Posted 3 years ago
kristin
(14 items)
Of the coin collection that my dad had, this was the oldest Ben Franklin half dollar I could find (1951). Never even knowing this design existed, I was fascinated with this coin.
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Fashion
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Vintage Guru Reveals Her Glamour Secrets
V
intage can be intimidating. It's certainly not as simple as going to the mall, finding your size, and buying a mass-produced outfit. You have to dig through racks and racks of wildly diverse items, with mysterious sizing, looking for…
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The Killer Mobile Device for Victorian Women
Adrift in a sea of digital apps for every imaginable function, we often feel our needs are met better today than in any previous era. But consider the chatelaine, a device popularized in the 18th century that attached to the waist of a wo…
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Design
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Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
The meerschaum pipes carved in Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th century are among the most bizarre and improbable concoctions in decorative art. Some feature …
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The Beautiful Chaos of Improvisational Quilts
What would jazz look like if it had a physical presence? According to Sherry Ann Byrd, a celebrated quilt maker who posts on Show & Tell, it might look something like the hand-made "M-provisational" q…
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Machines
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Our Dad, the Water Witch of Wyoming
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of …
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This 1959 Goggomobil Is Insanely Cute and Gets 55 MPG. Why Can’t Detroit Do That?
The last time we spoke to Justin Pinchot, he took us on a guided tour of his collection of toy robots. Recently, J…
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Culture
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California Cool: How the Wetsuit Became the Surfer's Second Skin
When Bob Meistrell started surfing in Northern California during the early 1950s, 20 minutes was about all he could stand in the frigid coastal waters. Despite the constant rush of …
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The Unfiltered History of Rolling Papers, Plus Tommy Chong's Big Fat Jamaican Vacation
It’s kind of ironic that Tommy Chong, the smokiest half of Cheech and Chong, i…
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Collectibles
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World's Smallest Museum Finds the Wonder in Everyday Objects
Tucked away in a lower Manhattan back alley, the freight-elevator-sized, generically named Museum is one of New York City's newest curiosities.…
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Fightin’ Femmes: Unmasking Female Superheroes with Author Mike Madrid
When I was growing up in the ’60s and ’70s, reading comics wasn't as popular as it had been in the ’40s or ’50s. But my older sister had comics, including a big collection of “Betty and Veronica.” Our parents encouraged us to read everything, so at 6 years old…
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Franklin Half DollarsThe Franklin half dollar was struck from 1948 until 1963 and was designed b…
You know, the Franklin half dollar was not a very popular coin. A lot of people thought it was ugly. I actually like it.
I like it a lot too. I always thought Ben Franklin looked so happy-hearted so it made me smile looking at this.
This is my favorite coin series in silver. In fact my Franklin set #1 won the award for "Best Presented Set" at the NGC Collectors Society for the 2010 year that just ended. Along with that, I won the "Journal Author" of the year award for this same past year, having won the same award for 2008 also. Not wanting to "toot my own horn" but just wanting to share my knowledge of the hobby I truly love and for this particular coin series in general. Google that site (NGC Collectors Society) if you get the chance. It's a great place for someone like yourself just starting out. My user name there is WKF which is my initials and would be what you would look for in case you wanted to check out some of my some 4-500 "graded coins" or if you wanted to read some of my work. Again congrats on your start into "Numismatics" and good luck to you and yours in all that you set out to do. Real quickly, most past years and every year since 1950 the U S mint has minted coins with what is known as a "business strike" finish and also minted the same coins with a "Proof" finish. (the proofs are much shinier and most have "frosted" devices and "mirrored" background fields. The former were minted for general circulation and the latter mainly for collectors. The Franklin half I will post today is a gorgeous example of a "proof strike" from the year 1956. All Franklin halves were minted starting in 1948 through 1963 when the Kennedy half took over. The proofs however were only struck starting in 1950 and for the Franklin, ended in 1963. Sorry for the rambling. So much to say but only so much room before "data overload". regards, Kerry