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When and Why Did Half Dollars Stop Circulating
Coinosaurus
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The Barbers and Walker are always worn, the Franklins not so much and the Kennedys not at all. When did people stop using half dollars, and why?
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A hefty silver half transformed into a big hunk of nothing.
As I recall, on those occasions, some of our more senior members (perhaps even CaptHenway) suggested that half dollars circulated readily until the Kennedy half dollar was introduced. (An older friend of mine, when asked one time, confirmed that she remembered spending and receiving Franklin halves.)
Reportedly, the Kennedy half was in such great demand as a souvenir that it wasn't seen in circulation for a number of years and the manufacturers of vending machines didn't make sure that their machines would accept halves.
As a result, when the Kennedy half did return to circulation, most people had forgotten the denomination and those who did couldn't use them in vending machines, at which point the denomination pretty much stopped being used, except in some slot machines.
Since I live in New Jersey, when I used to get rolls of halves from the bank (in the 1990s, mostly) I found many coins whose reeded edged had been pounded flat, presumably by long usage in slot machines.
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Half dollars circulated very freely until the introduction of the Kennedy half in 1964. After that they just stopped being used in regular commerce. There are several reasons why this happened. First, the increasing value of silver at the time caused the silver coins to be hoarded for their silver content. Half dollars were prime targets for this hoarding because they were the largest regular circulation coin at the time (Silver Dollars did not circulate to any extent). Second, the hoarding of the Kennedy halves took place on a m*****ive scale. Essentially, they never did circulate, they were just hoarded.
I asked the same question a couple years ago and this was the conclusion of the previous thread.
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They still give them out in change at West Virginia University football games in the concessions. All the food and drinks are priced in whole or half dollar amounts, so they always give Kennedy Halves in change.
Same at Michigan State. Just got one last weekend.
-Paul
They stopped in 1964....everyone hoarded the "new" Kennedy halfs as they were felt to be collector items or momentos to our beloved recently slain president.
Then with the switch to clad in 1965 everyone started hoarding all silver coins.
They never caught on again after 1965 .
Half dollars circulated very freely until the introduction of the Kennedy half in 1964. After that they just stopped being used in regular commerce. There are several reasons why this happened. First, the increasing value of silver at the time caused the silver coins to be hoarded for their silver content. Half dollars were prime targets for this hoarding because they were the largest regular circulation coin at the time (Silver Dollars did not circulate to any extent). Second, the hoarding of the Kennedy halves took place on a m*****ive scale. Essentially, they never did circulate, they were just hoarded.
The auto censure is ridiculous!
BHNC #203
Oswald killed Kennedy
Kennedy killed the half.
They freely circulated in the 1950s.
They stopped in 1964....everyone hoarded the "new" Kennedy halfs as they were felt to be collector items or momentos to our beloved recently slain president.
Then with the switch to clad in 1965 everyone started hoarding all silver coins.
They never caught on again after 1965 .
This describes it very well, IMO.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
The Kennedy half dollar changed everything for the 50 cent piece. People hoarded them as souvenirs and did not spend them. Just at the time when the novelty with the Kennedy coin might have come to an end, silver prices began to be creep up to the point where the metal content of the 90% silver coins was approaching their face value. That combined with a shortage of silver resulted in the Coinage Act of 1965. That give us our current clad coinage and, for a while, the 40% silver Kennedy half dollar. Had the half dollar been made into a copper-nickel clad coin instead of a silver clad coin, the Kennedy might have returned to circulation.
In the coming years silver prices reached the point where the 40% silver half dollars were worth more than their face value. People hoarded them as well. In 1971 the Kennedy half dollar became a base metal clad coin. At that point it made no sense to hoard them, but people continued to do it. They were confused by the fact that the 1965 to 1970 coins could be melted for a profit, but the later coins could not. They hoarded everything. I can't tell you how many private hoards of coins I've seen that had copper-nickel clad half dollars in them. People were surprised when I'd tell them, "Spend this in good health."
That sums up the death of the half dollar. It had nothing to do with the weight of the coin, at least not initially. The coin just couldn't get into circulation to any extent because, first, the Kennedy fascination and, second, because people were confused over its melt value.
They freely circulated in the 1950s.
They stopped in 1964....everyone hoarded the "new" Kennedy halfs as they were felt to be collector items or momentos to our beloved recently slain president.
Then with the switch to clad in 1965 everyone started hoarding all silver coins.
They never caught on again after 1965 .
This describes it very well, IMO.
The vending machines only worked with the small change, quarters and below also.
Sodas, candy, cigarettes, subway turnstiles, all the things you used change for at that time.
Slots were never made big enough for the half, part of the reason we adopted the small dollar coin too.
Half dollars circulated very freely until the introduction of the Kennedy half in 1964. After that they just stopped being used in regular commerce. There are several reasons why this happened. First, the increasing value of silver at the time caused the silver coins to be hoarded for their silver content. Half dollars were prime targets for this hoarding because they were the largest regular circulation coin at the time (Silver Dollars did not circulate to any extent). Second, the hoarding of the Kennedy halves took place on a m*****ive scale. Essentially, they never did circulate, they were just hoarded.
I remember going to the bank and bringing home bags ( $1000 ) of half dollars to look through to fill my Whitman folders. This was in 1964.
for me since I never had many of them. I still see some clad halves in cash registers from time to time... but that is rare. I liked the half dollar, probably because, as a kid, it was a lot of
money and impressive size. I still use change and usually have about a dollar and a half in my
pocket.... some cents, nickels, dimes and quarters. I use them in purchases.... giving exact
change when possible. Cheers, RickO
AB
while cumbersom, i think it is an enjoable experience paying with ikes, kennedys, prez, sac etc.
overall, my experience and those recipients appear positive.
useless, not imo but cumbersom and a bit risky to having laying around the vehicle.
why did face value silver coinage stop circulating. seems obvious.
heavy and valuable (value being a debatable subject).
.
Between the switch to clad (making coins just as worthless as paper); and inflation at it's height in the late 60's and early 70's, the weight (and size) to value ratio dropped, and make paper money replacement more feasible.
The other death knell was the rise of the general use credit card (such as BankAmericard) in the late 60's. Carrying cash in general was less popular.
I also agree with the switch to the Kennedy seemed to make it (at the time) more of a commem than a circulating coin. But by that time, it was easier to throw 50 cents into the sock drawer than it was, say 20 years before when the dollar had a higher worth.
in 1968 Canada removed silver from the half, reduced the weight from 11.66 grams to 8.1 grams, reduced diameter from 29.72 mm to 27.1 mm.
Now halves do not circulate in Canad. We can't blame Kennedy for that.
Beginning ni 1971 in the USA, halves were readily available at banks, but not in circulation. The banks had got out of the habit of using them. Other than banks few went out of their way to get halves, even pre-1964..
In 1975 I asked a local bank branch manager to get me some bicentennial halves. He said he had hundreds of dollars worth of halves on hand and did not want any more. He would order me a bag, if I promised to take them all. I got friends at work to pool their money and come up with a thousand dollars. The coins came in and the Bank President at the home office grabbed them all and I had to return all that money on the eve of vacation. I sort of enjoyed reading about him later when he was arrested for bank fraud.
A friend had been in Poland shortly after the Kennedy half came out and told me waitresses would get more excited by getting a Kennedy half than they would have with a $5 tip.
That's the way it happened. Had they not switched to clad in 1965, many more Kennedy's would have made it to circulation. But halves were heavy and a pain to carry around. I could never get them to fit in my bell-bottom jeans
"Just because you were born on 3rd base doesn't mean you hit a triple"
About a month ago, my friendly bank teller asked me if I would like to buy some half dollars that another customer had just brought in. I said, "sure." She brought out $200 worth. That's four hundred coins. O.k. I looked through them. Nothing of any collectable value. What a suprise! Now, I've got four hundred half dollars. They're really heavy. Extremely heavy. And bulky. I bought gas. Paid for it with some of the half dollars. Do you have any idea how ridiculous it was handling giant handfuls of half dollars to pay for that gas? Well, it was, ridiculous. That's why people don't use half dollars anymore. Because it's ridiculous.
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I remember probably 20 years ago, when I gave out a
Kennedy Half at the movies - the 20-something behind
the window looked at it, and said "Haven't seen one of these
in a long time".
Then, because I'll spend odd pieces, about 10 years ago, I gave
one at a Starbucks (or Peets?), and the vendor said "What's that?"
Then, about 5 years ago, I spend one someplace, and the person
who took it looked at it for a few seconds, and then said "WHO is that?"
With the younger generation(s), we've gone from "Haven't Seen One in awhile",
to "What's That?", to "Who is That?"
for PCGS. A 49+-Year PNG Member...A full numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022
Half dollars circulated very freely until the introduction of the Kennedy half in 1964. After that they just stopped being used in regular commerce. There are several reasons why this happened. First, the increasing value of silver at the time caused the silver coins to be hoarded for their silver content. Half dollars were prime targets for this hoarding because they were the largest regular circulation coin at the time (Silver Dollars did not circulate to any extent). Second, the hoarding of the Kennedy halves took place on a m*****ive scale. Essentially, they never did circulate, they were just hoarded.
What he said. It is ironic that Eva Adams who was director of the Mint at the time blamed coin collectors for the shortage of silver coins that had been developing slowly since the early 1960s (when I remember the coolness of Franklin halves -- an everyday occurrence in change to that point -- and Walking Liberty halves as well in change, along with a very infrequent Barber slick, usually a dime). The widespread use of vending machines and dime telephone booths was also to blame -- as was the rise of roll hoarding. But when President Kennedy was **********inated (let's see what the robo-editor does to that one), the introduction of the new design made the problem so much worse, as everybody hoarded the half dollars, and it was about that time that the smaller-denomination silver coins as well disappeared from circulation. Sure, you could still get 40% halves from 1965-67 but no one cared about those back then.
The vending machine industry prefers quarters, half dollars were never even in the equation. I believe this is another reason for the demise of the half dollar. One can use half dollars at fast food drive thrus, especially the dollar menu. I have a large change box in the glove compartment of my car. I like to give fast food outlets exact change.
Why not use half and dollar coins now? The vending machine industry does not want to retool plus it would appear to the public an open admission that our money has declined in value. Half dollar coins are probably too bulky for our current pay by cell phone culture.
As an investor I prefer half dollar and dollar sized silver coins.
Yes, they really stopped circulating after the Kennedy was issued in 1964 because people were understandably too sentimental about spending a Kennedy Half at that time in history. And the trend continued.
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circulating.
In 1965 silver came out of the coins and people were hoarding. With Franklins
and Walkers you didn't even have to check the date.
More and more vending machines took $1.00 bills instead of 50 cent coins.
They have the same problem as all of our coins for circulation - they don't buy anything.
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