Kennedy Half Design Changes
JoeLewis
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The Red Book says, about the Kennedy half, "The design was slightly modified several times between 1971 and the present." Is there any reference material out there that lists or discusses all these slight modifications?
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
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Some of them are in the Red Book.
You can also see them on PCGS in coin facts.
VarietyVista is a great source of information on design varieties.
Here is the link for the Kennedy Halves:
http://varietyvista.com/12 Kennedy Halves/Design Varieties.htm
Thanks. I was only aware of the wide rim in 1971, which I think is the best looking Kennedy design.
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
Thanks for the link... I am aware of the minor varieties, but have only focused on the AH variety. Russ and I used to compete while searching coin shows in Seattle for that one. I have found a couple at gun shows in the last few years. Cheers, RickO
One of the big ones for me was in the early 90s when they changed the design of JFK's head, making it smaller and younger looking. At the same time the overall relief was reduced I believe.
Not sure exactly which year it was (92 or 93?) but there's a thread about it somewhere.. Maybe CoinTalk.
Also not sure if it was an improvement or not. The lower relief is definitely not an improvement.
Thanks! This is more of what I was asking for. The redesign in 1971 with a wider rim, and smaller portrait, and the one you just mentioned are more interesting to me.
The accented hair is very well known, but the other ones mentioned on Variety Vista were minor redesigns that I was not aware of.
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
The mint sold a four piece set in 2014 that reviewed some of these changes. It included a reproduction of the Frank Gasparro's original 1964 artwork. Since I am not huge collector of modern coins, this is far as I'm going to go.
I believe the major Kennedy half designs/types can be tracked as follows:
1964: original "standard" portrait, 90 % silver (all circulation issues and most proofs)
1964: accented hair -- preceded the "standard" portrait, relatively subtle difference, proof only
1965 - 1970: standard portrait, 40 % silver
1971 - 1974; 1977 - 1990: almost identical portrait, bold rim, copper-nickel clad
1975 - 1976: bicentennial, dual date (1776-1976)
1991 - 2014: flattened relief and "spaghetti hair"; quite a disaster
2014: return to very close to the original Gilroy Roberts portrait for special set (see Bill Jones above) ; circulation issue and standard proof sets are flat/"spaghetti" in 2014,
2015: original portrait (ie, same as special 2014 set) restored for circulation and proof issues
Well, I didn't find that thread I was looking for. It was what alerted me to the early 1990s bust redesign as well as the [unfortunate] reduction in relief.
Now that I've taken a gander I have the feeling that the mint was mixing and matching dies during this period. Obviously the proof dies would be different, but still it seems all over the place.
I'll see if I can link some relevant images:
This 93 (above) clearly has the traditional "fat head" Kennedy. As I think this 94 does:
But what's this?
And this last one clearly has the new "small head" Kennedy. Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it.
Excellent!
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
Um, maybe Large Head and Small Head would be better terminology.
But why isn't this a recognized variant?
Seems like a sea change to me.
Not sure. Maybe there’s not enough interest. Vista Variety has some extremely minor design changes, but none of this 🤷♂️.
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
The cheek bones are another dead giveaway. And the hair. As if the shrunken head weren't enough by itself. Now there's a variant name!
I christen thee: JFK Shrunken Head var!
ETA, I know the 1998 through 2002ff are this same variant. I presume the more recent ones still are?
Was more changes in the Halves par rapport of the Design Varieties. this year I will finish the Quarters before July 1st and the halves for next July 1st. The Observe has less then the Reverse. The observe in general was worked on the design High and also once for the diameter of the Design are was slight reduced in order to move farther from the rim (this was around 1981 and 1983, I didn't confirmed yet the year)
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Minor changes can be searched for but may not even exist.
Ear Hair variety...look closely around that ear.
Accented Swollen Lips...use of Botox apparent in later years.
Slight Smirk of the 90's...almost as apparent as the grimace variety.
Bushy Eyebrow...subtle changes as the design ages.
Droopy Earlobe....they never stop growing!
Chipmunk Cheek...really looks swollen some years.
Crepe Neck...that crease really looks like a die crack sometimes.
These were I believe “high relief “. Had some kinda designation
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@MS66: I think all the coins you’ve posted, including the 1993, are variants on the spaghetti hair version, ie, they are not going back to the pre-1991 portrait. As your photos show, there is quite some variation during this era; also, both strike and, on proofs, degree of frost, has a significant impact on appearance. In any case, quite a lot of work to do to try to classify the post 1990 portraits.
(PS-question-between 1991-2013 inclusive, and for either proofs or circulation strikes, I don’t think the portrait varied within a given year ?)
@Jzyskowski1 - the red book uses the term high relief, though I think it is just using the term to distinguish the two versions struck in 2014, one of which is similar to the post 1990 portrait, and the “high relief” which is similar to the original and is still being used.
Variety Vista explains the different changes in the design modifications over the years for both the obverse and reverse of the Kennedy half dollar series, just follow the links: http://varietyvista.com/12 Kennedy Halves/Design Varieties.htm
Dimes also have a large/small head change. Not sure what year.