Ceylon 1965 50 cents
This specimen was lot 72266 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, June 2020), where it sold for $240. The catalog description[1] noted, "CEYLON. 50 Cents, 1965. Kings Norton Mint. PCGS SPECIMEN-66 Gold Shield. The second year in a brief four year series, this lustrous Gem is tied with just one other specimen for the finest graded in the PCGS census. Provenance: Ex: Kings Norton Mint Collection." This type was struck 1963, 1965, 1969 and 1971 and all dates are common. This example would be worthless were it not from the King's Norton Mint collection of specimens. In 1972, Ceylon dropped its membership in the British Commonwealth and changed its name to Sri Lanka, which name is still in use.
Recorded mintage: 7,000,000.
Specification: 5.51 g, copper-nickel, 21.5 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM 132.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The June 2020 Collector's Choice sale: World and Ancient Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.
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