, so it deserves more scrutiny. I would not, however, rule out a heavy clad.

Time for more coffee.

well, it could well be just a clad. But the fact that it is worn, makes a coating less likely. It was examined by several very experienced coin experts at the LCS, and they could find no alteration. So I will send it in to be certified. If is is fake, I will be out about $25. If it is genuine, it will not be the premium that the other certified 40% 71-D is, because that one is AU, and my coin is certainly worn. But it is an interesting twist to sorting halfs. I pulled this one out several years ago as odd, put it aside, and just now got around to taking it to the LCS.

Need a gravity test to confirm but if it’s really silver, it will be worth a pretty penny, even if it’s a little worn

If you haven't sent it in to be certified yet, I'd do the good ole drop test. I know someone else already mentioned that, but it is a decent way to get a feel for whether a coin is silver or not. And even the 40% silver coins sound substantially different from coins without silver. You only need to drop on a table from a height of about 4", so it shouldn't hurt the coin at all.

I have to admit that I am anxiously awaiting to hear the results.

I have not sent it in; not sure which service to send it to, and a little concerned with using US postal boxes to send it; perhaps a registered letter. I will do the drop test. I have many 40%s and clads. I think it sounds like the '67 I dropped with it. I will ask my wife. Dropping it is not a problem; it is worn and a little tarnished; that's what makes me hopeful --- if it were a perfect silver color, I would suspect it was dipped. But this coin looks like a worn circulated 40% coin.

I'd be pretty excited if that was my coin. You should look into purchasing insurance for the coin before sending to get it certified. Not sure how much you should insure it for...

I would consider sending it to NGC, as they have already certified one (MS-61 condition) that sold for $13,000.

Not sure when it sold, but here is a link with more info. Note that the link is to PCGS, but the coin was definitely certified by NGC.

https://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/item ... 5817527179

Thanks for the encouragement. I will mail this coin off to NGC in the morning. Cost me a little more than I had anticipated. But I have some other coins that should get graded someday, and this will get me started.

Not sure if you sent it off already, but if you haven't, I would suggest taking it to a pawn shop. Most of them nowadays have XRF guns which basically shoot the coin with X-ray light and can tell you exactly what it is made of. It's free and they could give you an answer right on the spot.

oooohhh you are good! unfortunately, I have already sent the coin in. The total cost was higher than I thought. I joined NGC for $25, $30 for the grading, paid $5 for a case, something else for handling, etc, and by it was completely done, I am out nearly $100. If it turns out to be worth 50 cents, I will post here, and then never speak of it again ----

Thanks so much, SB22, for trying to help me. If it should come up again, I will try the XRF gun. I wonder if an XRF gun can tell a war nickle from a regular nickle ----- I may try that.

rainsonme wrote:oooohhh you are good! unfortunately, I have already sent the coin in. The total cost was higher than I thought. I joined NGC for $25, $30 for the grading, paid $5 for a case, something else for handling, etc, and by it was completely done, I am out nearly $100. If it turns out to be worth 50 cents, I will post here, and then never speak of it again ----

Thanks so much, SB22, for trying to help me. If it should come up again, I will try the XRF gun. I wonder if an XRF gun can tell a war nickle from a regular nickle ----- I may try that.

Yes, and XRF would be able to tell a war nickel against a CuNi nickel. The ones I've worked with can tell down to .001%. If you ever get a chance, take a few older cents with you and test those as well, usually they will come up with trace amounts of silver from circulating with silver coins.

SilverBandit22 wrote:

rainsonme wrote:oooohhh you are good! unfortunately, I have already sent the coin in. The total cost was higher than I thought. I joined NGC for $25, $30 for the grading, paid $5 for a case, something else for handling, etc, and by it was completely done, I am out nearly $100. If it turns out to be worth 50 cents, I will post here, and then never speak of it again ----

Thanks so much, SB22, for trying to help me. If it should come up again, I will try the XRF gun. I wonder if an XRF gun can tell a war nickle from a regular nickle ----- I may try that.

Yes, and XRF would be able to tell a war nickel against a CuNi nickel. The ones I've worked with can tell down to .001%. If you ever get a chance, take a few older cents with you and test those as well, usually they will come up with trace amounts of silver from circulating with silver coins.

That is fascinating- what you said about tiny bits of old silver coins rubbing off onto the older pennies- never heard of that before.

What would be interesting as well (just wild speculation on my part) would be if someone took a new roll of Uncirculated 2018’s and found trace amounts of silver on them as well.

My "error" coin was determined to be plated by GNC. They reduced all the unnecessary fees like slabbing, so it ends up costing me $31 to GNC, plus my shipping costs. When I get the coin back, I will scrape off the plating that I could not detect, and make sure the coin is defaced a bit so no one else wastes time on it. I wonder if someone ran thru all the clad coins until they found one at 11.5 grams to plate? I will also take this coin to a pawn shop to verify the x-ray test, and I will post the results.

rainsonme wrote:My "error" coin was determined to be plated by GNC. They reduced all the unnecessary fees like slabbing, so it ends up costing me $31 to GNC, plus my shipping costs. When I get the coin back, I will scrape off the plating that I could not detect, and make sure the coin is defaced a bit so no one else wastes time on it. I wonder if someone ran thru all the clad coins until they found one at 11.5 grams to plate? I will also take this coin to a pawn shop to verify the x-ray test, and I will post the results.

Wow, so it was a modern fake? That's unfortunate!

I am still looking forward to hearing about the x-ray test results once the pawn shop takes a look at it.

yeah, yeah. I will get by a large pawn shop some day soon, and post the results Then I'm gonna deface the tar outa that coin so no one else gets fooled.

I sorted allot too and would find later models with the silver edging, but I knew they were all dipped, besides not finding much, all the marked and odd ducks made half dollar searching pretty interesting otherwise. I would save all these NIFC, and interesting looking halves, for spending into the wild.