If God weren't so darn busy he'd kick someones tail for only assigning 45 points to this gorgeous coin!!!

Greetings Collectors,

Just a short post about the Franklin I mentioned in my previous post. I have owned this coin for eons. I bought it back when the PCGS holders looked like this, just to give you an idea of how long it's been in my family of coins. I have done an enormous amount of research on Franklin proof coinage. So much that I feel as if I have a "PHD" in it. A while back I did a series of posts about proof coinage from 1950 through the middle 60's and those of you who read these posts know just how scarce these coins from this time period really are. With the primitive methods the mint was using at the time, it's a wonder we have any proofs north of 64. These coins were "doomed" for a number of reasons such as, but not limited to: Planchet preparation, die repair/replacement, pressure of the strike and last but "definitely" not least, the packaging.

As proof coins were struck the press operator could plainly see the reverse die because it was facing "upwards" and more times than not, new dies were sometimes only replaced when either one (obverse or reverse) was worn thus giving the next strike run a new die on one side and the one that still had a little life in it, was left alone 'til it was shot. That's the reason many coins only had a "cameo contrast" on only one side. More times than not, those "one sided" cameo coins featured a cameo reverse and an obverse that was way less than. I guess "good help" has always been "hard to find".

So what you see here is a coin that had a "working die" that was struck from the "master die" of which the latter had six years on it already. The master die for the Franklin series, both proof and "business strike" was not reworked 'til late 1959 to be used for the 1960 struck coins. And those of you that know the Franklin series know that the person/persons that re-worked this master die, did not do a very good job, especially when it came to the detail. That's what makes "full bell line" Franklins so rare/expensive, especially for the "middle to upper" MS grades. This is typical for the date run 1960 through 1963. One of the main details that was "shorted" was the detail in those lower sets of bell lines. And graders in this series, just like in others, do not like to give high grades to what looks like a very weak struck coin. And as far as the bell lines, only the first few strikes off of a new "working" die would strike up in this area.

Anyway, what I have here, is a coin that "the moon, the sun and the stars" all lined up and:... The planchet was actually washed. Then it had the soapy water rinsed off properly, and then it was dried real well as in, "no spotting". Then there was a pretty well matched set of working dies that still had the "frost" intact. And finally the weak packaging held up until 35-40 years later, when in the early 90's this coin was sent to PCGS for grading and encapsulation.

So after all this, some 18-20 more years pass and this coin is deemed "worthy" for a "whopping" 45 points. When I see a Presidential dollar garner 900+ points, and then I see how many there are, and then I look at this coin, and see how many there are, I get "very confused". But opinions are like a------- and everyone has one, but I'll be danged if I can understand the a------ that gave my beautiful Franklin 45 whole points??? ( I'm not a "crying baby", I just play one on TV) Actually points are not why any of us are here. I just thought this may be an interesting story. 45 or 4500, it makes no difference to me. But it would be nice if there were a + after the "45".

I trust everyone is having fun with their coins. Aside from how it appears, I am too and I will take every "down" in all the "ups & downs" this hobby has to offer. I wouldn't trade this hobby (or this coin) for anything.

Happy Collecting!

WKF

P.S. So much for the "short post". And the reverse of this coin looks even better! "Praise the Lord" for an "observant" press operator at the time this coin was struck.