Help with this Kennedy Half

[tommy44]

I picked up these two Kennedy half dollars a couple of years ago in a roll that I received from my bank when searching for silver.

 

The one on the left weighs 11.3 grams as expected, the one on the right weighs only 10.3 grams. The one on the right also has a rotated reverse. The one on the left has the familiar ring when flipped or when it lands after being spun on my desk while the one the right has more of a thud.

 

Any ideas on the one on the right? Counterfeit? Foreign planchet? Any foreign coins from that era struck on a planchet weighing 10.3 grams?

 

[tommy44]

Slightly better photos?

 

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

did you check to see if it has a steel core?

[James_OldeTowne]

Bizarre coincidence that you post this just after I've stumbled upon a fake 1968-D, but yours don't appear counterfeit from the photos. However, that rotated reverse is COOL!

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

Bizarre coincidence that you post this just after I've stumbled upon a fake 1968-D, but yours don't appear counterfeit from the photos. However, that rotated reverse is COOL!

 

known magicians coin

[cladking]

Interestingly there are no reported coins of the date with a rotation;

 

http://rotateddies.50webs.com/census.htm

 

I'm not sure I like the coin. It seems more the style of '96. It would be a strange thing to be counterfeit but then the US government has been buying fake Chinese coins by the ton as scrap so who knows?

 

Some countries don't play by rules.

[tommy44]

did you check to see if it has a steel core?

 

It's not magnetic.

[tommy44]

Bizarre coincidence that you post this just after I've stumbled upon a fake 1968-D, but yours don't appear counterfeit from the photos. However, that rotated reverse is COOL!

 

How would you the rotation be described? 225 degrees clockwise or 135 degrees counter clockwise?

[WoodenJefferson]

On the reverse, you can see the 'seam' inside the rim. This is a 2 part coin or a facsimile there of.

[AHFreak]

I used to coin roll hunt, buying up to 20 boxes of half dollars at a time. .. I am 100% certain that what you have here is a magicians coin. I found 20 or so of them searching rolls. If you look carefully you can see the seam and where that seam is the obverse and reverse actually seperate and come apart. You will find 1 of many possible coins inside the half dollar. Many are foreign coins inside from what I remember. Pop it open and show us what's inside

[tommy44]

Correct, now that I know what I'm looking for I see the seam, I'll have to work on popping it open and post the results of what I find.

[coinman1794]

Slightly better photos?

 

 

This does seem to be an altered coin, the insides machined out and another reverse dropped in. That would explain the rotation and the seam around the reverse rim.

[tommy44]

Mystery solved! Bad news is the vice grip did a job on the rim of the obverse. Good news is that if I put it back together I can solve the rotation problem. It is amazing what can be done.

 

[AHFreak]

That's cool. What is surprising to me is how many of these are floating around in circulation, they usually cost someone 20 bucks to buy... how so many get spent as fifty cents is beyond me.