threecentnickel

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toned in iridescent shades of purple, plum, burgundy, green, orange, gold.....virtually every color of the rainbow, can sometimes be found on a single coin! The design of the Franklin half, with the broad expanse of Franklin''s bust on the obverse, and the Liberty bell on the reverse, is an easy target for bagmarks or abrasion. A pristine threecentnickel Franklin half, with a smooth, unblemished cheek of Franklin on the obverse, and equally pristine Liberty bell on the reverse, is a truly beautiful coin. On the other hand, the simplicity of these surfaces also serves to magnify, or hilight, the smallest bagmark! The cheek of Franklin & the Liberty bell make easy targets. The quality of the typical uncirculated Franklin roll is quite low, with all 20 coins usually grading between MS 60 and MS 63. By comparison, if one had the good fortune to acquire an original threecentnickel roll of uncirculated Walking Liberty half dollars (the series immediately preceding the Franklins, minted from 1916-1947) the general quality of the coins would likely be quite high, with most threecentnickel coins grading MS 64 - MS 65. What About Any Hordes Of Gem Bu Franklins That Have Yet To Surface? Original unsearched bags of BU Franklins? The last bag

collector, for many dates which were considered fairly common in uncirculated condition, such as the 1879-O and 1880-O Morgan dollar, were disclosed to be extremely scarce or rare in gem MS 65 uncirculated grade and gem MS 65 prooflike! With these disclosures by a respected expert in the field, the Morgan dollar market bloomed almost overnight. By the early 1980''s, it was the single largest area of collector interest in U.S. numismatics, simply because it was disclosed that in addition to the other benefits of 1. Beauty, 2. Quality, and 4. Low price, many dates in the series also enjoyed a high degree of 3. Rarity, in higher grade. The 1950-1970 Cameo Proof series is currently positioned at the same point the Morgan dollar market found itself in the mid-1970''s. Like the Morgan dollar market at that time, the current cameo proof market has been enjoying increasing popularity among collectors with each passing year, despite the birth of published information on the subject. The fact is, high grade cameo examples of many of the rarer cameo dates are so rare that few dealers have ever seen such coins. The cameo proof series, like the Morgan dollar series, has been crying for a comprehensive book

devoted to it. Here is one final, very important similarly between the Morgan dollar series and the Cameo Proof series: In grading prooflike Morgan dollars, the two largest grading services in the nation, PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation), offer two grades of prooflike for that series - "DMPL" (Deep Mirror Prooflike) - for the very earliest strikes off the business die, and a simple "PL" (Prooflike) - for the slightly later strikes. PCGS and NGC now offer a similar delineation for all proof coinage from the 1950 to 1970 era. threecentnickel As of early February, 1992, PCGS offers two cameo designations for early strike cameo proofs - "DCAM" (Deep Cameo - roughly equivalent to what we refer to as "ultra-heavy") - for those cameo proofs which were the very earliest strikes off the proof die, with the heaviest contrast, and a simple "CAM" (Cameo) designation for those coins which were slightly later strikes, but which still possess significant cameo contrast. NGC instituted their own two-tier system similar to PCGS'' in the spring of 1995. With PCGS and NGC now involved, novices will for the first time have their coins recognized by the most widely used grading service in

Click HERE for access to the Internet's most reputable source for rare coins and proofs, along with other numismatic advice. We have extensive collections of both domestic and international coin currencies, and all the latest market information to keep you on top of the game.