Kennedy Half wide rim

JoeLewis

I was looking through my dad's Kennedy Half collection and noticed that for some reason in 1971 (maybe just 1971-D) the coins had a wider rim than normal rim. I really like the look of that.

Does anyone know why this happened?

It's a small change but it made for a more appealing coin (IMHO.)

koynekwest

I don't know why they are like this, but I agree-it's a nice effect.

FredWeinberg

It's probably a minor mis-aligned obv. die,
which would give a portion of the rim a
wider area than normal.

JoeLewis

<< <i>It's probably a minor mis-aligned obv. die,
which would give a portion of the rim a
wider area than normal. >>



Actually, the entire rim is wider. I haven't seen thousands of 1971 halves, but I've seen enough to know that at least a large portion of them were struck this way.

Texast

The half dollars for 1971 were the first to be coined in copper-nickel clad composition. The harder alloy required some modification to the half dollar, the most obvious being a reduction in the overall size of Kennedy's portrait, they also displayed much broader boarders.

cladking

The '71 is one of the most attractive clad Kennedy designs. It's a shame
they are mostly so poorly executed. The Denvers tend to be a little nicer
but their rims aren't quite as pronounced.

SUMORADA

I also like the look of the wide rim.............

cmerlo1

Lincoln cents from the 1969-1973 period have wider rims as well...maybe the mint was experimenting. I think the coins look better that way.

JoeLewis

Also, the surfaces on the 1971 half dollars (circulation strike only) look somehow different than the later years. There seems to be a quasi-matte finish look to them. That's not a very good description, but if you really look at one you'll know what I mean.