There is more to this hobby than paying through the nose for new coins.

Well, it looks like the economy is raising hell in the metal markets again. Gold is at an all time high and silver is not much further behind. Of course this translates to some people paying outrageous prices for coins, raw and graded, because they see it as a safe haven. You just have to love John Q. Public! Now is definitely not the time for me to be chasing coins on the auction sites or trying to negotiate lower prices with dealers. Thank goodness I have discipline and tend not to panic. There are still some bottom fishing opportunities but they are not nearly as plentiful as they have been. Like I tell me kids in class, timing is everything.

With no new additions to my sets of late, quiet Saturday mornings like today represent a time to regroup. I have a number of odds and ends (speaking from a coin perspective) I put aside just for times like this. I?m pretty sure every collector has a similar stash, raw coins you want to go through, coins that you are trying to decide whether or not they are worth grading and other hobby related type goodies. This morning I found myself wandering back to my stash of Kennedy Half Dollars. I?m still on the hunt for some key documentation that indicates that there are two variations (not errors) for the business strike 1964 Kennedy Dollar. Currently, the only variation I can find listed on any 1964 Kennedy Half is the Accented Hair Proof. Yes, I know there are a number of double-die classifications but in my mind those are more errors that variations. I am specifically interested in design changes.

Here is my argument for the two design variations of the 1964 business strike Kennedy Half.

Dies are always produced in sets of matched pairs, obverse and reverse. The 1964 Accented Hair Proof dies were the first die sets produced and the business strike dies were modeled after those. When the mint changed the Accented Hair Proof dies they changed the obverse first and then in later die sets made some changes to the reverse. The first set of proof dies did not connect the rays emanating from behind the eagles head when those rays went through the stars. (There are some other differences as well but the broken rays seem to be the most dominant feature to the reverse.) I have found documentation that the die change was a two step process, the obverse first and then later the reverse. It stands to reason that the engraving on the reverse side, the broken rays, of the early business strike dies would have been the same as those of the first proof reverse dies. Looking at the coins, the broken rays are clearly not a strike deficiency. So my question is why isn?t this identified as a variation? Clearly, the die design was changed somewhere after the initial Kennedy Half Dollars were struck in 1964 since this is the only year the broken rays appear. While this may not be a major variation, there is a relatively recent example of changes to the reverse of a coin that justifies variation status, specifically the 1972 Eisenhower Dollar minted in Philadelphia with three different variations on the reverse.

I?ve included a picture and yes I know it isn?t very good but I think it is sufficient to demonstrate the situation I have described.

Who says that adding to your sets is the only way to enjoy the hobby of coin collecting?