Kennedy half dollar value by silver year

Date and edge sort a Kennedy half into 90 percent silver, 40 percent silver, or copper-nickel clad. The melt calculator is the metal figure for the silver coins, including the 40 percent 1776–1976 San Francisco piece.

Pull the half and read the date before you study the portrait. Kennedy's face is on three circulating coins. 1964 is 90 percent silver. 1965 through 1970 is 40 percent silver. From 1971 on, the circulating half is copper-nickel clad, and a worn one from change spends at face value. The metal figure for the silver coins is the melt calculator. A local dealer will make you an offer on the coin in hand.

| Years | Alloy | Weight | Fine silver, as struck | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1964 | 90% silver, 10% copper | 12.5 g | 0.36169 troy oz | | 1965–1970 | 40% silver clad | 11.5 g | 0.1479 troy oz | | 1971 on, circulating | copper-nickel clad | 11.34 g | Copper-nickel only |

The 1776–1976 half uses one of those last two rows. The date is the same on both. The edge tells them apart, in the section below.

1964 is the 90 percent half

The 1964 Kennedy half is the first year and the circulation coin in 90 percent silver. Gilroy Roberts's portrait and Frank Gasparro's presidential seal are the design. The coin is 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper, at 12.5 grams. The melt calculator uses 0.36169 troy ounce of fine silver for a 1964 Kennedy half, the same figure it uses for a Walking Liberty or Franklin half. The arithmetic from the old half-dollar standard to that figure is in what is junk silver.

The Coinage Act of 1965 still allowed 900 fine halves until the new coins were on hand, and no later than five years. It also says any 900 fine coin minted after the act is inscribed with the year 1964. On this site, 1964 is the 90 percent Kennedy year.

The chart on that page lists 273,304,004 for Philadelphia and 156,205,446 for Denver. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark. D is Denver. 1964 is the first year and the silver year. That does not make it a key. A worn 1964 is the coin a shop prices from the silver. Open the calculator for the metal. The number there moves with the spot it fetched.

The half that came before is the Franklin half, 1948 through 1963, on the same 90 percent planchet.

1965 through 1970 is 40 percent silver

The Coinage Act of 1965 sets the new half dollar at a diameter of 1.205 inches, with outer layers of 800 parts silver and 200 parts copper, and a silver-and-copper core such that the whole coin weighs 11.5 grams and contains 4.6 grams of silver and 6.9 grams of copper. That is 40 percent silver. The 40 percent Kennedy half page is those years, 1965 through 1970. The calculator uses 0.1479 troy ounce of fine silver for one of them.

Circulation coins from 1965, 1966, and 1967 have no mint mark. That is how they left the Mint. The later rows on the chart are Denver. The smallest figure on that chart is 1970-D, at 2,150,000. 1965 is the first 40 percent year. That does not make it a key. A worn common date is still a silver conversation. Keep these halves in their own pile, apart from the 90 percent coins. Two 40 percent halves are a dollar of face and about 0.2958 troy ounce of silver, under the 90 percent dollar of face. The junk silver note walks that difference.

Public Law 91-607 let the Treasury keep minting the older silver half, the one authorized before that law, until January 1, 1971. That is why 1970 is still on the 40 percent page.

1971 on is copper-nickel clad

The same 1970 law rewrote the half dollar. A half minted under the new section is a clad coin: outer layers of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel, weighing at least 30 percent of the coin, and a copper core. The half dollar is 1.205 inches in diameter and weighs 11.34 grams. 31 U.S.C. 5112 still describes the circulating half that way. The Kennedy half page is that clad coin, 1971 and later.

The calculator's silver lines are the 1964 half and the 40 percent half. A worn clad half from circulation spends at face value. A bright coin, or a proof, is a different conversation, and a dealer prices the coin in hand. A silver dime, quarter, and half in a later package are the silver proof set. That page charts the standard proof set on its own row. 1971 is the first clad year. That does not make it a key.

The catalog the Kennedy pages use is NGC Coin Explorer. Year-by-year clad counts stay on the series page.

The 1776–1976 half

Public Law 93-127 put a Bicentennial reverse on the dollar, the half dollar, and the quarter minted for issuance on or after July 4, 1975. Coins minted for issuance from July 4, 1975, through January 1, 1977, bear "1776-1976" in place of the year they were struck. The Kennedy page says 1975 was not struck. The variety note on that page says Independence Hall replaces the presidential seal.

Most dual-dated halves are the clad coins. The clad chart lists 234,308,000 for Philadelphia and 287,565,248 for Denver. No letter is Philadelphia. D is Denver. A worn one from circulation spends at face value. The copper-colored line on the edge is that clad coin.

The silver exception is the San Francisco piece. The Kennedy page calls it 40 percent silver and leaves it off the clad chart. The 1965 act's half is that 40 percent silver-clad coin, 11.5 grams with 4.6 grams of silver, so the calculator's 40 percent line is the metal figure. The 1973 law ordered 45 million silver-clad coins, plus up to 15 million more if the Secretary of the Treasury decided they were needed, in the denominations he chose. It says those silver-clad coins may be distributed only as proof or uncirculated coins. That cap covers the silver Bicentennial coins as a group. The clad chart's 1776–1976 rows stay Philadelphia and Denver.

An S mint mark is the letter to read on a 1776–1976 half. Pair it with the edge. A copper line is the clad coin. A silver-colored edge is the 40 percent San Francisco coin.

The date, then the edge

The date does the first sort. 1964 is the 90 percent row. 1965 through 1970 is the 40 percent row. A circulating half with a single date from 1971 on is the clad row. A silver half that arrived in a proof-set box stays with that silver proof set.

Then tip the coin. What old coins are worth money puts the edge in one line: silver is one color all the way across, and clad shows a copper-colored line in the middle. The copper line is the core of the clad coin. A 1964 half is one alloy, so the edge stays silver-colored. A 1965 through 1970 half has silver in the outer layers, so that edge stays silver-colored too. On those two, the date is the split. On a 1776–1976 half, both alloys share the date, so the edge is the split.

Leave the surface alone. A rub changes the coin a dealer is looking at. The note on that is should you clean old coins.

Take the half to a shop or a show

Sort the 90 percent coins, the 40 percent coins, and the clad coins into three holders. The silver 1776–1976 San Francisco piece stays with the 40 percent pile. The metal figure is the melt calculator. An offer on the coin in hand comes from a person who buys coins.

The coin dealer directory lists public shops, including Ohio coin dealers. A coin show puts several tables in one afternoon. If the half is one coin in a box, start with how to sell a coin collection. A local dealer will make you an offer.

Kennedy half dollar value by silver year

1964 is the 90 percent half

1965 through 1970 is 40 percent silver

1971 on is copper-nickel clad

The 1776–1976 half

The date, then the edge

Take the half to a shop or a show

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