When and why did half dollars stop circulating like they did in the past?

WinLoseWin · April 6, 2016 5:59AM

A post in another thread got me wondering why they are no longer commonly used and have not been for decades. Seems like there are a lot of worn ones in the 1940's and earlier but no so much later. Thought it might be the switch from silver but the popularity of using the quarter dollar did not drop and probably went up. What replaced the half dollar spot in the cash register after they disappeared?

This post by lkeigwin in this topic, was the one that triggered the question:

"The WHL was the end of an era of beautiful coins. I remember worn, circulated ones in my parent's change purse. I didn't get to keep many...they were much too valuable. But I still lusted for them.

Lance."

oih82w8 · April 6, 2016 6:06AM

My father had a ceramic planter FULL of Kennedy Half Dollars...I stumbled upon them and spent quite a few of them on popcorn at school (at ten cents a bag) over a period of time. When he found out that "some" of them were missing...let's just say that I did not want to sit down for a spell. This was back in the mid 70's, so it is very probable that they were silver.

I have not been to the bank lately and acquired some "oddball" money (Half Dollars and Two Dollar Bills) lately...maybe on payday I will help these circulate some more.

Dockwalliper · April 6, 2016 6:15AM

I think that the Kennedy half ended the use of half dollar coins. In '64 when the coins first came out people hoarded them because he was such a popular president. In the years that followed the half dollars continued to contain silver so they were also hoarded. by the time the silver was removed the public had become used to not using them.

SaorAlba · April 6, 2016 6:57AM

They did circulate a little bit into the 1970s, after that they dropped off the radar. Oswald killed Kennedy, but Kennedy killed the half.

mustangmanbob · April 6, 2016 7:25AM

Vending machines stopped accepting them, since they did not "exist" for several years (all silver pulled, 40% pulled) My personal experience, being a paperboy in the mid 1960's was that I got them, but not a lot. The paper was 60 cents a week, and most people paid with 3 quarters or a dollar bills. Women were more apt to give me exact change, or want their change back on 3 quarters. Men would either pay 3 quarters no change or a dollar bill, just give me a quarter back. I learned to do collection "later" in the day to get more men.

The cash register till at school always had 50 centers, and there were several days I passed on lunch and traded my lunch money for a Barber 50 cent coin in the till, or a really nice looking Walker. Lunch was 35 cents, and milk only was 5 cents. A few times the lunch lady would have the coin set aside, took my lunch money, gave me the coin, but pointed me to the paid line.

Mintages:
1964 about 450 mil
1965 about 65 mi
1966 - 1969 : about 300 mil per year
1970 Proof and mint sets only
1971 - 1975 around 300 m per year average
Bicentennial about 550 mil

But after that, most years did not see 30 million

Since they were SO BIG, many people made them stash change. My MIL kept all of them she got, as her personal savings.

She had several hundred dollars, some 90% and some 40% among them. With a population of 250 million, and only 1 coin per every 8 people per year being made, that in itself is going to make them a non circulating coin.

But the mint makes to demand, so the demand also had died.

Chicken Egg too few, no space in the cash register, saved for personal stash, so no one "needs" them so the mint does not make them, so there are fewer around, Lather Rinse Repeat.

golden · April 6, 2016 9:18AM

Originally posted by: SaorAlba
They did circulate a little bit into the 1970s, after that they dropped off the radar. Oswald killed Kennedy, but Kennedy killed the half.

BryceM · April 6, 2016 9:41AM

They circulated a bit longer in the Mountain states. I remember getting them routinely in change into the early-mid 1980s.

..... but, we saw Ike's in circulation too, right up until the SBA came out.

WinLoseWin · April 9, 2016 8:05AM

Originally posted by: Dockwalliper

I think that the Kennedy half ended the use of half dollar coins. In '64 when the coins first came out people hoarded them because he was such a popular president. In the years that followed the half dollars continued to contain silver so they were also hoarded. by the time the silver was removed the public had become used to not using them.

That makes sense. They seemed to be a novelty in the mid 1970's and then throw in the hoarding of the bicentennial issue. The public knew a rare coin when they saw it.

TopographicOceans · April 9, 2016 8:10AM

During the 60's my parents took silver coins out of circulation and saved them in a See's Candy box.

Unfortunately times were tough in the 70's and my mom spent most of them paying for things we needed at face value.

The milkman got a lot of silver coins.

lkeigwin · April 9, 2016 8:48AM

The half dollar was more of a work horse when it had purchasing power. Today it is simple enough to use two quarters.

In other ways it's like the $50 bill. Most folks would rather have one $100 or five $20's than two $50's. I try to spend a $50 before I carelessly mix it up with $20's. I try to shed a half dollar because it's bulky and not as convenient as quarters (parking meters, toll booths, vending machines, etc.).

Lance.

IrishMikey · April 10, 2016 8:46AM

I remember in the late 1960's - early 1970's the cash register we used had 5 spaces for coins, cent through half dollar. However, hardly anyone ever paid with a half dollar, and one of my co-workers would purchase any half dollar that showed up in the till. I have to think that hoarding the 90% and 40% killed it.

CaptHenway · April 10, 2016 9:26AM

We have had many threads on this subject. If the search function worked you could read them.

Cougar1978 · April 10, 2016 9:37AM

I believe it was mainly because of the vending machine industry not accepting them. Another factor would be inflation plus the push to plastic money.

WinLoseWin · April 10, 2016 10:00AM

Originally posted by: CaptHenway

We have had many threads on this subject. If the search function worked you could read them.

The search function seems to work fairly well for me. I thought about using that but did not recall reading this before though I probably did and forgot. Plus there are always new people lurking or joining that it might be of interest to. Saw the membership recently topped 40,000.

Plus if we excluded topics that have been posted about before there would be a lot fewer topics on here, and someone may have a new twist to add.

Tomorrow I will go in a completely different direction and ask about When and why did half dollars stop circulating. Hmm, something seems vaguely familiar about that...oh well.

ambro51 · April 10, 2016 10:12AM

Worn Walkers and some franklins were active till about 62-64. Kennedy clads were in routine use up to about 1974.

ricko · April 11, 2016 1:57AM

I had paper routes in the '50's and halves were plentiful then (WLH's and Frankies)...even got a

Columbian half a few times. I miss the big coins.... and yes, the WLH was the last really attractive and artistic U.S. coin. Cheers, RickO

LindeDad · April 11, 2016 2:12AM

When ciggie butts went over a half buck and the vending machines and pool tables all just took quarters.

19Lyds · April 11, 2016 9:05AM

When and why did half dollars stop circulating like they did in the past?

Simple.

Merchants figured out that they didn't "need" them to conduct business and the fewer number of coins you have to account for, the better.

The same is true for the dollar coins with the exception of the fact that 20 Morgan Dollars in a Cash till was a LOT of money back in the 50's. Today it might be the equivalent of having $1,000 in a cash till.

And lets not forget that, in the dumbing down of the country, the average HS student doesn't have a clue on how to count back change but that fairly irrelevant.

mannie gray · April 11, 2016 11:10AM

Originally posted by: WinLoseWin

Originally posted by: Dockwalliper

I think that the Kennedy half ended the use of half dollar coins. In '64 when the coins first came out people hoarded them because he was such a popular president. In the years that followed the half dollars continued to contain silver so they were also hoarded. by the time the silver was removed the public had become used to not using them.

That makes sense. They seemed to be a novelty in the mid 1970's and then throw in the hoarding of the bicentennial issue. The public knew a rare coin when they saw it.

My thoughts exactly.

fcloud · April 11, 2016 11:25AM

basically, the Kennedy half dollar ended the circulation of half dollars. JFK was so loved people put aside every Kennedy half they received in changes, and stopped putting them back into circulation. It was just a matter of time to make them almost totally disappear.

thebeav · April 11, 2016 11:51AM

Me too.....Although my paper route was the late 60's.....Halves all the time, especially Walkers.
I had a Columbian at the time, but didn't get it collecting. Wasn't it great to collect at a house, just so you could go up to the corner and get a slice of pizza?

I tried to quote Ricko's post. Perhaps the quote feature is down?

WoodenJefferson · April 12, 2016 5:07AM

Vending machines and juke boxes never had a slot opening for the half dollar so that limited their use...then in 1964, the Kennedy half dollar finally put the last nail in the half dollar in common circulation. They were still used in casinos up until the 90's and all that is gone too.

Mercury · April 12, 2016 5:55AM

As a kid growing up in the 70's if I ever came across a half dollar, Ike Dollars or $2 bill, I kept them.
You saw them so rarely that I thought they were special and kept them.
Still have most of them today. It's a bunch of circulated crap but part of what made me get interested in coins in the first place.

epcjimi1 · April 12, 2016 6:06AM

Bell Telephone, with the quarter, dime and nickel drop holes killed the fifty cent piece.

WinLoseWin · April 12, 2016 10:52AM

Chanced upon a recent good article on Coinweek.com about exactly this topic and their disappearance from circulation by the mid-1970's.

It has some funny comments and an embedded episode of Let's Make A Deal. Just be careful not to waste 30 minutes of your life watching it (I only wasted about 20 minutes). The offer by Monty to pay anyone with a half dollar occurs at the very end during the credits. Sounds like no one had any. At least the world and TV have gotten so much more intelligent since then, right? Or not.

The “Other” Monty Hall Problem: Disappearing Half Dollars

DBSTrader2 · April 18, 2016 7:47AM

Personally, I wish the Mint (Congress) would stop producing them as part of just Mint, Proof, and special sets. If they're no longer circulating, just discontinue them. I have blue Whitman folders with every date since '64, and feel obligated to keep filling the holes, even though no longer circulating or at face value.

Like Canada with their cent, I'd like to see the half just dropped "cold-turkey".

BillJones · April 18, 2016 7:55AM

The Kennedy half dollar killed the denomination twice.

First people hoarded them like crazy. Then the Coinage Act of 1965 created the 40% silver clad half. By the end of the decade, silver bullion had risen to the point where the 40% silver coins were worth hoarding for their metal content too.

That left the vast majority of Americans' totally confused. Despite the fact ALL of the silver went out of the half dollar in 1971, people continued to hoard them because they thought that the coin was somehow worth more than its face value. I can't tell you how many hoards of copper-nickel clad Kennedy coins I've seen mixed in with 90% silver hoards. You simply could not explain to people, and have them remember than half dollars dated in the 1980s were not worth hoarding.

By the end of '80s the half dollar was really dead when the government started issuing the Anthony Dollars that were smaller than the half dollar. Talk about confusion ... if the half dollars had circulated at all.

giantsfan20 · April 18, 2016 9:50AM

Picked up 4 rolls at credit union and of course NO silver roll was bank wrapped.

The trend of casinos going to a paperless coin system did not help the half dollar.Saves casino $$ .Miss hearing the noise of coins when you hopefully win

When and why did half dollars stop circulating like they did in the past?

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