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HomeAuctionsProof 69 DCAM Accented Hair 1964 Kennedy Half Offered by GreatCollections

Proof 69 DCAM Accented Hair 1964 Kennedy Half Offered by GreatCollections

Proof 69 DCAM Accented Hair 1969 Kennedy Half Offered by GreatCollections

Greatcollections.com is offering collectors a fantastic opportunity to bid on a very rare Kennedy Half dollar variety. Graded as PR 69 DCAM, this 1964 Accented Hair type is an extreme conditional rarity. With only six other examples receiving the same grade, and none higher, pieces in this nice of a condition hardly ever come to auction. Collectors interested in creating a modern US Proof silver registry set will know what an important opportunity this coin presents. Already attracting spirited bidding, this lot closes on Sunday, December 4, 2022, at 6:16:55 PM Pacific Time (9:16:55 PM Eastern).

At the time of publication, and with six days remaining, the highest of 63 bids stands at $17,000 USD.

As the first Proof type struck in this series, the 1964 Accented Hair variety only represents an estimated 2% of the total issuance of 3,950,762 1964 Proof Kennedy halves. Compounding this rarity, it is thought that between 30% and 50% were melted down between 1979 and 1980. This means that at most, there are 23,700 to 39,500 surviving examples. The majority of the certified population are standard Proof coins, and only a very few select pieces (450 coins) are considered to be DCAM.

Due to poorly prepared dies, especially when compared to the later Type II 1964 Proofs, the Accented Hair type often suffers from hair lines and milk spots. This has actually led the third-party grading services to label many examples as suffering from “environmental damage”.

While only seven of these 450 coins have earned the PR 69 DCAM grade, the population has increased recently. In fact, when Rick Tomaska wrote the 2018 edition of his Whitman Franklin & Kennedy Half Dollar Guidebook, only one example was known. It should be noted that this population increase may reflect a number of resubmissions.

One grade lower, in PR 68 DCAM, collectors can expect one or two examples to come to auction per year. But in PR 69, there are very few public auction records. One example sold in January 2008 for $2,760. Tomaska notes however that he sold an example in the 1990s for upwards of $10,000. Recently, a PR 68 DCAM example sold for $14,400 in June 2020. This coin, however, featured some minor hair lines extending from Kennedy’s Adam’s apple down to the left of the “9”. If not for this, it is possible that the “nearly flawless” coin could have been graded as a PR 69 DCAM.

This particular example is simply jaw-droppingly crisp. There are absolutely no marks to distract from the thick frosting on the Kennedy portrait and reverse devices. Deeply mirrored fields provide a pleasing contrast, setting off a presidential bust nicely. As the absolute top quality of a highly desirable variety, this coin is bound to attract even more interest.

Design

While the obverse design of the Accented Hair variety is mostly the same as the standard issue, there are some key differences. The most obvious diagnostic of the Accented Hair design is the heavy hair stranding over Kennedy’s ear on the center of the obverse. However, another way to attribute this variety is to look for a missing detail in the lettering of “LIBERTY”. The letter “I” of “LIBERTY” on the Accented Hair coin will be missing the majority of the lower-left serif, which appears in full on other iterations of the Kennedy Half Dollar. Also absent is the horizontal serif of the letter “G” from designer Frank Gasparro’s “FG” initials seen on the reverse. Additionally, the reverse eagle’s shield will often display a degree of pitting and have rounded edges. Non-accented hair 1964 Halves will not have these particular die issues.

These coins that display a stronger and more detailed hairline are believed to have been the first coins struck. Shortly after production began, Jacqueline Kennedy asked the Mint to soften the hairlines.

The edge of the 1964 Accented Hair Kennedy half dollar is reeded.

Bidding for the set ends on Sunday, December 4, 2022, at 6:16 PM Pacific Time (9:16 PM Eastern).

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To search through GreatCollection’s archive of over 600,000 certified coins the company has sold over the past eight years, please visit the GreatCollections Auction Archives.

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