Half Dollar 1976S

[Andrey5]

How could one distinguish between the copper-nickel clad copper and .400 silver Half Dollar coins 1976S ?

Mine looks silver in color, does not have copper showing on rim.

Should there be any differences in weight and diameter?

[Trantor_3]

You already mentioned the copperring at the edge, that can be used to distinguish them.

 

The diameters should be exactly the same

 

There is a weight difference, but it's small:

11.50 gram for the silver clad

11.34 gram for the copper-nickel clad

 

 

They sound different if you "drop" them on e.g. a table. Silver has a much nicer ring.

[Andrey5]

Thanks for the information. It might be difficult to distigwish this slight weight difference. My balance allows for 0,1 gram error.

I noticed that Krause SCWC lists the copper-nickel clad 1976S Half as issued only in Proof. If this is the case, then mine is silver, since it is not Proof.

[Vfox]

You can get rolls of the 76-P/D at the bank even today around here, but the S, was proof only I thought...silver and clad.

[Dockwalliper]

'76S Clad were proof only. The Silver was both Unc. and proof.

[Andrey5]

Thanks for your answers. Now I'm sure that the 1976S UNC Half Dollar I was asking about is silver.

Next comes the interesting part: Krause SCWC says that it should weight 11.5 g, the same as e.g. 1968S Half Dollar. My balance says that my UNC 1968S Half weights 11.5 g as in the book, but four silver UNC 1976S Halves (KM#205a) in my posession weight 11.4 g, 11.5 g, 11.6 g and 11.9 g

I would say right away that all four coins are struck and have nice "silver" sound. They don't look fake to me and I'm not new to numismatics. I also don't expect such a common and cheap coin to be counterfeighted. My request to those who has 1976S silver Half Dollars is to weight their coins and see if they can confirm such a significant weight fluctuation. Do you know of any restrike of this coin?

 

Andrey