1982 S WASHINGTON 50C Modern Commemorative NGC coin holder designation question

[churchjay-migration]

Dear Sir/Mam,

 

Good evening. I made an observation today (maybe question) that I found very interesting. I'm a keen collector of most modern coins and I'm building a pretty interesting collection of NGC graded PF70 and MS70 coins. I recently purchased three US Mint modern commemorative NGC graded PF and MS70 Half Dollars (1982 PF70 George Washington, 1992 PF70 Olympics Gymnast, and 1995 MS70 Olympics Baseball). I researched at the US Mint website and "Whitman's A Guide Book of United States Coins 2011" and those sources stated that all half dollar modern commemoratives are composed of nickel/copper (also described as "CLAD") except for the 1982 George Washington which is composed of 90% silver same as the modern commemorative silver dollars. My observation is that all NGC coin holder descriptions and that the NGC public sets homepage describe the half dollar modern commemoratives as "Year / Mint Designation Letter / Commemorative Name / 50C / Grade / Serial Number / Bar Code and the modern one dollar commemoratives are designated the same way with the exception of the S$1 segment (S meaning silver preceding the denomination). I am wondering why my NGC PF70 George Washington Half Dollar commemorative does not say S50C vice just 50C since it is a 90% silver coin the same as the modern commemorative silver dollars. The NGC Public Sets Homepage also lists this coin as 50C vice S50C. Are my resources that I studied incorrect and all the modern commemorative half dollars are actually nickel/copper or is the NGC designation possibly in error? Please advise me at your earliest opportunity. Thank you. Sincerely, Jay A. Church

[Max Spiegel]

Jay,

 

Thank you for your question.

 

The 1993 Bill of Rights half dollar is also silver.

 

In many cases we use an S prefix to denote a composition of silver, but not always. When coins only come one way (i.e. all 1982 Washington 50C's are silver) there is no need for that added designation. However, in some cases we need that added information to distinguish two issues that would otherwise appear similar in text format. For example, an 1881 silver dollar would be written as 1881 S$1 to distinguish it from an 1881 gold dollar (1881 G$1).

[churchjay-migration]

Thank you for your excellent explanation and shame on me for missing that the 1993 Bill of Rights half dollar is silver (verified on "Whitman's The Official Red Book A Guide Book of United States Coins 2001" page 309 middle of the page). Sincerely, Jay