Several years ago I went all over the region visiting
banks and loading up on Kennedy halves. I saved
a lot of them that were BU and put them away for
safe keeping.
Last night I went thru a couple of boxes of halves
that were dated 15-20 years ago and couldn't find any
wear on them when I looked under a high powered
lamp.
I know I must be wrong about them being
uncirculated because you don't find old coins in
great shape 20 years later. Or do you? Maybe
what I have are coins stuck on worn dies or
softly struck. Maybe THAT is the reason why I
can't see the definition in the presidents' hair.
I flip over the coin and find that the shield on
the presidential seal isn't flat and square.
I've read that a way to detect wear on clad coins
is to tilt it toward the light and the wear will
reveal itself by being another tone of silver.
Beyond that, I don't know how to notice wear
on a AU-58 coin.
Sshhhhhh..nobody else does either. That's why so many coins that get
slabbed as AU-58 get cracked out and resubmitted, only to re-emerge as
MS-63.
James the Equivocator