Apr 04


Coin of the Month April 2010: United States of America George Washington Commemorative 1982 Half Dollar Silver Coin
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April's Coin of the month is a very interesting coin. The 1982 U.S. half dollar commemorative celebrates 250th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. The obverse features George Washington upon his horse while the reverse shows his home in Mt. Vernon. This coin is special as it marks the beginning of the era of "Modern Commemoratives" for U.S. coins. In fact, the Washington half dollar was the first non-circulating commemorative made by the U.S. mint since 1954. Made of 90% Silver, this coin has two varieties: A proof coin minted in San Francisco and an uncirculated coin minted at the Denver mint. Roughly 2.2 million coins were minted in Denver and another 4.9 million were minted in San Francisco. This coin is also the first coin made of 90% silver minted since the U.S. mint stopped putting silver in their circulating coinage in 1964. The actual silver weight is roughly .3618 troy ounces ($6.51 at today's silver value). I think this is an underrated coin. With over 7 million minted, this coin is second in abundant availability only to the 1986 Statue of Liberty commemoratives. Even so, this is the first commemorative of the modern era and it's a good looking coin. It's current value is not far from it's melt value which makes this coin a definite buy in my recommendation. |