There are millions of halves out in circulation however, they hardly are used on a regular basis. I am 30 years old so I have been around long enough to where I figured I would have seen a decent amout of halves used for every day transactions at least in the past, but I have not. My question is do any of you or were any of you around at a time where halves or even dollars coins were used as often as our current denominations of coins?
The local hardware store gave me a Kennedy half in change about 3 weeks ago. Because I found that unusual I asked the cashier about it. He says he has been collecting them for years and he gets rolls at the bank. here is what I assume: 1. He uses the store name to easily obtain rolls. 2. He cashes in his rejects at his place of employment. 3. He makes sure he distributes them in change to customers so the cash register doesn't get overcrowded with halves.
My recollection may be off by a few years, but as I recall half dollars were in general circulation at least into the mid-late 1950s, and to some extent right up to 1964, when all US coinage except the cent and nickel was debased. I have a complete set of Walkers by date and mint, of which all but three were pulled from my own pocket change. My complete set of Franklins is entirely from pocket change. I quit actively collecting US coins in the mid-'60s so my Kennedy collection has many holes. On the other had, except as birthday gifts in the '30s/'40's, and when visiting Sin City, Nevada, I never saw dollar coins in general circulation. And Mr. roll searcher - quit picking on Doug. For Pete sake, he is barely old enough to qualify for senior discounts.
Sorry, I just felt the need for a little fun without getting myself into too much trouble. (I honestly have no idea how old he really is)
I try to keep my teller tray filled with them and give them to people in their change when they cash a check.
In my experience, half dollars circulation dwindled during the 60s, and in the very early 70s circulation dropped to (essentially) zero.
Yep. I believe it was the late 60's or early 70's they came out with the change dispensers at cash registers that did not dispense halves. I don't know, did vending machines stop taking them too?
The silver ones were hoarded. I worked in a grocery store at the time and when the dispensers came out, the halves became a nuisance.
Yes, after they took the silver out, the halves circulated till about 1966-1967, then they dried up. I find my half's now at the banks, and have ordered halves from my banks in the past. The banks now have changed supplies, and now I cannot order them. The last group, I found 1=90%, and 2=40% halves out of $300.00 worth. Now, I spend the non- silver ones when out shopping.
I agree. Half dollars circulated just like any other coin until the advent of the Kennedy half. When that happened, things changed. As a circulating coin the Kennedy was doomed from the get go, for several reasons. First of all it was a first year issue, many pulled the coins for that reason. Others pulled it because it was 90% silver, and they knew that was coming to an end.(this of course also put an end to Frankies and Walkers circulating) Still others pulled it as a tribute to the man, a remembrance. And because all of these people were pulling the coins from circulation, it began to be said that the coin was rare, hard to come by, and that was all it took for the general population to put away every one they ever saw. It's basically been that way ever since. Even today, put a Kennedy half into circulation and somebody will scoop it up and stash it away in less than a hour, if not immediately.
When I was a kid in the 60's, we would go to the States for our holidays. Halves were common enough that we always had a few in our change when we got home.
Which raises a couple of questions - When did Canadian halves stop circulating? Was that related to the 1968 debasement? (It obiously wasn't related to Kennedy!)
