How Did You Acquire Your Very First Kennedy Half Dollar?

OAKSTAR

I know you all have at least one. After seeing all the Kennedy's and Kennedy threads here lately, I thought I would ask the question: How and when did you acquire your "very first" Kennedy Half Dollar?

I'll start. I remember like it was yesterday. It must have been early 1964, whenever they first hit the banks into circulation. I saved 50 penny's (they were probably all wheat cents!! 😂). I had been planning this trip/mission for the entire week. It was a Saturday morning. I got up early, got on me bike (bicycle) and ride down to the nearest South Shore Federal on Long Island. I was the first one there when the bank opened. I remember trying to look up over the counter to see the teller. I reached up, put my 50 penny's on the counter and asked if she had a Kennedy half dollar.

This is the first coin and I still have it. For many months or whenever I could save 50 penny's, I would head to that bank on Saturday mornings!

AUandAG

Got handed one at the smoke shop. Stopped me in my tracks for a few seconds.

bob

Jimnight

Now that's one I can't remember.

pursuitofliberty

Actually, as the story goes, I got mine on the day I was born. From a friend of the family, fresh of the press, as I was born near the Denver Mint, in 1964. Something about a freshly minted Dollar as well.

CoinHoarder

.

BillJones

I got my first one from the Sussex Trust Company Bank that in Milton, Delaware in May of 1964. I had been looking forward to getting one ever since the design change had been announced. It was pretty marked up so I didn't end of keeping it, although I had it for a fairly long time. I can still remember the happy moment when the bank teller plopped it down on the black marble like surface in front of her.

My second one came from Gimbels coin counter in Philadelphia. It was a 1964-D. The price was $1.50. I still have that one.

The third one was in a 1964 Proof set that was in a Capital Plastics holder. I paid less than $10 for it. Before the excitement was over, the retail price reached $35 before the prices came down to earth.

CaptHenway

My parents' branch of the National Bank of Detroit the week they came out.

johnny9434

I don't remember either 🤔

braddick

Here is a neat article related to this thread:
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historical-documents/mint-engravers-recollection-of-kennedy-half-dollar-production

Mr_Spud

It’s a very fuzzy memory for me, but I vaguely remember my older brother gave me a Kennedy half when I was about 8 years old as a birthday present

BuffaloIronTail

My Uncle Joe got some from the bank and gave one to me.

Pete

JWP

My mother put this Kenndy half in my baby book and it is has been there ever sense.

She also added these 2 cool (4 cent stamps). These memories are ones that MONEY can't buy.

rec78

A boat seller in my area who also dabbled in coins offered 5 1964 Kennedy half dollars for a roll of 1943 steel cents in a local newspaper add. Steel cents were still around in droves in the mid 1960's. I got 5 rolls together and went to the boat place and got 25 1964 Kennedy's for 5 rolls of steel cents. In 1964 there was no premium for silver coins. I spent them all except for the one I put in my album.

OAKSTAR

It's funny how one can remember details of seemingly a trivial event from 59 years ago and forget other things. I guess this coin thing was burned into my soul at a very young age.

WAYNEAS

I still have mine. It was a gift from my dad in1964.
We went to a store in Massapequa Long Island NY.
The purchase price was .49 cents plus a penny for tax.
The coin came with a silver bezel.
Wayne

CharlotteDude

As a tip, working as a bag boy at the Piggly Wiggly in SE NC, back in 1982.

Fishpro

I was 10, my Dad was president of a local Bank in the Seattle area at the time. He came home with 20 coins, what a big deal it was. I still have all 20!

124Spider

I'm so old I was collecting coins when Kennedy was murdered. The release of the JFK halves was a big deal, and they were quickly available in change.

ldhair

I was only 7 at the time. My folks gave all the kids money. We walked to the bank and each of us bought the half dollar.

cladking

Funny, I don't remember.

The first I saw was one a neighbor's mother got at the bank in early-'64 (limit one).

I probably got one in '65 but the first I remember was much later. The bank often tried to foist the 40%'ers on me and I'd refuse them because they didn't work in vending machines. They circulated lightly all through the '70's and were a common sight at post offices.

I paid very little attention to them until about 1980 and collectors of high grade specimens appeared. I had already set a few dozen nice ones aside by this time.

MWallace

@OAKSTAR said:
I was the first one there when the bank opened. I remember trying to look up over the counter to see the
teller. I reached up, put my 50 penny's on the counter and asked if she had a Kennedy half dollar.

And just think, you're still doing it today.

privatecoin

Change at a fair.

Walkerfan

My father

OAKSTAR

@MWallace said:

@OAKSTAR said:
I was the first one there when the bank opened. I remember trying to look up over the counter to see the
teller. I reached up, put my 50 penny's on the counter and asked if she had a Kennedy half dollar.

And just think, you're still doing it today.

Just because I'm 4' 7", doesn't mean I can't see the teller!! 😂 🤣

coinbuf

In a mint or proof set, not a series that I collect so almost all the examples I have were acquired that way.

Shurke

There are two possibilities for me, both of which occurred in the late 80s.

1) From my grandparents.
2) From my parents after they got it in change at Village Inn.

I have clear recollection of both incidents. I just can’t remember which came first.

MWallace

@OAKSTAR said:

@MWallace said:

@OAKSTAR said:
I was the first one there when the bank opened. I remember trying to look up over the counter to see the
teller. I reached up, put my 50 penny's on the counter and asked if she had a Kennedy half dollar.

And just think, you're still doing it today.

Just because I'm 4' 7", doesn't mean I can't see the teller!! 😂 🤣

But to see the teller you have to get on your tip-toes.

jfriedm56

I remember when my family went to visit my grandparents in NYC and when we would also visit my Great Aunt she would tell me to hold out my hand and drop silver 1964 Kennedys into it. I was always thrilled. It had to be1964 because I remember going to the Worlds Fair then. Every time we would visit her she always gave me a stack of ‘64 Kennedys. I still have a roll put away from the many she had given me.

Elmhurst

Scrap metal place, when I was a kid. They paid everyone off in halves and two dollar bills.

DennisH

I got mine in change for $1 when I bought lunch at the school cafeteria. Gave it and the rest of the change to mom later that day after school.

BryceM

In change no doubt. They were all over the place when I was a kid. Most every store had a spot for them in the till.

ajaan

1964. Six years old. My coin collecting Godfather, Uncle Art, gave me a brand new Kennedy half.

Fraz

Miss Hanner had them at her little store the first couple of weeks. Very few of the kids had a dollar to swing the change. I got one when dad sent me to get a quart of Havoline, he let me keep it because he was a Nixon guy.

lkenefic

I probably had a few Kennedy Halves before I found this one in a roll when I was about 12 years old. It's the first (and only) 1964 Kennedy Half I found while roll searching and it's currently in my 7070 Type set...

OAKSTAR

@ajaan said:
1964. Six years old. My coin collecting Godfather, Uncle Art, gave me a brand new Kennedy half.

And I beat you were hooked from that second on!

Intueor

This is from a previous post...
I started collecting coins in 1955 when I was seven. My father was a quiet man who never really interacted with my interests. He was an infantry combat veteran and survived WWII and Korea. He stayed in the Army for twenty years and was “on duty” and deployed most of the time when I was a kid. I was never sure what he thought about my collecting coins, or me. Then one day on March 24, 1964, without saying a word, he handed me a bank envelope. Inside that envelope were two (the limit) new brilliant uncirculated Kennedy half dollars. Turns out, he stood in line at the local bank for three hours to get me those coins. I still have those coins in the original envelope. Because of his dedicated service to his country, as a retired Master Sergeant, not an officer, he was buried at West Point Cemetery, U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. He was a good man.

seatedlib3991

There is no hope of me remembering that, but I do have a great Kennedy Half story.
At some point in the mid 70's a fair came to our town. They had a roll a penny game that featured a silver 1964 Kennedy in the center spot. Win this coin or Choice.
The gods were with me and I landed a penny dead center. Then things took a turn. The carny refused to give me the coin. He shoved a large bear at me but I refused. A number of people began to berate me for being stupid. Then another kid , named Dave, spoke out. He basically said, "Look pal, Jim would only have played your stupid game for one reason. To win that coin!
Everyone knows he is obsessed with coins, so just pay up."
The crowd turned on a dime and even more people began yelling at the carny. Now in my favor. He got an evil glint in his eye. Finally, he spit in his hand, grabbed the coin and whipped it at me. I am even surprised I caught that thing in mid air. just can't remember if I ever thanked Dave. James

OAKSTAR

@seatedlib3991 👍🏻 👍🏻

OAKSTAR

Great stories gents! 👍🏻

golden

I got mine from the bank in 1964 on the first day of issue. Great memories.

Smudge

Dad gave me a dollar to get one for me and my sister. I ran to the corner gas station and back.

NeophyteNumismatist

When I was a kid, I would save Kennedy clad half dollars that I got in change from the movies. This was not often, but they were different. I thought they were "special", so I saved them all. After I started collecting in 2020, I bought my first silver Kennedy (May 2020).

After I began collecting seriously, I looked at all my old, clad Kennedy half dollars. Not one was really in good enough condition to keep, but I didn't want to toss them all either (I held them for decades). So, I gave my kids each a few for their book, kept one for a memory, and turned the rest back into the bank.

I am a late bloomer in numismatics

JFK_Collector

Payment for shoveling show out of a driveway for a couple of old ladies. (1969 - 1970: Disappointed, I was hoping for some green backs).

Sapyx

As a 10 year old tourist visiting the United States with his family for the first time, I clearly remember the first half dollar I got in change, was from the dining car of the Amtrak train from Seattle to Los Angeles. Apparently I was quite a precocious coin collector at that age, and would ask everybody if they had any unusual coins. The staff were apparently happy to help the little kid with the funny Australian accent find some unusual coins. They gave me an SBA dollar, too.

This was in 1983.

Che_Grapes

Chick-fil-A back before they were good

jesbroken

For all us oldtimers, we got them in change.
Jim

TwoSides2aCoin

It wasn't an acquisition, per se. It was earned income from babysitting. And it was a lot of money per hour ....for 3 kids, in 1967. Now it would cost fifty bucks an hour per kid ..... for me to watch 'em.
Grandkids get it for free.

keyman64

Family gave it to me from their change in the 70s.

TurtleCat

My very first one, which is long gone, was from 5 halves I got at a local gas station in the mid 80s. One 64 and the rest 65-67. I was so excited I called my mom to come down and give me money to hand over in exchange (face value).

Allentram

I was 8 years old in 1977 when I got one in change, I think it was a 1972 or 1973. I still may have it today.

Dropdaflag

I do not collect them, but I remember getting my first one from the lady on the register in the lunch room in 1976. I did not know they made bigger coins than the quarter before that.