Set Description
This is my "Love". Full Bell Line Franklin's. Thanks to Rick Tomaska for the know-how and Teletrade, Ebay and Heritage for most of the coins.<br /><br /> The Franklin half is a very under-rated and un-appreciated series for the most part. Populations of gems are low, more so if coupled with "Full Bell Line" status.<br /><br /> The Walking Liberty Half for many years was my favorite silver series but these FBL Franklin's have become an "obsession". They have replaced my "former" true love, the Walking Liberty Half Dollar by taking up the majority of my "study time. Hardly a day will pass without some research and reading done on the different dates and their strike among other details.<br /><br /> There are very few coins of any date in this series that are found "north" of "66". Throw in full bell lines and total populations from all grading services is at times, a single coin. I do not know of a single coin series of the twentieth century that has upper mint state populations so low. The only exception may be the Barber coins.<br /><br /> My goal here is to complete a set in mint state 65-66 "with" full bell lines. There is only one coin that may not be within my reach in that grade and as most of you know, it is the 1953-S with fully defined bell lines. Most collectors opt for a nice MS-66 without the FBL designation.<br /><br /> Of the nicer Franklin coins in collections today, most of the colorful gems have come from mint sets, while the "brite white" gems are from "original" bank rolls put back many years ago. For the most part, toned coins vastly outnumber "Brilliant" examples by a wide margin. And of the toned coins, the "Peter Max" color examples are few and far between. By a "long shot" the color coins and those with "Brite White" surfaces rate very high on Franklin collector "want lists".<br /><br /> NGC is the "more strict" of the "big two" when it comes to FBL designation. If I could wave a magic wand I would prefer to have the entire set graded by NGC. Having said that, many that I have here, are in PCGS holders. As of this update, 9/6/2010 I am missing two coins. The 1952-S and the 1962-P. Of the 33 I have, #20 are the "highly coveted" NGC slabbed examples and #13 are housed in the very respectable slabs of PCGS.<br /><br /> I still lack several dates as of this update (9/7/2009) and I am needing upgrades on several dates to 65 & 66 FBL from the MS 64's that presently reside in those slots. About a week ago I saw an MS-65 1953-S FBL on Teletrade Auctions that sold for $22,500 plus buyers fees. This is a date with a "price tag" that will keep me from obtaining an example with Full Bell Lines. A nice "Brilliant" 66 is a substitute I have at present in the 53-S slot and that will have to do until my "proverbial ship comes in".<br /><br /> I will say that this has been a set which has been a lot of fun obtaining and one that is still far from completion. It is a group of coins that define the essence of United States silver half collecting & one that I never plan to part with. Thank you for looking.
