Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 26427, member: 68&quot;]The introduction of the Kennedy certainly hurt half dollar circulation but the increased use of vending machines had already begun hurting it more.&nbsp; Prices were escalating and machine items were sometimes more than a quarter in the early &#039;60&#039;s and few machines accepted anything larger than a quarter.&nbsp; Half dollars had never really had the same amont of usage as the other coins which you can see from the mintages.&nbsp; All else being equal the mintage of half dollars should be at least about half of quarter production if there were as large a chance of getting a half in change as there was two quarters.&nbsp; Usually if your change was $.50 you&#039;d get two quarters.&nbsp; The halfs in circulation did have good velocity but it was not as high as quarters at least by the early &#039;60&#039;s.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Half dollar usage did drop off rapidly in &#039;65 and were not often used after &#039;68 when the 90% issues were removed.&nbsp; There&#039;s little doubt that the introduction of the Kennedy hastened the demise of the half in commerce.&nbsp; These were still seen on rare occasion right through the &#039;70&#039;s but very little since.&nbsp; Rolls of Kennedys from the bank will show nice even but light wear on the early clad issues, and highly variable amounts of wear on the later issues with most being very unattractive from slot machine usage.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in