underweight 69 Kennedy Half 9.36g/9.39g

[JohnM2]

I have found a 1969 D Kennedy Half, with a weight is 9.36 g on most scales, but has been as high as 9.39 on another. I see no copper or indication of a clad layer. In fact, it appears to be a Silver Planchet. I took it to a couple of local coin guys, both believe it to be an error, but can't explain the why and wherefore of the error. Not sure if this is a wrong Metal strike, Wrong Planchet, a Foreign coin planchet, or some other Planchet issue. Coin diameter is 30.6mm and the Thickness is about 1.92mm. The strike looks strong on both sides, so not sure if Thin Planchet has any bearing. Any suggestion or ideas on how to go about follow up steps and attribution, would be greatly appreciated.

[Kloccwork419]

Maybe a rolled thin planchet or a foreign planchet. Nobody will know with just pictures. Probably have to send it in. 69D was a silver clad, there wouldnt be copper on the edge. The weight is definitely way under the tolerance. My guess would be a rolled thin planchet

[MintErrors]

I may be able to help. Let me make this short and blunt as I can, I am under a Nor' Easter and I need to get to bed and some sleep before it gets crazy around here.

1. The obverse and reverse look complete. It does not look like it is missing anything. The reeding appears to be intact as well, meaning that the metal expanded out far enough to fill the collar. That means the planchet size was probably pretty close.

2. Do you know the general thickness of the coin? Never mind I see you posted it....

3. Does the 1969 Kennedy pass the silver ring test? Does it sound like it is silver? If not, it could be nickel or other metal.


As Kloccwork419 mentioned, the late 1960's and somewhat into the 1970's there was a rash of struck on wrong thickness planchets. The problem with that is, you say there is no clad layer seen.

It's highly probable that it is simply a struck on a nickel, dime, or quarter thickness stock. All that means is, they used the wrong thickness for the Kennedy. The diameter of the planchet is right since they punched out the right size, only the thickness of the planchet is lacking. But the burning question is, why no clad is seen? IF that planchet can be measured for thickness, it would help. Then it can be compared to the standard planchet thickess for 5c ,10c and 25c .


I will share a spreadsheet with you that lists most if not all foreign coins struck by the US Mint. We will have to concentrate on 1969 but there might be a very slim possibility that the planchet could be extremely late 1968 or very early 1970.

Check this spreadsheet out. You're going to have to go by each country and copy out all the 1969 coins that may be of the same diameter and weight. The composition should be anything that is silver looking in appearance, like Nickel, Silver or other similar composition....Since the Kennedy has a "D" mintmark, it may require that the foreign coin should have been minted in Denver. SOME of the entries identify which mints made the foreign coins.

https://minterrornews.com/foreign_co...on_figures.pdf

I used this spreadsheet to attribute a Proof 1976 Bi-Centennial Kennedy half that was probably struck on a Philippines 1 Piso planchet.
I also used the above chart to successfully match two 1945 Lincoln Cents struck on Ethiopian planchets.

I will let you do some of the research. I will grab some shut eye and see if I can assist in the morning.

[MintErrors]

I went thru the spreadsheet rather quickly and I did not see any great matches on year/weight/diameter.

The thickness of the coin may give a really good clue. Check out this page:
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-an...specifications

So, if you know the thickness is 1.92mm
A normal Kennedy thickness is 2.15mm

A Nickel thickness is.....1.95mm

So it is very well may be struck on the wrong thickness stock. They probably picked up a nickel strip, punched out Kennedy Half Dollar size planchets with it. Those planchets got minted and the rest is history.

[JohnM2]

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the input. Its a little late tonight, but I'll take a look at those links tomorrow. I honestly appreciate you reaching out. Even if this turns out to only be a thin stock, small error, the possibility of it being wrong stock is worth investigating. I'll reach out to a CONECA rep tomorrow. FYI; I did learn that the US was minting coins for Israel around 1969, but the largest coin I could find in that series was only 26mm in Diameter. Learning and Knowing where to go to find all this information is what makes this difficult, but great fun too.
Again, many thanks for the help.

John