Does anyone know why the 1968 mint set contains three lincoln cents but only one Kennedy half dollar? My understanding is that those sets are supposed to contain one of each type of coin from Philadelphia and Denver for each year.
In 1968 all three mints made cents for circulation and each appears in the set. Philadelphia didn't produce any half dollars from 1966 to 1971. Any half dollars made in Philly in 1965 would have been the 1964 date but I'm not sure they made any this late.
In 1965,66 and 67 Halves were made only in Philadelphia. No Proofs were minted in 65,66,67. They did make a Special Mint sets 65,66,67 (page 328 red book) Philly did not make halves in 1968,69,70 so no philly Half in the mint set for those years Philly did mint halves in 1971
I may be mistaken but I believe all the half dollars with the 1965, '66, and '67 date were minted in Denver and San Francisco. If memory serves San Francisco produced primarily coins for the Special Mint Sets and Denver made most of the coins for circulation. None of these coins had mintmarks because the coinage act of 1965 removed mint marks from the nation's coinage. They were restored in 1968 when mint and proof sets were resumed. The proofs were made in San Francisco with the S mark and the circulation issues were made in Denver with the D mark.
Interestingly enough, 1968 was the first year since 1964 that mintmarks were placed back on coins. Coin collectors collecting by mintmark were blamed for the coin shortage in the mid 1960s and Congress temporarily removed the requirement for mintmarks from branch mints.
