I recently in the past few years joined a coin club and I actually go sometimes to the meetings. Hey, who knew? Anyhow, this year I signed up to do an educational program and I am scheduled to give it this week. I just finished writing it up but haven't proofed everything. But I thought I would share the first part, which is just the books I chose to use to start to prep for it. Later on this week I expect I will add to the thread and show what I did for the main portion of this. I chose the Kennedy Half Dollar to talk about. _____________________________________ The Kennedy Half Dollar. Books: I have brought along five books I used to prep for this today. They can be looked at if you want, and I will explain what I see in these that are good. I have two specialty books for identifying valuable errors or varieties for the Kennedy Half Dollar. 1) Cherrypickers Guide, 5th Edition, Volume II. 2012. This guide has pictures and descriptions (along with prices of Varieties vs. ‘normal’ versions for MS/PF 63-67 coins) and covers several dates that have shown doubling, tripling, or `quadrupling on some dates, a variety for hair detail on the Kennedy device, repunched mintmarks, missing designers initials, inverted mintmarks, and changing mintmark in a year (as one is scarce). This guide, though in some respects outdated, is a good one as it shows pictures of the PUPs (Pick Up Points) for the various coins already identified as of the printing date and provides a good way to kinda organize in your mind what you might be looking for when you encounter a Kennedy Half if you are looking for a coin that for errors and varieties might be more valuable than the normal ones. 2) Treasure Hunting Franklin and Kennedy Half Dollar Doubled Dies, 1st Edition, 2003. This one is the older one and has a ton of pictures (it’s mostly pictures) of the coins pick up points, but also listing die markers to look for and the classification of the doubling, i.e., type of hub doubling, as explained at the beginning of the book . If you don’t already know, die markers are things like die scratches that are common to every single example of the variety or error in a coin. I like this book a lot for a lot of reasons but I myself have not used it as much as it could be for knowledge or learning about types of doubling, the minting process, etc. I have basically just used it for figuring out which dates to ‘hold back’ if I come across them and then refresh my knowledge as to which doubling to look for. Then there are basically three specialty books for grading or valuing a mint state coin. 1 ) NGC Grading Guide For Modern U.S. Coins, 1st edition, 2004. Just going to say this is not my favorite book to go to but it still gives me a bit of an idea of what a major grading service had in numbers of coins graded for the various mint states in modern coins. For reference, modern coins are coins that are dated 1965 or later, being outside of the silver coin era that was previously had for dimes, quarter, halves, and silver dollars. This book is extremely dated in that it was printed in 2004, so it is not super useful now, but it does show the coins and varieties that were recognized (at that point) by this service for grading. One thing it does do is to be able to focus a person’s eyes on the 2 to 3 mint states that are overwhelmingly (mostly) the grades that are common and easily found in their holders at that time. This I think is useful in that it can help determine if you might think a coin is worth getting graded (it might not be at all if it falls below the majority, and it might if it falls above) or not. As it is dated, it is just a way to do a quick initial survey. For example, for Kennedy Half Dollars, say I have a 1965 one that is quite nice looking and I know it is a mint state coin, If I honestly thought it might be a MS 64-65, I would like to perhaps determine if I would at some point want to have it graded by a TPG. I could just use this book to see that as of 2004ish, NGC had 2 graded as MS63, 8 as MS 64, 30 as MS65, 3 as MS66, 2 as MS67, and none higher. This tells me that in a historical moment, the majority deemed possibly grading were to attain a MS 65, and that some fell short. But that of the ones submitted back in the day, only 5 out of 45 got a MS 66 or MS 67 and that if I have one that I honestly think would not be higher than a MS65, it might be wiser to not get it slabbed, but that if it is a higher grade, I need to look a bit more as to current population of slabbed coins, both for PGCS and NGC to really determine if I should or not. This book also has a short description of the coin, highlighting basic information one should at least understand about the coin series. 3) ANA Grading Standards, 6th edition, 2006. Going to say this is a nice book overall. It is very useful as it gives pictures of coins in various mint states and the descriptors saying what to be looking for to have a coin make that grade. This one is not super useful for Kennedys in particular as it only has them on two pages, and the photos are not large or actually show a great example of a coin in a particular state. 4) Coin Worlds Making the Grade, 2008 I find this one for grading to be the most useful one I have seen yet. It is a bit awkward in fitting into a book section in that it is short and wide when you open it, but that is a great way to show what they do in an easy-to-use format. Many of the coins photographed to show various grades are either in black and white, but there are colored (violently so) to delineate the areas and importance of the high points for wear and/or for blemishes that affect appeal. Because of this, it is very easy to get to know where you should focus to look for wear. Because wear on the coin (and coin wear is metal removed through handling in circulation) starts on high points of a design. For the Kennedy Half Dollar, this coin has only one Obverse design in it’s history and only two reverses, as the bicentennial reverse showing Independence Hall made it’s showing in the singular 1975-1976 issue. And Kennedy halves in particular have very easily remembered high points. For the obverse, it is the cheek from the back of the eye down to the smile line, the front part-line of the hair, both going vertically above it and horizontally along it, and then a spot closer to the back of the head, still in the hair part, and lastly midway at the bottom line of the device bottom, just above the We in “We Trust”. For the regular eagle reverse, the high points are basically as easy to remember. There is a “1” that covers the eagles head, neck and upper portion of the shield, the middle bottom section of the tail feathers, and lastly, a small portion of the arrows in the eagles talons. These are the areas that will naturally, get the wear first, as they are the highest points in the design, and also for this coin, all are pretty easy to spot. As a note, this book does not show the Independence Hall reverse for high points and it is not really necessary as any of those can easily be graded for wear by the obverse only, though of course there might possibly be some time where you encounter one that is still in uncirculated condition on the obverse, but you do notice some wear on the reverse. Lastly, the book I really use more than any when I am looking at a series is my Mega Red 3rd Edition Red Book. This is huge and heavy, but at home I have no issues having this. It is filled with information and pictures that help me understand the coins I am looking for in here. The third edition was published in 2017 and this one also covers nickel 5-cent pieces from post-Civil War to now, so because I love nickels as well, this will always be in my library. There is no way I can succinctly say what is best about this book, but for basic info on the various years minted (of say Kennedy’s in particular, since this talk is about them), is just perfect. You get the mintage, some values of various mint states, occasional auction record info, population certified, etc., along with some really nice photos of error or variety details.
Have fun Kasia. I haven't ever joined a coin club. Maybe in my later years, Just don't have the time. By the way if I was to do one it would be on varieties and errors.
My LCC has two meetings a month and we usually have a presentation at the second meeting. We allocate about 15 minutes for the presentations since we have to also squeeze in club announcements, show-n-tells, auction, raffles and drawings. Also, more than 15 minutes strains peoples' attention span and face it, most of us are advanced in years and it's just hard to stay awake when the lights are low and someone is droning on about a topic we really don't care about. A LCC presentation will always interest some members and bore others, so it's important to keep it light, fast and with good graphics. The best presentations I've seen always had a "hook" that would interest even those with little or no interest in the topic. On that note, the easiest thing in the world is to pack too much information into a presentation and thus run long (been there-done that, to my chagrin). It's hard to winnow down the information. What can sometimes work well is to present your high points and significant digressions orally and offer your presentation with much more information in a paper handout. And, just like here at CT, if there's no picture it doesn't exist. Lots of photos of coins, large and in focus. Your presentation will be up on a projection screen with generally lousy focus and definition and usually the screen area is too small. Thus the only people that will see the image well are those right in front, if then. Also, projection systems tend to provide less than perfect brightness. So you might want to artificially brighten your images. A significant portion of your audience is old with less-than-perfect eyesight. Make the images absolutely fill the screen area. Pick a font that's easy to read at a distance and make it large. It's easy to try to get artsy with your fonts but if it's hard to read, you've lost a portion of your audience. Good luck and have fun with it.
Agree, many people just not super interested or have short attention spans or whatever. So must keep to 15 min or less. The requirement is about 15 minutes. Our club doesn't seem to use the projector, usually something is passed around, either coins or photos and people can take time to look if they want. I think for this one, picking the Kennedy and keeping things not so much on the intense side (like outlining the errors/varieties much, except I do plan on speaking on the accented hair one) I should be able to not bore someone too much. I also plan on doing another program sometime next year and will probably put together a notebook with photos for that one. Have no idea yet what topic I would like. Last one at the club had no photos and was just a talk about the Henning nickel and the one before that also basically had no photos and was about Boy Scout badges or something like that. I thought both were interesting. I think most people simply just sit and listen and if they are not interested, just be quiet to get through it. I did not know much about the Boy Scout things but I had read up on the Hennings previously so I kind of zoned out on that as it was an introductory type of thing being talked about. I am planning on taking a couple slabbed Kennedys I have (I only have two) as well as a 50th anniversary folder for uncirculated and some 90 and 40% silver ones from the 60s. Luckily for me, Kennedys just don't have a lot of differences between years, etc. if you don't focus too much on the doubled, etc. dies.
@Kasia, here are a couple of articles that I wrote about the Kennedy half dollar some years ago for my local club. Obviously you won't want to cover all of this historical stuff, but there might be some points here you can use. Part One November 22, 1963, “A day that will live in infamy.” For many Americans that phrase, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to describe the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, aptly applied to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the wake of that awful event, streets and boulevards were renamed, state and federal buildings were rededicated and even Cape Canaveral was briefly changed to Cape Kennedy. Of equal significance was a change in our nation’s coinage that would have a profound effect upon the half dollar as circulating coin. Plans for a new Kennedy coin were in the works only days after the assassination. By November 27 it had been determined that a Kennedy design would replace the Benjamin Franklin half dollar. Government officials considered changing the design of the quarter, half dollar or silver dollar, but the half dollar was chosen in part because Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy opposed displacing the Washington Quarter. The Franklin Half Dollar had been in production for only 16 years, which met that it took an act of Congress to change the design. According to the statutes coin designs could be changed by the order of the Treasury without congressional authorization after 25 years. Although Congress had not passed the required legislation, chief mint engraver, Gilroy Roberts, and assistant engraver, Frank Gasparro, set to work on the new coin. Roberts would design the obverse and Gasparro was assigned to do the reverse. Both men faced a formidable task. In the days before computer generated coin designs and program driven laser die production techniques, Roberts and Gasparro had to complete what had been several months’ work in four weeks. To streamline the project, they decided to use design elements from the 1961 Kennedy presidential medal. The bust of the president, without a coat and tie, appeared on the obverse and the presidential seal, which featured a heraldic eagle, dominated the reverse. By mid December Roberts and Gasparro had produced intermediate sized 5 inch models of the coin and trial strikes of the piece were produced shortly there after. Upon reviewing the designs, Mrs. Kennedy was favorably impressed, but she commented that part of the hair should have been less pronounced while other areas needed more accents. Roberts made the changes to the 5 inch model, but not before a few Proof coin dies had been created with the original design. About 3% of the 1964 Proof Kennedy half dollars display this original artwork which collectors call the “accented hair variety.” These unusual half dollars were the first to be struck when Proof coin production began on January 2, 1964. By the end January the Denver mint began to produce business strike Kennedy half dollars. The following week the Philadelphia mint was on line. The demand for new coins was brisk as many citizens wanted them as keepsakes. Despite the fact that both mints ran overtime to produce a record number of almost 430 million 1964 half dollars, the coins were almost never seen in circulation. The Philadelphia mint also produced a record number of almost 4 million Proof sets. Many of these sets went to non-collectors who in some instances cut out the half dollar and spent the other coins. One coin dealer I knew in Philadelphia told me he was finding Proof dimes and quarters in change. Demand for the 1964 Proof sets was strong. At one point the retail price reached $35.00 which was a very high price for a new Proof set at that time. Some dealers quietly warned their clients that the prices would come down, but demand remained strong for several months. As the year continued banks and businesses began to experience shortages of coins in circulation. These shortages extended beyond the new half dollars to dimes, quarters and even cents and nickels. Treasury officials were quick to blame coin collectors. At first they urged collectors to stop taking coins from circulation, and then they began to threatened sanctions against collectors and dealers. Nevada senator Alan Bible introduced a bill in Congress that would have seriously crippled the coin collecting hobby. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the measure never came up for a vote. The real culprits for the coin shortage were speculators who perceived that the price of silver was going to rise above $1.29 an ounce. At that level the melt value of every dime, quarter and half dollar would exceed its face value. The speculators’ prognostications about the price of silver would prove to be true, but it would be a few years before those predictions became reality. In response treasury officials initiated actions that they hoped would discourage coin collectors. The dates were frozen on all coins, and mint marks were dropped as well. The mint also suspended the production of Proof coins. In the mean time Congress passed legislation that would change the nation’s coinage forever. The Coinage Act of 1965 removed all of the silver from the dime and quarter and reduced silver content of the half dollar from 90% to 40%. The new silver clad half dollar had obverse and reverse layers that were composed of 80% silver and 20% copper that were bonded to core of 80% copper and 20% silver. This unusual alloy was a compromise to the congressional delegations from the mining states to maintain the traditional government presence in the silver market. By 1965 mint was still producing 90% silver coins dated 1964, and clad coins that bore the current year’s date. The anti-collector mood had eased a bit at the mint as the system began to produce the Special Mint Sets. The Special Mint Set coins were inferior to the coins in the old Proof sets, and contained only one silver coin. Yet the price was raised from $2.10 to $4.00. Despite that fact that these sets were struck at the recently reopened San Francisco mint, they did not have the familiar and popular “S” mint mark. By 1966 treasury officials had lifted the date freeze, and coinage operations were starting to get back to normal. Still more changes lay ahead for the Kennedy half dollar, which would continue to be a source of interest and speculation to many in the general public.
Here is Part Two The big news for coin collectors in 1968 was the resumption of Proof set production. From 1965 to 1967 the mint had issued Special Mint sets. Although Special Mint coins had some of the characteristics of Proofs, especially in 1967, they were not true Proof coins. The new Proof sets provided one instant source of interest for collectors. The coins were produced at the recently re-opened San Francisco mint and bore the “S” mint mark. Previously the Philadelphia mint had produced almost all U.S. Proof coins, and the few pieces that had been struck elsewhere carried the intriguing label, “branch mint Proof.” Now all U.S. Proof coins were “branch mint Proofs,” and many collectors found that prospect fascinating. It is hard to believe, but the 1968-S Proof set once sold for $35.00. It even spilled over into the next the year when the 1969-S set briefly sold for a premium. Today these sets are on the Graysheet for $5.50, which is only 50 cents above the issue price. Bear in made that the dollar was worth a lot more in terms of fuel and housing in 1968. By 1970 the price of silver had risen the point where even the 40% silver half dollars contained enough of the precious metal to warrant saving them for their melt value. That year the mint system suspended the production of half dollars for general circulation. The only way that collectors could obtain a 1970 half dollar was to buy a mint set, which contained a 1970-D coin, or a Proof set, which contained a 1970-S coin. In 1971, Congress removed all of the silver from half dollar. The new half dollars were made of the same copper-nickel clad alloy that was used in the dime and quarter. Despite this change many members of the general public continued to hoard half dollars in the mistaken belief that they were valuable. The coin was rarely seen in circulation. In addition mint artists created new master dies (hubs) from the Kennedy Half Dollar. The design was basically the same, but the relationship of the Kennedy portrait to some of the letters in the word “LIBERTY” was slightly different, and the rims on both sides of the coin were wider. Though the years a number of similar minor changes can be found on Kennedy Half Dollars. The next major change to the Kennedy Half Dollar came in 1975. In observance of the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration, the mint asked private citizens to submit special designs for the reverse of the quarter, half dollar and dollar coins. The winner of the half dollar competition was Seth Huntington. His design featured a view of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Obverse of the JFK Half Dollar remained the same except that the date was shown as 1776 – 1976. These coins were struck in 1975 and ’76, and it is impossible to attribute these coins to a specific date. The mint system issued bicentennial coins in the copper-nickel format for general circulation and for complete Proof sets. The San Francisco mint also made special collector coins on 40% silver clad planchets in the Uncirculated and Proof formats. These three coins sets were widely distributed. In 1977 the heraldic eagle design was resumed on the reverse. In 1992 the United States began to issue Proof sets that included a dime, quarter and half dollar in the old 90% silver composition. These premium sets proved to be popular and the practice of issuing them has continued to the present day. During the period mint artists also began to sharpen the designs on the master dies to show more hair detail for all of the historical figures that are depicted on our coinage. Some collectors have derisively labeled this greater detail as “spaghetti hair,” but others have found them to be more attractive. At any rate the John F. Kennedy now seen on the half dollar shows more hair detail than any of its predecessors. In 1998 collectors were treated to another unusual Kennedy Half Dollar. That year the mint issued a commemorative silver dollar in honor President Kennedy’s brother, Robert, who was assassinated in 1968. The Robert Kennedy coins were issued in the customary Proof and Uncirculated formats as single coins and two piece sets. There was also a “Kennedy Collector’s Set” which contained an Uncirculated RFK silver dollar and a Matte Proof Kennedy Half Dollar. The issuance of a silver Matte Proof coin was quite an event. During the period from 1907 until the 1920s when the mint issued most of its Matte Proof coins, very few silver coins were issued in that format. The 1998-S Matte Proof Kennedy Half Dollar had a uniformly dull finish and strong details that were equal in sharpness to customary brilliant Proof pieces. The coin became a favorite among collectors and prices quickly escalated to over $200 although they have since backed off quite a bit. The year 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Half Dollar. In honor of that, the mint system issued five commemorative Kennedy Half Dollar collector coins. The more affordable of these coins was a four piece set in the Proof, Reverse Proof, Uncirculated and Enhanced Uncirculated formats. The mint artists duplicated Gilroy Roberts’ original artwork on these pieces, and they were struck on 90% silver planchets. A more regal, and far more expensive Kennedy Half Dollar was issued in gold. This piece had the duel dates, “1964 ∙ 2014”. The West Point Mint struck these pieces, which were the first silver coin designs to be issued in gold. Later the mint would issue similar items for the Mercury Dime, Standing Liberty Quarter and Walking Liberty Half Dollar. Despite and issue price that was in excess of $1,000, the mintage was 73,772. Despite the production of many millions of coins, the Kennedy Half Dollar is almost never seen in circulation. Some have argued that the coin is too heavy and cumbersome to carry, yet that was not true many years ago before the Kennedy design was introduced. Anyone who has examined rolls of “junk silver” half dollars can tell that virtually all of the coins show signs of circulation, and many of them exhibit extensive circulation down to grades as low as Good and Very Good. Clearly the introduction of the Kennedy coin put an end to the widespread use of the half dollar. Continued speculation and confusion by non-collectors that all Kennedy half dollars contained silver and were worth more than their face value, contributed to the coin’s effective demise. Over the 56 year lifespan of the Kennedy Half Dollar series, there have been no major rarities, but many dates have been issued only in mint or Proof sets. The most famous of these dates were 1970 and 1987, but it might interest some casual collectors to know that the mint has not issued any half dollars into normal commercial channels since 2001. The only way to obtain the dates and mint marked pieces from 2002 to date has been to buy them in Proof or Mint Sets and mint issued rolls at prices higher than their face value. Since it has become obvious that the half dollar will never again see wide circulation, collectors might well contemplate an end to the denomination which has been a part of the American coinage system since 1794.
Never joined a coin club. When I was in grade school and high school, we had swap meets with other collectors in our age group.
Good for you!! We’re always looking for speakers for presentations or whatever at my Coin Club. It’s a great club, we have 50-65 people show up every month. There’s an auction, some socializing, all that fun coin chit-chat that the family gets sick of hearing about! Lol Ive been a member for maybe 5 or 6 years, and this is my first year on the Board of Directors. I think it’s wonderful that you are going to get up and present! Have fun, everyone at the meeting will be grateful!
Well, I did it and it was pretty well received. I was nervous and did not time me, but I think perhaps I took 15 or so minutes. There were some questions after that so that was good. I also found out that although the 2018 P and D ones are not really for circulation, many people have found those in rolls of them in boxes so there is some information that they were released, and that the mintage of those were considerably more than the previous years of NIFC ones. And I did gloss over the books portion so that went really quickly. Here it is: (warning.... it is long). I did try to simply talk about the three points I mentioned first. ______ Now let’s talk about the Kennedy Half Dollar – Why did we get it, how collectable is it, why have we not had the design change in 50 years, and so on. The Kennedy Half Dollar is unique in many ways in coinage decisions. The U.S. was, in the 1930s and 1940s, starting to change the monetary designs on hard currency, i.e., going from the Buffalo design of the nickel to Presidential Jefferson, with a head for the obverse, going from Winged Liberty on the dimes (what people call a Mercury) to Roosevelt, again, to honor a President, and going from Standing Liberty to Washington (President) in 1932. By 1947, just over a year past the end of WWII, only one coin that was in the penny/nickel/dime/quarter/half (coins that break a dollar bill) category was still in an older and seemingly ‘outdated’ design. Times were changing and the powers that be decided our coins should be changing, and reflecting Presidents who were important (and dead). The previous year was the first time that a coin honored a popular and recently deceased President, that being Roosevelt in 1946. Perhaps in retrospect, this honoring of Roosevelt in this way was what set the standard for the Half Dollar as being available to change if another popular president died in office and has even led to the Presidential Dollar series. Most people did not necessarily think it important to honor recent or modern presidents on our coins. The U.S. seems to always had gravitated to much older Presidents on the coins. Lincoln in 1909 started this. Then Washington and Jefferson in the thirties. And they are seeming to stick to the series they are on rather than choosing a new direction in basic coinage designs. We still have Lincoln cents, Jefferson Nickels, and Washington Quarters. There seems to be no desire to change away from this at all. Even the Roosevelt Dime is soldiering on, although I think it now debatable whether he should have been put in with the likes of our founding fathers, etc. In any case, by 1947, four of the six basic US Coins valued at one dollar or less were now presidential portraitures and one, the silver dollar had been discontinued (in 1935), because of a lack of demand for them in society relevant to the supply that was available. This left only one coin, the half dollar to remain and possibly the only thing that saved this one from being another President. And based on the 1948 Schlesinger Poll rating presidents by their greatness (this is the closest I could get to the 1947 time period to make a decent guess), the only two ‘great’ presidents not already on a coin would have been Wilson (yeah, the guy going into WWI)) and Jackson. So that leads me to believe that had not circumstances with one person at the mint at one time, we would not have had a Franklin half dollar, and that possibly by 1950, we would have had a Wilson or Jackson Half Dollar. This leads to speculation that if we had a Wilson or Jackson Half Dollar by 1950, when Kennedy died, would that have been pre-empted by Kennedy or would the event have triggered a Kennedy Dollar coin and thus, left out Eisenhower, Sacajawea, and the current Presidential procession? Interesting to think of. So, the one person standing in the way of the half dollar going from the Liberty Walking design to a President of Greatness was one person…. Nellie Tayloe Ross. Nellie Ross was quite a person. She was the first female governor of a state (Wyoming, 1935-1927) and was the first female director of the United States Mint. As director of the Mint, she served from 1933-1953, which encompassed much of the changes in circulation type coinage that I have described… the loss of Silver Dollars being minted, the entry of Roosevelt (no surprise in a way, not only was he rated as a great president, but he appointed her to the directorship of the mint) and Jefferson on the dime and nickel, and then….. she was the person who was behind the change to Franklin. She probably solely decided that it was time for Franklin to be honored with a coin. She greatly admired him as the statesman he was historically and it was her desire for him to be on a coin, and as mint director, she had the ability to put forth her wants. So, Franklin came about in 1948, and she could have had the idea that the public would just get used to it, like it or not, that coin designs really didn’t matter much to the public. (ref: The Story of the New Benjamin Half -Dollar https://www.sciencedirect.com/sdfe/pdf/download/eid/1-s2.0-0016003248901513/first-page-pdf) where it states from a speech she gave in April, 1948, “In a recent radio talk I ventured to suggest this idea, in connection with the new Franklin piece, saying in effect, that when a coin is once released for circulation the public must accept it --- like it or not!” So that was Nellie Tayloe Ross, the direction she was taking the mint, and her disregard for what the public might want, that it was pretty much irrelevant. In any regard, in hindsight, perhaps she was at that time a relic of public perceptions of history. Although Franklin was a great man, his and other historical figures from long ago were starting (along with the modern ideas, and 50’s kitchens, suburbia, the rise of Nikita Kruschev, Richard Nixon, and such) to become less important to people in their own lives. In fact, you also see the demise of frontiermen like Davy Crockett by the end of the 60s in popularity for children, so the idea of Ben Franklin being moved out of the way for Kennedy in 1964’s production of half dollars is not out of step with new modernity being in everything. So… by 1963, prior to Jack Kennedy being shot in Dallas, there were many signs that coinage was ripe for either discontinuing more denominations or that we needed another President on a coin. Half Dollars still circulated, but were not as popular as before for regular usage and becoming less so, with machines taking quarters over the heavier and larger halves. But then Kennedy, a very popular president, was assassinated and the country immediately went into mourning along with shock. A coin honoring him was authorized just a month over his death and supposedly was Jackie Kennedy’s decision, though I don’t know how much pressure she had to make it that as the most fitting coin was one where her husband did not replace another important President on a coin, and the only one that fit that bill was the half dollar with the only non-presidential person on it. At first the issue was in Silver, being 1964, and was very popularly collected and saved as a memento by people mourning the loss of that President. So the first year did not see much in circulation. Then a decision was made that for 1965 coins, silver was out completely for circulation bound dimes and quarters and the silver content in halves were reduced to 40% from the 90% they were in 1964. This also coincided with the mint producing from 1965-1967 coins without mint marks, so as to discourage collecting and hoarding of the US coins (the mint was blaming collectors) as well as continuing 1964 dated coins well into 1965. But by the late 60s (a lot of this is based on my own recollections of that time) and into the early 1970s, half dollars were found less and less in ordinary circulation. Prices were increasing in society and having a half dollar coin to spend for something became extraneous when you had a couple of quarters that did that. There still were plenty in circulation, enough that when the coins did enter circulation, they got wear and did not remain all in pristine condition, but there were less reasons to be using them. Credit cards had actually started, people were writing checks for many purchases, and savings accounts were lowering their rates. By the early to mid-70s, many people preferred to never have a half dollar if possible. It's use has declined since then also and I have found that in putting some of my CRH halves back into circulation after searching them, that it is amazing the people who have never seen one, and some who don’t even know what it is, much less the coin machines at stores that are programmed to be able to take the small dollars but don’t take the halves. Many of the Kennedy Half Dollars are ones that are NIFC (not intended for circulation). The first was the 1970 D, which was only for collectors and was the last of the 40% silver content ones. These business strike coins are a key coin and many are graded, but were not struck so high as to have many gem-quality ones. Most are graded at 65 or below, and none have been graded at MS68 or higher. After that one, the next NIFC one was 1987 and then regularly every year since between 2002 and 2021. Like the 1970 D, he 1987 (P and D) do not generally grade high. There is only one PCGS graded MS68 for the Philadelphia mint and six of the Denver mint. The 2022 circulation quality (business strikes) ones so far have about a mintage of 9.7 coins, basically about half and half between Philadelphia and Denver. Part of the 2021 and 2022 half dollars struck as business strikes (i.e., not proof) were shipped for release into circulation. The 2021s were the first placed into circulation since 2001. How collectable is the Kennedy Half Dollar? There are many people who do like to collect this coin, but some are only interested in the silver content ones. The design is pleasant to look at, as his profile is well done and characterizes his youthfulness. The reverse is what we might consider a standard, neither super nice nor appealing but not disagreeable either. It fits the coin well proportionally, so it doesn’t seem heavy or non-compatible with the obverse design. Both sides of the coin work with each other in proportionality and aesthetics. I don’t encounter a lot of collectors of this coin and in some coin shows, the sellers don’t seem to carry a lot of them. If you do collect them, it might be challenging to get what you want because of this. But there is a lot to choose from in collecting. One could simply do every year and mintmark regardless of quality of the coin, or perhaps decide to simply collect silver content issues, or collect only business strikes that were not NIFC coins, or focus on proofs. Some people might like to work on trying to collect an error or variety focused collection. In this vein, looking for examples of double, triple, or quadruple die strikes would be a challenge. PCGS has seven different major sets for Kennedy Half Dollars and of these, the one that seems to be most popular (using number of sets in the category as the measuring tool) is the Kennedy Half Dollars Basic Set, Proof (1964-present) and it also has fourteen Specialty Sets listed, of which the Kennedy Half Dollars Silver Short set with Accent Hair Proof (1964-1970) is most popular and the Kennedy Half Dollars Basic Silver Set, Proof (1964, 1992-Present) comes in a close second. I won’t really go into the doubled dies, etc. but would like to mention the Accented Hair one. This is only on a proof coin and basically it is simply a that some of the proof coins were minted with a die that had extra detail on the hairs above Kennedy’s ears. It is supposed that these were the first ones minted (maybe between 40 thousand and 120 thousand coins) in early January 1964 but that the mint revised the coin to not be so heavy with hair in that one area because Jackie Kennedy thought it overemphasized in that part and wanted things more ‘mussed up’ to be more, so the design was revised and that is the one that the majority of 1964 proofs are. Why has there been no design change in the past 50 years? Well, this is speculatory on my part, but I think it is a combination that the coin is not used all that much, the changes that the public have had put on them on coins has (aside from the bicentennial issues) has been mostly done on the dollar coins, and that (and the fact that for 20 years, this coin has been NIFC for its minting of the business strikes) really not needed to replace what has been in circulation from minting in the 70’s through 90s (and these can be verified as being the most common as that is what you generally find in boxes from banks now). People have had their say over the Ikes, Susan B.’s, Sacajaweas, and Presidential ones. The half dollar is now in many ways in the mainstay with someone depicted that people could agree is still warranted. He is one of the more popularly rated presidents and no-one is needing to say we need a new design to replace him. Maybe the regular population really does not care who is on a coin so much as can they spend it and is it recognizable. The quarter program and the changes in the smaller denominations have fostered a lot of collecting interest in coins and maybe there simply is enough in other avenues for the mint to interest collectors that no-one there is saying, lets mess with the half. By the fact that we now have the Lincoln cent going on (next year) 114 years with only a few changes and special temporary changes, and the Washington Quarter still (though with different way of presenting Washington and modifying the reverses) now for 90 years says that the U.S. sees no need to be going away from a design that seems to work for the population. I have also brought a few coins as examples: One is a small book of coins (mostly) from my culling these from CRH boxes of halves and is showcasing the silver 1960s issues. A second one is the 50th anniversary issue special uncirculated P & D Coin Set in a coin card and folder, and the third and fourth are graded coins. One is a 1976-S Silver and the other is a 1964 Accented Hair Proof. Hopefully you have enjoyed learning a bit about the Kennedy Half, its history, and collectability, and also how books you have can be used to know more about them.
I have done a few educational programs at my local club meetings. It's more centered on my travels and the coins and currency I pick up while on the trip. Couple of months ago I went on a Greek Isles cruise and showed the Euro coins I got plus pics from my cruise.
