All about the US Half Dollar Coin

Value of Kennedy half dollars?
So how much are they worth? In short, most half dollars are only worth their face value do to there being millions of them minted and sitting in reserve. 1964 through 1969 Kennedy coins contained silver and thus are more valuable than most other years. They were 90% silver for 1964s and 40% silver for the 1965-69. The bi-centennial coins were minted and hoarded by the millions so there is no scarcity for the common types. There is no great scarcity for common 1970-1999 halves.
The 2000 and onward coins were minted in smaller quantities and were sold only to collectors at above face value from the US mint and will bring a premium over face value. If you wish to purchase new 50 cent coins in bulk you may do so from the US mint website or online auction sites such as ebay will have them.
Error coins: Error coins are coins that were made with some sort of defect and can bring a coins price way up. Some errors would be off center strikes, added lines from die breaks and so on. Many people are aware of the extra leaf on the corn plant from the state quarter series or the numerous errors on the new presidential series starting with the Washington smooth edge coins which were selling for $400-$500 a piece on ebay when first discovered.
A lot of the value also depends on how you market your coins for sale. Those TV commercials you see spend a lot of money on advertising but mark up the coins they sell big time. One recent example of this is the new Barack Obama series with a colorized impression of Obama on the Kennedy Half, George Washington dollar and the Illonois state quarter. Just realize that if you buy from a company running TV commercials that you may have to create your own commercial someday to get back the premium price you paid for it.

So why did 50 cent coins stop being used in circulation?
The 50 cent piece was hit hard in the late 60's. After 64 the halves were the only circulating coin which still contained some silver at 40%. People would save them for a day when the silver became more valuable than $0.50. The death of John Kennedy also made these coins a collectors item. By the time the rest of the silver was removed in 1970, the 50 cent coin was pretty much finished as an everyday circulating coinage. The 50's slot in cash registers was replaced by checks in some instances. They lived on at Casinos being used for table games or slot machines. If you find an especially worn coin, it probably has spent some time working at a Casino.

Circulating the 50 Cent Kennedy Piece

May 12, 2008

I have spent more halves along with the sac and prez dollars. At this point, I use a combination of dollars and halves when I spend them. I feel a little silly now handing over 7 or 8 halves when buying something. I still run into a lot of people wanting to give you a dollars worth when you spend them. I'm willing to bet between 10 and 20 % make this mistake.

I've picked up a large quantity of 50 cent coins at the bank and have been unwrapping and sorting out the best condition coins to add to my collection and also to sell at auction sites. The rest are getting reintroduced into circulation. I've been finding all sorts of different years and conditions. Most coins will probably get sent right back to the bank from the stores that I spend these at but maybe a few will get spent a few times or make their way into collections. I was lucky to find a silver 1967 coin while sorting through about the 15th roll so they are not too common but it is possible to find a few silver coins out there.

One note about spending these coins is that they are pretty cumbersome with their size and it takes a lot of them to buy anything. It took 9 of them to buy breakfast the other day. I plan on getting enough of the new Adams dollar coin to mix in with the Kennedy's while shopping.

Some observations
Sunday, August 5th, 2007

Well I've been spending these 50s and Dollars around for months now and I'm making a few observations. The new dollars are better accepted by cashiers(especially the younger ones) vs. the 50s(Older people give me no trouble passing the 50s.) The 50s weight and lower purchasing power make them a problem to buy anything with. There isn't any purchases I make for less than 3 or 4 dollars so you have to carry and hand over a large stack of them to add up. At this point I will probably not order another box of 50s at the bank once I finished spending the ones I have. I will continue getting the new presidents as they come out and keeping a few rolls and spending the rest.

The 75 cent Kennedy
Monday, July 2nd, 2007

I had another good time at a drive through spending the 50 centers. The total was $3.76, much easier than one of my other orders. 3 Sacagaweas, 1 Kennedy, 1 quarter and a penny. She look at the 50 for awhile and then asked someone else and finally she gave back my quarter in change. I gave it back at the next window. At first I thought she had mistaken it for an Ike Silver Dollar but the 25 cent change meant that it was the all illusive 75 cent piece. Spent another 2 50s at a concert I went to that night for parking. I'm finding using change easiest when I'm in a car where I store some coins in the ash tray.

I'm still getting the 50s out there, used a few at the post office the other day to mail out an Eastern Caribbean States coin set. I've only got a couple more sets left since I'm running low on the 2 cent coin.

Worn out Kennedy
Sunday, May 27th, 2007

I found this coin the other day.

Saturday, May 26th, 2007
Circulating the 50 cent piece continued

May 22nd, 2007

What to do with all the lower grade 50 centers that are starting to pile up? Taking them back to the bank would be too easy so I'm spending them wherever I can. Stopped in for fast food breakfast and the total came to 3.98. 2 Sacagawea's and 3 Kennedy's 1 quarter, 2 dimes and 3 pennies (1 was Canadian for good measure) were used. After some confusion I got my food. A lot of the younger workers out there have never seen the 50s before.

Silver Found

May 22nd, 2007

Found my first silver clad 50-cent piece the other day while sorting through a roll. It was a 1967. Not the cleanest coin but I'll take it. Bought my first silver bullion coin today. Found a 2001 silver eagle on the bidville auction site at a fair price.

My 1 Dollar coin blog

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