50th Anniversary of the Kennedy Half Dollar in 2014

What makes you think the use would have lessened? As I said in 63 the half dollar was a commonly used everyday coin If the Franklin had continued they probably would have remained an everyday use coin. The reason the half dollar fell out of favor was because of its disappearance from circulation for seven years allowing for a change of habits. People weren't used to it, vending machines no longer accepted it (They did take them back in the 50's and early 60's) The silver changover would have hurt their circulation but I think the 90% and 40% silver Franklins being a familiar design, would have stayed in circulation better than the new Kennedy design that most people wanted to save as a momento of the fallen President. And then when the clad Franklin appeared people would have kept right on using it as the last of the 90 and 40% silver Franklins disappeared. No I think Kennedy (Combined with the loss of silver) was what killed the half dolar as a circulating coin.

 

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I don't think the Capped Bust would ever fly. Miss Liberty on the Capped Bust is not politically correct enough to be used again. I would prefer to either do away with the half dollar all together, or redo to make smaller than the golden dollars with a totally new designs on the coin. Trouble is then the dollar, half dollar, and quarter are all getting close in size to each other.

Kennedy could go down in history to be the first dead president taken off a coin that remained in production.

 

What about Ike? The dollar coin remained in production, although in a smaller size, and the reverse design of his coin survived the changeover but he didn't.

 

I knew that would come up. I just don't consider the SBA an Ike Dollar with a new obverse, not saying I'm right just my opinion.

 

I'm still somewhat skeptical of this argument. Surely inflation played a part in this, too. Kids used to be paid a half-dollar to cut a lawn or the like, but at some point it became a dollar, then dollar*S*, and etc.

 

EDIT: Geez, too slow!

How about price level changes? Back in '63, you could buy quite a few things for less than a dollar, thus a large .50 coin had a considerably greater place in everyday transactions. As prices of everything rose through the 70s, I'm fairly sure that even if the design hadn't changed, the coins would have fallen out of favor for a similar reason that they're not really all that popular today... they aren't convenient and they are really unnecessary and awkward. Their former appeal was likely due to their use as a similar denomination as $1.00 in today's commerce. You could give a kid a half spending money or run to the gas station and buy a pack of cigarettes (or a substantial quantity of gas!)... After the inflation of the 70s, tax increases, and the energy crises, the half was no longer appropriate for that.

The general public doesn't even look at coin designs so while I understand the argument that Kennedy's popularity caused some hoarding, they made A LOT of them in 1964 and to a lesser degree the years following... there should have been enough.

Just my $0.02...

 

As a collector of Kennedys I'd really like to see a special coin minted for 2014. With that being said I'm not sure how you would celebrate a 50 year anniversary of the Kennedy half dollar by putting something without Kennedy on the coin? I could see something akin to what they did with the Lincoln pennies this year but, in effect, saying to a design "Hey here's the celebration for ya big guy. You're out!". I just don't think that'll fly especially with such a popular president.

Now a 2015 change may happen but who knows.

 

And even $0.02 is worth less these days!

(Speaking of which -- is anybody else around here old enough to remember when the "cents" sign existed -- i.e., in the days of typewriters?)

For you young tykes:

 

i guess i'm old because i remember those.

 

Well, I worked in retail while I was in college and can tell you that I can't count the number of times I tried giving people Susie Bs, Sacs, JFKs etc. and they would all say something along the lines of "I don't want that, give me a bill or quarters." Also, there is no slot for anything bigger than a quarter in a cash register and any retail safe I have seen only has slots for rolls of the four common coins. Finally, the last time I can remember being able to buy something for 50 cents was two packs of juicy fruit in the early 1990s. Even if the Half Dollar still had Liberty Walking as it's design, it still would have fallen out of use. Just MHO.

 

I'm only 26 and just found myself looking for the cent sign on my keyboard while typing my last response. :goofer:

 

I really don't think the Kennedy design is what killed the half. The 40% thing definately hurt it's usage, as well as vending machines not accepting them. But the biggest things were size and inconvenience. Two quarters definately feel like less in your pocket, even though they weigh the same as a half.

 

I notice that, too . . . weird . . .

 

As someone who hates the Roosevelt Dime and loves the Jefferson Nickel, I am going to start the downfall of the dime. Every time I get a dime from a cashier, I am going to say "I don't want that, give me two nickels." Thanks for the inspiration.

 

Let me see...

Well 2026 is the 250th anniversary of our country... even though it is 16 years away...

 

You have cause and effect reversed. The vending machines no longer take them because they stopped circulating. Back in the 50's and early 60's the machines DID take them. But once they stopped circulating due to hoarding the machines were changed over and no longer accepted them. Not machines wouldn't take them so they fell out of favor.

 

Wow -- I didn't realize vending machines took them way back when (I honestly don't remember).

FWIW, I did find the following on answers.com:

And a suggestion on a blog: imagine had the state quarters thingy be done on halves . . .

But, frankly, I don't see a use for halves. There _is_ a use for coin-dollars however -- particularly given how cheap they are in the long run compared to paper dollars.

 

I never seen a vending machine that would take a Half Dollar

 

I would love to see the half dollar circulate again. If a new design is what it takes, I would be in favor of it. But, unfortunately I think it's a hopeless cause. I have personally trying to circulate dollar coins and half dollar coins for years now. My belief is that the dollars end up back in the bank vault, and the halves get hoarded. We all need to sign an oath to circulate these denominations. I'm only one guy; we need thousands of us all over the country to kick this experiment in high gear!!!