Did the Franklin Half Dollars Circulate to any Degree?

OneCent

I was born in 1970, so I really don't have a frame of reference. I don't recall ever getting one as a young un' though.

I do remember getting some Kennedy halves in change in the '70's.

21Walker

Yes!!!!! I had a paper route in the late 50's. Price for a week's worth of papers was $ 0.42. The good guys would give me a half dollar. They were mixed between Walkers and Frankies.

I also remember my mom giving both for me to go to the store for milk & bread with change returned.

That was a fun time looking back on it as these were big silver coins that you don't see anymore in circulation.

Frankies were a part of the commerce transactions...........Rick

mrearlygold

Well of course! I used to spend em at the candy store on garbage and baseball cards. Anyone want to guess ( or can remember ) what baseball card packs were worth back then? ( early 60's )

atom48coin

Sure did! I used to get my allowance with a Franklin...until I got a raise!

Purple73

1 pack of cards with a stick of gum inside.

5 cents.

PURPLE!

Mercury10c

Yes, as you can see by the thousands of mid-circulated grade coins out there.

Cameonut

Sure did. I remember that I could not afford collecting Franklins out of pocket change. 50 cents was big money back then. My mom had a nice circulated set of Franklins that she eventually gave to me.

I can even remember getting an occasional Walker in change back in those days.

21Walker

Purple's got it right.......a nickel for the baseball cards pack plus a big slab of bubble gum..........Rick

edix2001

In the 1960s my weekly allowance was 50 cents. I remember seeing Franklins quite a lot in commerce (the candy store), as well as Mercury dimes.

coinkat

5 cents for a pack of five cards... gum included

GAT

Heck, Standing Liberty Quarters, Walking Liberty & Franklins, Buffalo Nickols were common circulation coins when I was young. However, I don't remember seeing Barber coinage or Indian Pennies.

cladking

Look at the coins... ...they're circulated.

Half dollars circulated with nearly the velocity of quarters. About half the
time that you'd get two or three quarters in change, you'd get a half dol-
lar rather than two of the quarters.

OneCent

<< <i>Look at the coins... ...they're circulated.

Half dollars circulated with nearly the velocity of quarters. About half the
time that you'd get two or three quarters in change, you'd get a half dol-
lar rather than two of the quarters. >>



I never got one in circulation!

Guess they were gone by the 70's.

PipestonePete

Back in the early 60's my pal Doug Minski and I played a lot of army. He bought a really cool camo periscope that cost 50 cents at the local Newberry's. I couldn't talk my parents into buying me one but one day while walking to the local candy store I found a Franklin half laying in the grass...it truly seemed like a miracle. I immediately bought myself a periscope.

RYK

Yes, the dinosaurs here will tell you their stories, but I will tell you that for my thirteenth birthday (1978), my grandmother gave me a complete circ set (which I still have).

sbeverly

Heck, Standing Liberty Quarters, Walking Liberty & Franklins, Buffalo Nickols were common circulation coins when I was young.

Lets not forget the mercs that circulated at that time.

ModernCrapNut

All those were circulating in the mid 50's when I was a lad searching rolls and change. There were quite a few IHC in circulation too

mrearlygold

<< <i>1 pack of cards with a stick of gum inside.

5 cents.

PURPLE! >>



Yup, the good old days! 20 packs for 2 franklin halves.

jmski52

Yes, Franklins (and Walkers) circulated all over the place, and they were reasonably big money. They both circulated right on up through about 1968 or so. By then, the word was out and people were setting them aside. It took several years before 90% silver was no longer found in circulation.

sumnom

All the Franklins were out of circulation by the time I came around but I do remember lots of wheaties and silver dimes and quarters in circulation in the mid-1970s when I first started collecting. I also remember getting Kennedy halves in change from movie theaters. The last time that happened was about 1999.

OPA

<< <i>

<< <i>1 pack of cards with a stick of gum inside.

5 cents.

PURPLE! >>



Yup, the good old days! 20 packs for 2 franklin halves. >>



And if I remember correctly, a movie ticket cost you $.35 ... Hamburger, chips & a coke for a Franklin...

ProofArtworkonCircs

Yes, they circulated. But now I think it was somewhat of an illusion. The only businesses that had rolls were the banks. The supermarket where I worked never got rolls at the bank. We used what we took in which was a steady trickel from customers. We cashiers certainly handled a lot more quarters than halves. Half mintage was usually a lot less than quarter mintage. We did not give halves to women, since they often had change purses that wouldn't hold halves.

In Bangor, Maine I never saw a Franklin in circulation until about 1956 and then they were most likely dated 1952. Plenty of Walkers were circulating and rarely a Barber.

By 1964 I was in Massachusetts and halves had disappeared by late 1964. I thought they might be coming back with the 40% 1965 and clad 1971, but not so. The banks were no longer used to handling them. I don't remember Franklins ever particularily outnumbering Walkers in circulation. Things might have been different in California. There were still a lot of Buffaloes circulating here in 1964 but not in California.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Back in the early 60's my pal Doug Minski and I played a lot of army. He bought a really cool camo periscope that cost 50 cents at the local Newberry's. I couldn't talk my parents into buying me one but one day while walking to the local candy store I found a Franklin half laying in the grass...it truly seemed like a miracle. I immediately bought myself a periscope. >>

I enjoyed this particular reminiscence.

phillymatt

<< <i>I never got one in circulation! Guess they were gone by the 70's. >>



You are probably right, I was 10 in 1970 and I never saw any growing up in the 70s either. We were actually starting to see circulating Ikes in the 70's that was pretty cool and I do rember Kennedy halves as well when I too had a paper route.

phillymatt

Just to add one thing I bet I've seen more circulating Ikes when I was a kid than I will ever see these new golden presidential dollars circulate for the last half of my life. They are a flop.

CaptHenway

My theory as to why half dollars used to circulate, and then stopped, is that most laborers used to receive their pay each week as cash in a pay envelope. The paymasters in the larger employers, and their assistants, had to physically count out the odd sums after taxes and other deductions, and it was faster to grab one half than two quarters.

People got them, and then just spent them at the store. Nobody thought twice about getting one or passing it on.

In the 1960s this gradually changed over to a paycheck. Combined with the massive hoarding of Kennedy halves starting in 1964 and all silver soon afterwards, halves disappeared and people got out of the habit of using them. Today they are a novelty, and hoarded rather than passed on.

Just a theory; no data to back it up.

TD

PipestonePete

Thanks Lordmarcovan, I really enjoy reading your stories on the metal detecting forum. And I would really appreciate your input on an issue that I have noticed in my 15+ years of detecting (and this may have some bearing on the topic of Franklin halves circulating). I have found many more Walking Liberty halves while detecting than Franklins. Many more. I would assume that is because theFranklins weren't issued for as many years and because the days of half dollars circulating in this country pretty much ended in Dallas in 1963. What do you think? Have you had the same type of success locating Franklins via detecting?

Swampboy

<< <i>Yes!!!!! I had a paper route in the late 50's. Price for a week's worth of papers was $ 0.42. The good guys would give me a half dollar. They were mixed between Walkers and Frankies.

I also remember my mom giving both for me to go to the store for milk & bread with change returned.

That was a fun time looking back on it as these were big silver coins that you don't see anymore in circulation.

Frankies were a part of the commerce transactions...........Rick >>






I agree 100% and my paper route was '60- '61.

StampAlarm

I started 1st grade in 1959. I took a 50C piece and a nickel to school with me everyday. The 5C was for a carton of milk during morning recess.
The 50C was for lunch which was 35C and cost the same when I got out of 6th grade. Two cartons of chocolate milk with lunch and a nickel left over for a pack
of baseball cards or candy after school. The 50C was almost always a Franklin. Once in awhile a Walker though very seldom. Getting war nickels at the time was
also common.



Jerry

ProofArtworkonCircs

I counted nickels in the Boston area about 1960. They were 30 % each buffalo and war nickels.

MajorDuty

I think cap has a solid theory there, but dude (OP), you were born six years after they stopped minting the series and you question if they ever circulated? Cmom.

tightbudget

From what I see in rolls today, yes.

Type2

I was not around till 1966 by then it was all gone. But I did buy penny candy for a penny and my lunch in school was .25 .05 for milk did not think of saving any coins we did not have much then big famly of 9 it was tuff but we did OK.

Gemini

Back in the day in the late 1950's I had nearly a complete set of Franklins that I pulled from circulation excepting the 1949-S which I never did find. I did pull a full set of Roosevelts from circulation. All silver even Morgans and Peace dollars were out there at but many did not like carrying these big coins around in their pockets or purse. Many storekeepers and customers alike groaned when they were paid with a silver dollar. Silver was so common that I myself once deposited two hundred dollars in circulated Liberty Walking halves at my local Bank after having gone through their dates to help pay for a vacation. Who Knew?

ProofArtworkonCircs

In 1957, I turned 3 rolls of Newfoundland sterling silver half dollars into the bank for cash. I was pleasantly surprised that they accepted them and received thanks for giving them a heads up on what was in the rolls. At the time the Canada was worth a slight premium and Canadan coins circulated pretty freely around Bangor, Maine.

About that time I spent 6 Canadian silver dollars at a supermarket. Months later they were still rattling around in that same register drawer.

Silver was sort of looked down on by those in the know. We realised our coins were token money since the silver value was so much below face.