Kennedy half dollar

How to read it

President Johnson signed the law authorizing the coin on 30 December 1963, and the Treasury first offered it to the public on 24 March 1964. Mint Director Eva Adams’s letter describes it: Gilroy Roberts’s bust of Kennedy on the front, with his initials GR on the cut-off edge of the bust, and Frank Gasparro’s Presidential coat of arms on the back, with his initials FG at the lower right of the shield. Denver coins have a D on the reverse, in the angle between the eagle’s right claw and the olive branch; Philadelphia coins have no mint mark. The National Park Service says Jacqueline Kennedy preferred the half dollar because it did not mean replacing another President.

Also searched as: 1964 Kennedy half dollar, Kennedy half.

Which Kennedy halves are silver

1964-dated halves are 90% silver and weigh 12.50 grams, PCGS says; it lists mintages of 273,304,004 at Philadelphia and 156,205,446 at Denver. The Mint’s release of December 1965 said some 390 million 90% halves struck in 1964 and 1965 all carry the date 1964. The Coinage Act of 1965 made the half a clad coin with faces of 800 parts silver and 200 parts copper over a silver and copper core, 11.5 grams containing 4.6 grams of silver, or 40% overall; the Mint said it would look nearly identical to the old half. Circulating halves dated 1965 to 1970 are this alloy. The Mint removed the silver in 1971, and the coin became copper-nickel clad. NGC notes a small number of 1971-D and 1977-D halves struck by mistake on silver-clad planchets.

Melted and saved

The National Park Service says many 1964-dated halves were melted for their silver during the high silver prices of the 1970s.

Other reverses

The 1975 and 1976 Bicentennial halves have Independence Hall on the reverse and the date 1776–1976; see the Bicentennial quarter. The US Mint says the Kennedy design ran until 2025, apart from a brief period in the 1970s.