Although not my favorite coin by any means, I started collecting this silver coin because I believed I had the best shot at completing a collection without spending too much money.
BTW, ever wonder why people pay money to get money? Why pay $200 for a Lincoln 1 cent piece?
So, I went out and got a Danesco book for Franklins. I would head out to the coin shop and see what condition their Franklins were. Eventually, I was about 80% finished when our family went on a vacation to north Texas.
There, we went to visit my uncle in Bowie. He had been collecting coins since he was discharged from the US Navy back in 1946. He was particularly interested in silver dollars. In fact, he would take his paycheck and cash it in for silver dollars. By doing this, he obtained a nice collection of Morgan and Peace dollars.
He also had quite a few silver half dollars. Once we started talking about my collection of Franklins, he pulled out several coins and asked if I wanted to buy some of them. "Hell, yes!" I started looking and figuring out how much I could afford when he said, "I'll sell you any of them for face value."
Well, that was a pretty good deal. I couldn't make up my mind which ones I wanted when my son-in-law and uncle stepped aside for a minute. When they returned, my son-in-law told me that he bought all of them for me.
With that purchase, I finished my first series! I wound up with several duplicates and I still have some that are only EF but most are AU or better. I have all mints for all years.
The best part of this collection is that I remember those coins from my youth growing up in north Texas. I also realize that my parents and grandparents used these coins on a daily basis. These days, it's hard to find a half dollar anywhere (except at the UT football games in Austin - they used half dollars as change but all are the Kennedy halfs).
I really want to have more completed collections. But getting there is most of the fun.
So, I went out and got a Danesco book for Franklins. I would head out to the coin shop and see what condition their Franklins were. Eventually, I was about 80% finished when our family went on a vacation to north Texas.
There, we went to visit my uncle in Bowie. He had been collecting coins since he was discharged from the US Navy back in 1946. He was particularly interested in silver dollars. In fact, he would take his paycheck and cash it in for silver dollars. By doing this, he obtained a nice collection of Morgan and Peace dollars.
He also had quite a few silver half dollars. Once we started talking about my collection of Franklins, he pulled out several coins and asked if I wanted to buy some of them. "Hell, yes!" I started looking and figuring out how much I could afford when he said, "I'll sell you any of them for face value."
Well, that was a pretty good deal. I couldn't make up my mind which ones I wanted when my son-in-law and uncle stepped aside for a minute. When they returned, my son-in-law told me that he bought all of them for me.
With that purchase, I finished my first series! I wound up with several duplicates and I still have some that are only EF but most are AU or better. I have all mints for all years.
The best part of this collection is that I remember those coins from my youth growing up in north Texas. I also realize that my parents and grandparents used these coins on a daily basis. These days, it's hard to find a half dollar anywhere (except at the UT football games in Austin - they used half dollars as change but all are the Kennedy halfs).
I really want to have more completed collections. But getting there is most of the fun.
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