The Franklin Half Dollar 1948-1963

[JRocco]

The Franklin Half is a short series that was stopped due to the loss of President Kennedy and our nations subsequent honor to him by placing him on the half dollar in 1964.
The Frankie is commonly referred to as the bald head while the Kennedy can sometimes be called the hairy head.
Here is a nice raw example.

[coinsarefun]

Nice one


Can't have Frankies without a few toned ones

Proof




And an uncirculated one

[rrantique]

[coinsarefun]

One more Franklin proof

[JRocco]

Here is a 54 proof

[coinsarefun]

I haven't seen any Bugs Bunny's yet, so here is my contribution

The 56 BB is not as pronounced but its there

[coinsarefun]

And the Vampire Franklin

[JRocco]

I was putting together a set of these back when PCGS was just getting started. They used to slab these without designating CAM or DCAM on the labels. Here are a couple of pics as an example of coins that would be designated something today, one is a rattler and one in an old green slab.
Someday I may send some of these back to see what they think of them today.

[coinsarefun]

I was putting together a set of these back when PCGS was just getting started. They used to slab these without designating CAM or DCAM on the labels. Here are a couple of pics as an example of coins that would be designated something today, one is a rattler and one in an old green slab.
Someday I may send some of these back to see what they think of them today.

That's pretty neat. I never knew back then they didn't designate Cam Or Deep Cam.
Did people buy accordingly?
Did they just pay for the grade or was there a premium for the Cam's and Deep Cam's?

[JRocco]

Hi Stef,
There was always a premium for PQ pieces.
I had a really good dealer on Long Island when I was younger and I remember telling him back in maybe the 70's that I wanted to put together a nice set of Jeff's. He asked me if I wanted full step coins or not. I didn't even know what the heck he meant. Well he explained it to me and even back then many FS Jeff's were 5 or 6 times the price for most coins and more for some. PQ pieces, raw or slabbed, always sold for a premium. Same with Frankie's and everything else for that matter.
In fact, it was a common thing back then to buy coins in old holders just to break them out and put them in albums. Back then, holders were for those not really into the hobby and those that wanted coins more for an investment or to buy and flip. I love when I hear that a nice raw coin must have problems or it wouldn't be raw. Well maybe for some but not for all.
Here is a pic of one page in my Dansco Frankie album (2 angles of the same page). Every coin in this album was cracked from either an old NGC fattie or old PCGS rattler as I put this set together around 1985. I put in proof coins where possible just for their beauty. Most of the proofs are cameos by today's standards and I believe every coin is at least gem.... and raw  This is an old pic by the way.