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If Kennedy was not assasinated, would we still have the Franklin half?
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<p>[QUOTE="-jeffB, post: 3298871, member: 27832"]The things I've read most recently give me the impression that halves went out of circulation due to a one-two punch -- the 1964 Kennedys were hoarded out of sentiment, and all the others (pre-1964) were hoarded because of Gresham's law, er, silver content. By the time clad halves appeared, people had gotten out of the habit of spending them.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don't remember 40% halves being hoarded due to silver, but I was <i>really</i> young at the time. Certainly their silver content was worth less than their face value, but it was also pretty unusual by then to see half dollars at all. There were still slots for them in cash registers, but those slots were most often empty.</p><p><br /></p><p>If Kennedy had not been assassinated -- too much different, I have no idea how coinage would have evolved. I still feel like we beat incredible odds to make it through the Cold War era without a cataclysm, and changing <i>anything</i> might have pushed us over the edge.</p><p><br /></p><p>But if I had to guess, I think Franklin halves would have resumed circulation along with the rest of small change. After all, they're exactly the same weight and volume as two quarters or five dimes, so "too big and heavy" arguments don't hold much water, IMHO.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="-jeffB, post: 3298871, member: 27832"]The things I've read most recently give me the impression that halves went out of circulation due to a one-two punch -- the 1964 Kennedys were hoarded out of sentiment, and all the others (pre-1964) were hoarded because of Gresham's law, er, silver content. By the time clad halves appeared, people had gotten out of the habit of spending them. I don't remember 40% halves being hoarded due to silver, but I was [I]really[/I] young at the time. Certainly their silver content was worth less than their face value, but it was also pretty unusual by then to see half dollars at all. There were still slots for them in cash registers, but those slots were most often empty. If Kennedy had not been assassinated -- too much different, I have no idea how coinage would have evolved. I still feel like we beat incredible odds to make it through the Cold War era without a cataclysm, and changing [I]anything[/I] might have pushed us over the edge. But if I had to guess, I think Franklin halves would have resumed circulation along with the rest of small change. After all, they're exactly the same weight and volume as two quarters or five dimes, so "too big and heavy" arguments don't hold much water, IMHO.[/QUOTE]
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If Kennedy was not assasinated, would we still have the Franklin half?
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