If you were around back then, 1963, practically everyone remembers what they were doing when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas. What you may not know is the story behind the Kennedy half dollar, which will be celebrating its fiftieth year of circulation this year.
At the time of his death, there was a law that held that no coin designs could be changed within the first 25 years of its existence. Since the Franklin half dollar had only begun in 1948, which meant the law must be changed.
Today, we are used to the fact that Congress moves at the pace of a snail on almost every issue. Because of the popularity of the young president and his beautiful, style-setting wife, Congress approved a coin in only a breath-taking 38 days after his death!
There wasn’t time to start a new design from scratch. The obverse, or side with Kennedy’s profile, was designed earlier by Gilroy Roberts, the mint’s chief engraver, for the mint’s series of presidential medals. Frank Gasparro, another engraver, designed the reverse of the presidential medal. He pulled the presidential seal from the medal so that it would fit on the smaller coin.It was decided that Mrs. Kennedy and brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy would have final approval over the design of the coin. The only requested change came from Jackie; she felt there was too much emphasis on the lines in the hair. The hairline was modified. Some of these coins were minted, however, and are an interesting Kennedy half to collect. They are called the “accented hair” variety, found on 1964 proof coins. They bring a nice premium over the non-accented hair coins.
1964 was the last year that our “silver” coins were minted using the 90% silver composition. In 1965, all our silver coins were changed to our current (worthless!) clad composition that we still use today—with one exception: the Kennedy half. From 1965-1970, Kennedy halves are 40% silver. Today, a 1964 Kennedy has about $7.65 in silver, while the 40% coins have about $3.13 worth. If you have these put back, you might want to check them for these dates!
The Kennedy halves were wildly popular when they came out. In 1964 alone, over 433 million were minted. This was over 51 million more than all halves from the 15 years of the Franklin halves minted! They were saved and cherished, too. Probably you have older relatives that pulled these out of circulation as soon as they got them and still have them.
There has been some sentiment out there to commemorate the fiftieth year of their issue with a modified design. My understanding is that there are some special collector Kennedy halves in the works. One will be .999 silver and one will be about in gold. Of course, these will only be available to collectors and won’t be found in circulation.
Kennedy halves, while there are a bunch of them, are not too expensive to collect. Many of them can be collected from coins from the bank. Some dates were never issued for circulation. These coins will need to be plucked from mint sets or bought from a dealer or on eBay. Because of the size of the set, there is some challenge to putting them together, but the reasonable price of the coins make it doable and enjoyable.
And, don’t forget—coin collecting is a fascinating (and sometimes profitable) hobby. Learn more about it at one of our meetings. Visit the Brown County Coin Club on the second Tuesday of each month, at 6:30 pm, at Principally Coins and Metal Detectors, at 3002 Early Blvd, in Early. Meetings provide a great opportunity to learn all about coin collecting. We hope to see you on March 11 for our next meeting. Call Bill Cooper at 325-642-2128 or Bob Turner at 325-217-4129 for more information.
