Proof Franklin Halves - Interesting Observations from the PCGS Pop Reports re. Cameo Contrast

mcarney1173

I have gained some serious interest in this series, especially after completing an uncirculated date & mint mark Whitman Album earlier this year. With our local coin club discussing the possibility of holding a meeting later this year, I decided to put together a presentation on Proof Franklin Halves to share what I have learned and try to generate some interest in the series.

While browsing the PCGS Population Report I made some interesting observations (data as of 7/27/20):

The total # of Proof Franklin Halves certified by PCGS is 142,513
Brilliant Proofs (no cameo contrast): 117,736 (82.6%)
Cameo Proofs: 19,874 (13.9%)
Deep Cameo Proofs: 4,903 (3.4%)

To see how this ratio varied between different dates, I compared the lowest and highest mintage proofs of the series:

1950 (lowest mintage): 91.9% Brilliant Proof, 7.9% Cameo Proof, 0.16% Deep Cameo Proof
1962 (highest mintage): 75% Brilliant Proof, 18.7% Cameo Proof, 5.9% Deep Cameo Proof

Thanks to the advice and recommendations of fellow forums members, I picked up the well-known Rick Tomaska book on 1950--1970 Cameo Coinage. I have recently branched out into other proof denominations from the same era. There is so much to learn and so many different ways to collect.

Feel free to post your own Proof Franklins. Below are two favorites from my collection

SanctionII

I collect in this area, including all of the denominations minted from 1950 - 1970 (do not forget the SMS coinage). It has been a fun, niche area, to collect in.

Other forumites also collect in this area and have added their collections to the Set Registry. Take a look at the Registry Sets of Cameonut and Modcrewman to see photographs of very high quality, eye appealing examples of these coins.

Your Franklins are very nice coins.

mcarney1173

@SanctionII said:
I collect in this area, including all of the denominations minted from 1950 - 1970 (do not forget the SMS coinage). It has been a fun, niche area, to collect in.

Other forumites also collect in this area and have added their collections to the Set Registry. Take a look at the Registry Sets of Cameonut and Modcrewman to see photographs of very high quality, eye appealing examples of these coins.

Your Franklins are very nice coins.

Agreed. Cameonut was actually one of the first members I discussed 1950-70 proofs with and he recommended the Tomaska book. His registry sets are amazing and something to aspire to. My initial goal in this area was a proof franklin set in 67CAM. Since then I added a couple DCAMs and now only need the 50-52 & 59 franklins.

ShaunBC5

I love this series. No CAMs in my collection, yet, but I completed my Proof Frank set in the last month.
This one was the final piece.

Here they all are together

Stella

Thank you for the statistics.

1950 to 1964 cameo coins are a great collecting area, especially if you do not have a huge budget. This was one of my first interests in coins, including searching through Proof Sets at shows to (hopefully) find a coin with contrast.

Nice Cameo Franklins of the early 1950s are tough to find, and a set of each date looks wonderful together!

mcarney1173

@ShaunBC5 said:
I love this series. No CAMs in my collection, yet, but I completed my Proof Frank set in the last month.
This one was the final piece.

Here they all are together

Nice set. I remember seeing you post that somewhere else on the forum. Your 55 and 56 look pretty close to cameo.

airplanenut

Interesting post. There's a charming simplicity with the Franklin half, a combination (I think) of its low relief, and basic design, but with very well-known design elements. With that, it's one of those coins that can either look really good or really bad. I haven't handled a lot of them, but it seems to me that from no contrast to DCAMs, you can find both nice and ugly examples, usually with just a bit of haze or milk spotting.

That said, I've been keeping my eye out for a nice DCAM--the attractive ones are really, really appealing. It's a tough coin to buy online, though, since contrast can be amped up and haze reduced in a photo, even if not on purpose. As with many other purchases, there's no rush. I'll get one when I find the right one. But in the meantime, come on... let's see some frost!

SkyMan

I Love cameo proof Franklins. I think they're a Great looking coin. That 1953 of yours is QUITE attractive!

I got all of mine in the 1988 - 2008 timeframe, and haven't upgraded since then, as I haven't seen an upgrade that is worthwhile for the cost. In other words, the price/performance isn't worth it. Needless to say, I've also seen gradeflation turn what was yesterdays PR68DCAM into todays PR69DCAM.

Here's a link to my set. When I completed it, it was ranked #22, but, as mentioned, with gradeflation it's now ranked # 39. To give you an idea of the underlying quality of the set, two of the pieces, 1950 and 1959, are the examples shown in Tomaska's 1950 - 1970 cameo book. Specifically they are plates 3 and 46 respectively.

https://ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/8601/

Have fun collecting cameo proof Franklins!!!

SanctionII

I read the same book in 1998 and it helped me get started collecting in this area.

Very informative.

ShaunBC5

@SkyMan that’s an incredible collection. Really something to be proud of. I’ve got a lot of gradeflation-aided upgrading to do in order to ever come close.

chesterb

I agree that these are attractive coins with a simple design. Here is my only proof Franklin courtesy of my friends at CRO.

TomB

I only own two proof Franklins at the moment and one is a white DCAM while the other is a fairly colorful non-CAM coin. Here is the white DCAM-

TomB

Here is the more colorful of the pair-

winesteven

Will @ricko like this?
https://caimages.collectors.com/coinimages/42396/80595249/360043-1[1].jpg
https://caimages.collectors.com/coinimages/42396/80595249/360043-2[1].jpg

ricko

@winesteven .... Definitely gets the BW sticker.... Cheers, RickO

Jimnight

Nice!

mothra454

Great topic @mcarney1173! And speaking of Tomaska...

bsshog40

My birth year is 1959. I tried to put together a PF67 Cam set. Got everything except my Frankie which I had to settle for PF67. The Cam is just too expensive. Guess it's a tough year for those also.

BillJones

I like these coins, but I have never made the financial commitment beyond collecting all of the Proof sets and buying one Cameo piece for my type set. This 1950 Proof set is well above average.

And my one Cameo.

SanctionII

I never get tired of looking at BillJones' 1950 proof set.

I suspect that looking at it in hand would be quite a treat.

badger

Had this 1963 in my Silver Proof collection but sold it a while back. I really enjoyed the Franklin proof series. Risk is from developing milk spots that kill the coin's value.

ElmerFusterpuck

It's a fun area to get into. I have a nice cameo 1962 Franklin graded PF-67. The true black and white deep cameos are truly rare; I've seen my share of underwhelming graded DCAMs. These are coins that should be viewed in person if possible.