A question on designations

morganbarber

Let's say that I went to the Philadelphia mint today and picked up a hundred Jeffersons right off the press. Approximately how many of the hundred would be FS? Let's also assume that I could go back in time and do the same thing. How many mercs out of a hundred would be FSB? How many type I SLQs would be FH? How many 1948-D Franklins would be FBL? I know that this is impossible to answer exactly, but I would love an approximation of the rarety of the designations, assuming I had access to numerous pristine coins.

Gilbert

I think they all would be dependent on when in the process you took them off the "press". If you were fortunate enough to get first die, first hundred I would expect all to meet the designation criteria.

As far as 1948 Franklins go, if you are collecting mint state and gem in particulare (MS65) you should expect FBLs and if it isn't, then you should find another coin.

Generally, the first year of issue and thus first series of dies are going to produce the most detailed coins, unless the design is somewhat defective as far as coining goes. (1921 HR Peace comes to mind)

morganbarber

I guess you are probably right. If I got the first hundred struck off of a brand new die, they should pretty much all make the designations. If I got the last hundred none would.

oldcameoproofsguy

For the Franklin series the Denver mint had the best strike overall and one would tend to find more FBL coins from Denver. San Fransisco coins are the worst struck and are usually alot more difficult to find in FBL. Philadelphia is somewhere in between.

After the dies were reworked in 1960, the mint seemed to forget to rework the detail on the liberty bell, therefore it is in general tough to find FBL coins from 1960 to 1963 for both Denver and Philadelphia coins, even for very well struck coins.

The best reference is The Complete Guide to Franklin Half Dollars by Rick Tomaska.

My Barbers

Dog97

Gilbert & Morganbarber are on the right track but other variables beside length of time of dies in service affect the designations. For example, striking pressure, tolerances of planchets, oil or debris filled dies, & metalic content of planchets also affect the coins.
I would guess that 25/100 older coins would be gem strike as compared with 75/100 of the modern coins being gem.