In 1964, following President Kennedy’s assassination, the Franklin half dollar was replaced by Kennedy half dollars, designed by Gilroy Roberts and Frank Gasparro.  That first year, the Kennedy silver half dollar was struck as 90% total silver.  In 1965, that changed to silver-clad.

This obviously makes the Kennedy silver half dollar one of the most valuable and sought-after collectibles in this coin type.  Another is the infamous 1976 bicentennial with the eagle on the back of the coin being replaced by Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.  This included the highly-desired 40% silver proof coin fo that year.

In 1992, the U.S. Mint produced silver proof Kennedy silver half dollar sets in the original 90% silver composition.  These also became very collectible, though not as valuable as the 1964 silvers.  For the beginner, however, these are the easiest to find and will retain their value largely because of that heavy silver content.  These silver proofs see limited production even now.

By far the most common and most-collected of the Kennedy half dollars are the circulated non-silver versions produced as circulation coins in the 1971 to present versions.  These are nickel-clad and have no silver content.  Most collectors of these coins will attempt to build a collection of 1971 to present in series and in the best condition possible.

Silver clad coins from 1965-1970 mintings are also common collectibles, as are the silver-clad proofs of 1975-76.  These have a modicum of silver, mostly in the outer cladding, but are not called Kennedy silver half dollars by most collectors as that refers to the full-silver coins of 1964 and and newer proof sets.

Kennedy half dollars are remarkably popular, easily available, and very commonly collected in the United States and even abroad.  Most coin collectors that are new to the hobby, or for sentimental reasons, will have a Kennedy fifty cent piece collection.

How about you?

I read on the CoinTalk forum all the time about coin collectors that like to search coin rolls for silver coins.  Some like to search through half dollar rolls looking for silver Kennedy half dollars, or through dime and quarter rolls looking for silver roosevelt dimes and and silver Washington quarters.  I am not sure that I have the patience for that, but it is a pretty cool hobby for those who love the thrill of the hunt.

Some might wonder why I stressed the number of silver coins in circulation in 1965.  The reaons that 1965 is significant is that is the year the United States Mint switched from silver US coins to clad US coins.

I guess we will never know for sure how many silver coins are still in circulation.  But, it sure would be interesting to know.

2008 Kennedy Half Dollar

Today I read an article from the Mint News Blog titled 2008 US Mint Sleeper Hits.  In that article it is stated that there were only 1.7 million 2008-P Kennedy half dollars and 1.7 million 2008-D Kennedy half dollars minted in 2008.  If these low mintage numbers remained low in December, the 2008 Kennedy half dollars could be the lowest number of minted Kennedy halves since the series began in 1964.

In 1964, the Philadelphia Mint produces 277,254,766 Kennedy half dollars.  The highest mintage year was 1971 when the Denver Mint produced 302,097,424.  However, in recent years Kennedy half dollar mintage numbers have been very low.  In this decade, the US mint has averaged about 2.8 million  half dollars per branch mint per year.

Will the 2008 Kennedy Half Dollars be key date coins for the series?  If you go by mintage numbers, it is hard to imagine that it won’t be.  In fact, every year since 2000 will be key date coins for the Kennedy Half Dollar series.

Will you be buying some 2008 Kennedy half rolls?