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think of! Let''s take a brief half dollar coins look at these dollar five areas, and how cameo''s rate in relation to other u.s. coinage. there are few coins in numismatics as attractive as a cameo proof. while some may disagree with this statement, there is no disputing the opinions of literally thousands of collectors and dealers already familiar with this coinage. proof coins themselves are minted specifically for collectors. as such, they have always represented the state-of-the-art in minting techniques. the mint has always gone to considerable trouble to produce these coins. proof dies are highly polished and buffed until the surfaces possess a mirror-like perfection. planchets half dollar coins go through extra steps in their preparation, until they too possess a brighter, satiny appearance. traditionally, proof planchets have been hand-fed into the die, and dollar have always been double struck, under higher pressures than business strikes, to bring out every possible detail. once struck, the coins are handled individually so as not to abrade with other coins, as business strikes normally would. cameo proofs were the very earliest strikes off new proof dies. half dollar coins during certain periods in the history of the mint, part of the die preparation process packaging used for these earlier coins, it almost seems a miracle that any high quality cameos from the 1950 to 1970 era exist at all! the finest cameos, being early strikes off proof dies, are quite simply "the best of the best", for they are not only struck from proof dies, the finest possible dies, but are struck from those dollar dies when they are in their most pristine, unworn state! there could not be a more striking difference between one of these first cameo strikes, and between a coin struck much later off the die - a brilliant proof. if one did not know better, one would think that the two coins were struck from two completely different dies! in a sense, they were. more correctly, half they were both struck from the same die, but one coin was struck before that die had experienced the wearing effect of 100''s of tons of pressure of metal on metal, and one coin was struck after that die dollar had experienced those wearing effects. the opportunity of owning scarce, attractive coins that also are the ultimate in quality for their era has a very half special appeal to collectors. it also gives these coins tremendous "upside" potential, as it very hard dollar to pay too much for coins that offer the collector the
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