When did half dollars effectively cease to circulate (other than in casinos)?
oreville
Posts: 12,126 ✭✭✭✭✭
I wonder if the dearth of half dollar production in the 1920's was when the half dollars essentially stopped circulating other than in the gambling casinos?
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
A Collectors Universe poster since 1997!
0
Comments
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Treasury tried again in 1934 to boost circulation by increasing production and by 1938 demand for all coinage was so high that the mints often worked 2 or 3 shifts, six days per week. After WW-II ended demand plummeted, and huge stocks of halves sat in the mint and Federal Reserve Bank vaults. This was the primary reason no Franklin halves were struck at San Francisco in 1948.
Halves have not been an important part of circulating coinage since about 1946 – regardless to mintage quantities.
EBAY Items
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrlamir
Kennedy killed the half dollar due to its pure brutal design.
Collector of US Small Size currency, Atlanta FRNs, and Georgia nationals since 1977. Researcher of small size US type - seeking serial number data for all FRN star notes, Series 1928 to 1934-D. Life member SPMC.
I don't recall ever seeing a fifty cent slot.
50 cents = 2 bits, correct ?
more likely to get three quarters than a half and a quarter. This remained true
up until the mid'60's when halfs started getting even less well used.
While the Kennedy design gets a lot of the blame for this much had to do with
inflation. Vending machines rarely accepted half dollars but it didn't matter be-
cause a quarter would buy any of the products typically seen in machines. All
of a sudden in the mid-'60's cigarettes were starting to cost more than a quarter.
This was at the same time that all the silver coins were disappearing from circu-
lation. By the time that half dollars were commonly available again around 1967
few people wanted them. More accurately perhaps, some people didn't want to
have anything to do with them since they didn't work in machines.
Halfs circulated fairly widely albeit with very low velocity until the early '80's. Af-
ter this they were used almost exclusively in casinos.
While the Kennedy design may have played a role in the failure of the half as a
circulating coin, it was inflation that did it in. It was the fact that the FED didn't
do anything to encourage its use. It may have been impossible to entice the
vending machine companies to convert their machines to accept halfs anyway.
The denomination was not widely popular so it just faded away.
<< <i>When did casinos use fifty cent peices ?
I don't recall ever seeing a fifty cent slot.
50 cents = 2 bits, correct ? >>
50 cents = 4 bits
A recent incident concerning halves and quarters: My wife was waiting at the store deli and the first customer (a woman in her late 20's) was wavering between buying a half pound and a quarter pound of whatever it was. She then asked, "is a quarter less than a half?" My wife, the deli person and another customer were too stunned to laugh.
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
1964 was the last year I remember half dollars circulating freely...many a time I would look in my Grandmother's change purse and pull out a Franklin, flip it with my thumb high into the air, listen to the ring, shiny, bright...catch it, put it back and just take a nickel. Those nickels she never missed.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
My guess as I recall the events.
bob
<< <i>Was she buying "Chicken of the Sea"? >>
No, but her hair was the same color!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
The real truth is that the Kennedy half dollar is soo ugly that people were afraid to put it in their pockets and purses out of fear that they would catch something awful from this coin. Something that would be incurable, inoperable and highly contagious. This was also one of the reasons that they would not let their children touch these coins.
Even the Frankie, in all its bald glory was used daily and saved in piggy banks and loved by children of all ages, races and creeds.
Then the mint for whatever reason....probably payback to the Russians for something....produced that Kennedy design. The rest is history.
This is the real reason.....no lie.
as in, by the time the 60s finished and along came 1970.. the
day of the half dollar was over. fini.
<< <i>
<< <i>When did casinos use fifty cent peices ?
I don't recall ever seeing a fifty cent slot.
50 cents = 2 bits, correct ? >>
50 cents = 4 bits >>
Back in the day people used to cut up dubloons into eight pieces. First, they cut in half, then quarters, then eighths. Each on of those "pieces of eight' was called a "bit." Thus two bits, the price one might pay for the proverbial shave and a haircut, is indeed 25 cents.
<< <i>A major reason for giving the half dollar it own distinctive design in 1916 was to help encourage its circulation. Demand had been declining for years, yet the mint liked the larger coin because it cost little more than other denominations to strike, yet provided twice the seigniorage of a quarter. After 1904 it was also the nation’s largest silver coin.
Treasury tried again in 1934 to boost circulation by increasing production and by 1938 demand for all coinage was so high that the mints often worked 2 or 3 shifts, six days per week. After WW-II ended demand plummeted, and huge stocks of halves sat in the mint and Federal Reserve Bank vaults. This was the primary reason no Franklin halves were struck at San Francisco in 1948.
Halves have not been an important part of circulating coinage since about 1946 – regardless to mintage quantities. >>
I respectfully disagree. I remember getting half dollars in change in the early 60's and not thinking anything about it. There were plenty of old, well-worn ones from the teens, 20's and 30's, enough for me to buy the blue Whitman folders for them.
The laundromat that my mother went to had dryers that cost a dime, and there was one change machine that only gave five dimes for a half dollar.
The juke box at the neighborhood steak-n-eggs restaurant had the remote consoles in the booths. One song was a dime, or three for a quarter, or seven for a half dollar.
The half disappeared when the Kennedy came out and all of them were hoarded for several years, and people got out of the habit of using them. A new generation of vending machines came out that didn't take them, and by the time the Mint came out with the non-silver ones in 1971 people had already stopped using them.
TD
<< <i>
I respectfully disagree. I remember getting half dollars in change in the early 60's and not thinking anything about it. There were plenty of old, well-worn ones from the teens, 20's and 30's, enough for me to buy the blue Whitman folders for them.
The laundromat that my mother went to had dryers that cost a dime, and there was one change machine that only gave five dimes for a half dollar.
The juke box at the neighborhood steak-n-eggs restaurant had the remote consoles in the booths. One song was a dime, or three for a quarter, or seven for a half dollar.
The half disappeared when the Kennedy came out and all of them were hoarded for several years, and people got out of the habit of using them. A new generation of vending machines came out that didn't take them, and by the time the Mint came out with the non-silver ones in 1971 people had already stopped using them.
>>
This is not entirely consistent weith my memory.
Laundromats and a few places had machines which took half dollars to
make change but these were seldom encountered. No machines in my
memory accepted half dollars to dispense product. I remember seeing
a few machines with slots large enough for halfs but this was in the late
'60's and they didn't actually accept them according to the signs.
Half dollars were still in use after the Kennedy came out though they were
all Franklins, walkers and a few Columbian. These did not disappeae appre-
ciably sooner than the other denominations though their velocity in circula-
tion was slowing relative other denominations.
If you look at the mintages of half dollars you'll see that they didn't keep
pace with the quarters for decades. Disregarding transactions under a quar-
ter there would need to be about 65% as many halfs as quarters if they
were used interchangeably. But this is not the case especially after WW II.
Half dollars have far lower production rates because they were not as heav-
ily used and were not used in machines.
It is true that the few halfs that did circulate were used heavily. This is evi-
denced by the fact that they tend to have a little heavier wear than quarters.
Of course you have to figure in that much of the wear in modern times is im-
parted in counting operations and the extra weight of half dollars means they
will experience more wear being counted.
Half dollars are also a little more universally worn than quarters. Fewer sat
for protracted periods in storage or piggy banks. There was not a great deal
of collector interest in quarters because of their massive face value but there
was even less in half dollars. This meant they weren't sitting in collections as
much either. Today you'll see the wear on these coins for a particular date is
clustered around a single or a couple grades while in 1964 you could find 1932
quarters that ranged from AU- to P.
If people were demanding half dollars in 1965 they could have gotten some
of the hundreds of millions in circulation. It's true that there were no halfs dat-
ed after 1963 available but this mattered little since people just weren't using
them. It's not impossible that the FED played a role in this but it appeared to
me that the primary culprit was escalating prices. I, personally, quit using halfs
about this time because they couldn't be spent everywhere. I clearly rememb-
er other people as well asking for no halfs or handing them back for quarters.
I had forgotten the juke boxes that accepted halfs. These had no discriminat-
ors and in those days it would be a big loss to get a few slugs.
were tremendous mintages to replace all those coins as they went out of cir-
culation and to satisfy new demand. 4.2 billion quarters were made in twenty
eight months up to the beginning of 1968. 5.2 billion dimes were made in an
even shorter period. There was huge demand for these coins because they
were being pulled out of circulation. The FED didn't start pulling them out until
July, '68. Half dollars were being removed at the same or a slightly fater rate
yet fewer than 500 million silver clad halfs were produced. While these were
not widely hoarded since they were only 40%, there was still some hoarding and
these numbers are simply not indicative of a circulating coin. By 1970 there wasn't
enough demand to even warrant production though one suspects that the mint
looked forward to being able to make them cheaper in '71.
But the demand was gone. The introduction of the Kennedy was mostly coinci-
dental to its disappearance.
I grew up in a suburb of Detroit, which at the time was a great factory town. Factory workers got paid every week with a pay envelope that had written on it the worker's name, hours worked, gross pay, deductions and net pay. Inside the envelope was cash, paper and coins because the deductions could be any odd amount.
Paymasters and their assistants had to count out that exact amount of paper and coin, and at some factories this could mean thousands of pay envelopes. It would have been worth their while to order half dollars from the banks to speed up the counting process. The workers would simply spend the half dollars like any other money, and the stores would give them out in change like any other money. Repeated week after week, this would have guaranteed a constant supply of half dollars into circulation. (And, I might add, the dragging of the coins over the counting tables could account for the very flat wear seen on Barber and Walking Liberty halves.)
This changed in the 1960's as people began getting paychecks rather than pay envelopes. The workers would cash their checks at a bank, where the tellers, not as rushed as the paymasters, would simply use quarters. The hoarding of the Kennedys then finished off the denomination.
TD
<< <i>I've said this before, but here it goes again. I had a paper route in the late 50's. The price of the paper was 7 cents a day or 42 cents for the week (no Sunday paper). 90% of my customers would pay me with half dollars (evenly split walkers & frankies) and the 8 cents was the tip. I didn't see half dollars diappear until the Kennedy came out and the metal content changed. That's my recollection and tomorrow I will be on a beach in Belize for a week. Have a great long weekend...................Rick >>
That's the way I remember it, too.
The Kennedy half being hoarded and the change to clad coins caused the demise of the use of the half dollar. Many people hoarded the silver halves thinking that the silver had value and the clad didn't.
I'm sure there are a few casino's that still have half dollar coin slots. Less and less each year due to ticket-in ticket-out conversions. It won't be long before there will be no slot machines that take coins of any kind.
I respectfully disagree with your disagreement of disagreeing. (??)
There is considerable difference between occasionally being given a half dollar in change, or getting them from the bank, vs the overall usage of the half dollar in commerce. My earlier comments refer to general commercial usage and are based directly on contemporary documentation, not personal anecdotes.
(On a personal basis, I “circulated” half dollars a lot as a kid. I liked the old design and the ability to get a roll from the bank and quickly fill holes for my collection. I found nearly everything except 1938-D in rolls from the bank, i.e.: “circulation.” They felt like real money. I still “circulate” halves – and get all the weird looks from Wally-Mart checkers as do other coin collectors.)
The Good Capt.’s scenario is quite reasonable. Most companies that paid employees in cash used various counting/dispensing machines such as the Brandt Cashier to aid clerks in making up the weekly pay envelopes. (See RAC 1916-1921 for a description of this device.) Given the localization of economies until after WW-II, an area whose economy was based on factories paying cash wages (think of Lowell, MA or other mill towns), halves could easily have been an important part of the local cash. But this would have been a localized exception to a much larger national trend as documented in Treasury archives.
Fighting the Fight for 11 Years with the big "C" - Never Ever Give Up!
Member PCGS Open Forum board 2002 - 2006 (closed end of 2006) Current board since 2006 Successful trades with many members, over the past two decades, never a bad deal.
Not so - halves were circulated routinely through the mid-60s.
As the silver was removed, the usage dwindled but it didn't really stop. Clad halves were certainly used into the 1970's, as evidenced by the numbers of circulated halves from then.
Recognition that Ikes weren't being used resulted in their discontinuance in 1978. I'd say that halves followed suit in about 1982-1983, as quarters became even more prevalent as the change coin of choice.
I knew it would happen.
<< <i>Jukeboxes from the late 30's to 1950 used nickels and held up to 24 records. In 1950 Seeburg came out with a jukebox that held 50 records or 100 songs and each song was a nickel. In 1955 Seeburg put out a 100 record or 200 song jukebox and each song was a dime. When the price for a song went to a dime most jukeboxes took nickels, dimes, quarters,and half dollars. From around 1957 to 1963 was when the half dollars were used in jukeboxes.
The Kennedy half being hoarded and the change to clad coins caused the demise of the use of the half dollar. Many people hoarded the silver halves thinking that the silver had value and the clad didn't.
I'm sure there are a few casino's that still have half dollar coin slots. Less and less each year due to ticket-in ticket-out conversions. It won't be long before there will be no slot machines that take coins of any kind. >>
I'm not much of a gambler, but aren't (weren't?) half dollars used in casinos at the blackjack tables to pay out some sort of $2.50 return on a $5 bet?
TD
Well, at least I am not alone in remembering the half dollar in common circulation before 1964. As you say this may have been localized in factory towns, but we used to have a lot of those in America.
I too continue to spend them and/or use them as tip money, along with $2 bills and the occasional Ike dollar. It's nice to work at a coin shop where you can get them at face value.
TD
peacockcoins
The silver hoarders worked on the bulk by going after 90% in '64 and previous years. The '65-'69 Kennedy half circulated quite a bit because I had a paper route in those years and remember getting them quite frequently. Even into the seventies, the Kennedy half was useful just not often seen.
Then the bicentennial came and I think the deluge from the mint sealed it's fate. The hoarding started with that issue (again).... It seems they kind of died by 1980. I don't remember seeing many in circulation after that, and the Susan B seemed even crazier because of the likes of the Ike. It was another coin that wasn't heavily used. The dollar coin is so big it should be valued at $5. The small dollar should amount to $1.00 and the half should be $2.50.
Why is a nickel bigger than a dime (even the metal compostion is more valueable now) ? and why is a penny saved a penny earned ? A penny saved is a penny corroded.
I think for the sake of the blind, we could simplify our money and use it in daily transactions again.
Sure they circulated to some extent, but the key word in my comment is "important." While hoarding of the Kennedy half in 1964 and later was substantial (as was production), the price of silver was the final nail in the coffin. Quarters were, and are, the workhorse denomination compared to halves. An additional part of the low circulation of halves is that most early coin operated telephones did not accept half dollars. 50-cent was simply too much value for telephone and other "slot" machines used by most consumers. Cents, nickels, dimes and quarters were the preferred coins of commerce. I doubt a convincing argument can be made for any one cause-effect for reduced circulation of halves, although its final withdrawal is clearly connected to the price of silver in the mid-1960s
<< <i>(Cue Aretha Franklin's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T!")
Well, at least I am not alone in remembering the half dollar in common circulation before 1964. As you say this may have been localized in factory towns, but we used to have a lot of those in America.
I too continue to spend them and/or use them as tip money, along with $2 bills and the occasional Ike dollar. It's nice to work at a coin shop where you can get them at face value.
TD >>
Half dollars were in widespread circulation at least in the midwest.
But mintages and the surviving populations today don't lie. These were
not used interchangeably with quarters. If you had 75c change coming
you'd get 3 quarters more than half the time.
Prices rose throughout the '50's and early '60's but by '65 they were be-
ginning to accelerate. Vending machines were getting more common and
they didn't accept half dollars. Indeed, it was the growth in the usage of
vending machines that was one of the primary culprits in the great coin
shortage. These machines each held large numbers of coins out of circu-
lation for up to months at a time.
Look at nickels. Production of these dropped precipitously in mid-'65 and
didn't rebound until 1970. This was because the public wasn't hoarding
them for their silver and there wasn't nearly so much demand for them in
the machines. Many transactions in the machines involved a nickel but they
did before inflation as well. You might have even used a couple nickels in-
stead of a dime before since machines have always had trouble with dimes.
By the early '70's it was typical to just pump enough quarters as necessary
and get your change.
The economy needs more coin than just what is worn out or lost. This loss
is pretty substantial now days in any case with a 1% attrition, millions of
quarter collectors, and the continuing growth in the economy. Each time a
store is built it needs cash registers full of coin. This demand translates to
the mint through the FED. When the stores order coin through their bank
the FED is responsible for delivering it. They plan mint activity accordingly.
<< <i>I'd also go along with the 1964'ish line of reasoning if it wasn't for the fact that although plenty of worn out F02- VG08 Walkers can be located (even after a large melting spree in the late 70's), I rarely come across a Franklin that is worse than FN12 or so. I've never seen one in AG or less. >>
I remember trying to help my brother find nice attractive '48 and '49 Franklins
for his sets. They were tough except in worn condition.
This isn't really relevant to your argument but the '53 was so heavily picked
over by collectors that it was tough as well. '52-D wasn't so hard but the '53
was.
Was lucky back then in the late 1950's as I had an allowance of 6 bucks a week---lived with both parents and grandparents. Better yet, I was in charge of collecting ALL monies at our grade school in downtown Baltimore. The nuns sold milk and orange juice in the afternoons---5 cents---And candy was a penny a piece. By the end of each afternoon, I had a lot of change. I would sort through and substitute my money for what I wanted for my collection. I did this every school day. And, even though 50 cents was a lot of money for a parent to give a kid in those days, I had half dollars given to me all of the time. As far as I was concerned, I saw half dollars virtually everywhere. No trouble to get them at banks or local corner grocery stores. I had two Walker sets and two Franklin sets as a kid. I needed 9 Walkers to finish my number 1 set and 11 to finish my 2nd set. Both Franklin sets were complete. I was ALWAYS looking for upgrades for my half dollars.
My dad was a purser for a steamship company. He paid off the foreign ships in the Baltimore harbor---in cash---on Fridays. He had a "bank" in with several of the major downtown Baltimore banks. The papers hyped the new half dollar in 1964. We all knew the day that the banks would have the coins. Dad went during his lunch hour to get some for me. He got two coins. The limit was two coins per person. The bank was afraid that it wouldn't have enough to distribute two to each person. I remember being shocked when he handed me just two halves that evening. It created a feeling that you had better get your half dollars---or you just might not get them at all.
Then, in 1965, it went 40% clad. I ABSOLUTELY HATED it. And, in truth, I HATED the U.S. government for changing the composition of the half dollar. Folks seriously started hoarding ALL silver coins--- half dollars and Morgans and Peace Dollars too. It seemed most folks realized a sense of value that had been taken from us. Our coins were not silver anymore and I remember hoarding the silver coins whenever possible. I do not think that it had anything to do with the half dollar now being a Kennedy. It had to do with the coins NOT being silver anymore. Folks hoarded the 1964 coins. I remember it being tough to get the "D" minted coins here in Maryland----and I saved the few that I did get.
To me, the changing of the composition of the half---and the subsequent hoarding of ALL the silver coinage---That led to the finish of the half dollar. Certainly, it not being used in vending machines---and not in the laundry business etc., helped its decline as well. For me, I just saved only one or two coins from each year after 1964. I didn't really want any part of the 40% halves until many years later. I can remember sitting at home and telling the family how I Hated the new 40% halves. How it would be the downfall of coin collecting. And, I was 18 in 1964.
During the mid to late 1950's, I also talked to my parents and grandparents about what happened to the old 'gold' certificates---and the old gold coins. Why my family didn't have any?? My distrust of government was probably formed at that time. So, by 1965, I had little faith that the system was very honest at all. Or that the system was at all interested in the coin collecting community. My coin collecting then went off to collecting CC20's in the late 1960's. A far cry from the cents and Buff nickels to the Walkers and Morgans of my youth. Bob [supertooth]
<< <i>Rather than pick sides to an interesting issue, I'll just tell my remembrances. First, I am 61 now, and started collecting for real in 1955.
Was lucky back then in the late 1950's as I had an allowance of 6 bucks a week---lived with both parents and grandparents. Better yet, I was in charge of collecting ALL monies at our grade school in downtown Baltimore. The nuns sold milk and orange juice in the afternoons---5 cents---And candy was a penny a piece. By the end of each afternoon, I had a lot of change. I would sort through and substitute my money for what I wanted for my collection. I did this every school day. And, even though 50 cents was a lot of money for a parent to give a kid in those days, I had half dollars given to me all of the time. As far as I was concerned, I saw half dollars virtually everywhere. No trouble to get them at banks or local corner grocery stores. I had two Walker sets and two Franklin sets as a kid. I needed 9 Walkers to finish my number 1 set and 11 to finish my 2nd set. Both Franklin sets were complete. I was ALWAYS looking for upgrades for my half dollars.
My dad was a purser for a steamship company. He paid off the foreign ships in the Baltimore harbor---in cash---on Fridays. He had a "bank" in with several of the major downtown Baltimore banks. The papers hyped the new half dollar in 1964. We all knew the day that the banks would have the coins. Dad went during his lunch hour to get some for me. He got two coins. The limit was two coins per person. The bank was afraid that it wouldn't have enough to distribute two to each person. I remember being shocked when he handed me just two halves that evening. It created a feeling that you had better get your half dollars---or you just might not get them at all.
Then, in 1965, it went 40% clad. I ABSOLUTELY HATED it. And, in truth, I HATED the U.S. government for changing the composition of the half dollar. Folks seriously started hoarding ALL silver coins--- half dollars and Morgans and Peace Dollars too. It seemed most folks realized a sense of value that had been taken from us. Our coins were not silver anymore and I remember hoarding the silver coins whenever possible. I do not think that it had anything to do with the half dollar now being a Kennedy. It had to do with the coins NOT being silver anymore. Folks hoarded the 1964 coins. I remember it being tough to get the "D" minted coins here in Maryland----and I saved the few that I did get.
To me, the changing of the composition of the half---and the subsequent hoarding of ALL the silver coinage---That led to the finish of the half dollar. Certainly, it not being used in vending machines---and not in the laundry business etc., helped its decline as well. For me, I just saved only one or two coins from each year after 1964. I didn't really want any part of the 40% halves until many years later. I can remember sitting at home and telling the family how I Hated the new 40% halves. How it would be the downfall of coin collecting. And, I was 18 in 1964.
During the mid to late 1950's, I also talked to my parents and grandparents about what happened to the old 'gold' certificates---and the old gold coins. Why my family didn't have any?? My distrust of government was probably formed at that time. So, by 1965, I had little faith that the system was very honest at all. Or that the system was at all interested in the coin collecting community. My coin collecting then went off to collecting CC20's in the late 1960's. A far cry from the cents and Buff nickels to the Walkers and Morgans of my youth. Bob [supertooth] >>
Cu/ ni clad was a big shock to coin collectors. It was obvious very early on
that all the silver (meaning the old coins) would soon be gone from circula-
tion. The FED was still releasing brand new silver dimes in 1967 that were
not even a year old yet but the other dimes were already greatly diminished
in number.
In those days few of us believed it was necessary to remove the silver from
the coins. The treasury still had enormous stockpiles of silver and then there
was the huge amount under control of the military. We believed that if they
would make more coins people would quit hoarding it. Many years later it was
apparent that the government knew that inflation had to push the value of
silver higher than face value so it had to happen. This happened all over the
world really starting in 1945 and the US was one of the last countries to fail
in issuing silver.
The ag/ cu clad half dollar was not any more liked than the cu/ ni clad. If any-
thing it was probably more hated because it reminded us what we lost. The
public hardly noticed any of these changes but collectors and hoarders certainly
did. Nobody really hoarded the 40% coins much. Many people did save one as
a memento but the 90% silver coins weren't that difficult to find by this time if
one wanted them. There weren't many in circulation but there were a few and
everyone had one.
The removal of silver hardly happened in a vacuum. It happened in the midst of
a coin shortage. This may have been engineered to some extent to deflect at-
tention away from the changes taking place but if you look at the mintages and
lived through the times then you know there was really a shortage of coins. It
was primarily silver in shortage but coin collectors got blamed because of the huge
numbers of cents and nickels we accumulated for "future collectors". This led to
the punishment of collectors by various means. There were a series of date freezes.
It was first announced that the '64 date would continue into the indefinite future
even after the composition changed with the rationale being collectors wouldn't
save coins if they all had the same date.
Then When the clads were issued in November, 65 they said this date would never
change. Additionally mint marks were removed which stung all the more since all
three mint were striking all the coins again for the first time in more than a decade.
Both mint and proof sets were suspended and it was later they announced a new
set which was neither fish nor fowl; the SMS. These were mostly ignored but sales
weren't awful.
If you didn't mind all these things there was the Bible bill before Congress which would
essentially make coin collecting illegal. It applied primarily to moderns but could have
had ramifications even for the older coins.
Unsurprisingly people just quit collecting new coins. You can find dozens of old col-
lections that stop dead at 1964 for every one you find that continues on. Even the
cent and nickel collectors just stopped at 1964 even though these coins went on un-
changed and mintages plummeted.
Half dollars just got lost in the hubbub. The FED rounded up all the 90% silver coins
by the autumn of 1969 and this included the bulk of all the half dollars ever made. The
'64 Kennedy was very lightly represented because these were in sock drawers but the
other halfs were there. All these coins were melted. Keep in mind though that they re-
covered only about 20% of the dimes and quarters because the public beat them to the
rest. They probably got only about 15% of the halfs but this is supposition based on the
fact that half dollar circulation was slowing so fewer should be in storage. I've never seen
actual numbers for these broken down by denomination; just total recovered silver.
The Kennedy was highly unpopular to collectors for a host of reasons. Many people con-
sider it an ugly coin. Many place much of the blame for the withdrawl of silver on Kennedy.
Many think the introduction of this coin was the demise of the denomination. No body liked
the 40% composition or the staggering mintages. Coupled with the lack of mint and proof
sets and the other problems all clads faced early on these just didn't get much serious att-
ention from collectors. The switch to cu/ ni and the massive hoarding of the bicentennial
pieces certainly didn't help.
But the Kennedy did get a lot more interesting as the years went by. The coins miraculous-
ly are pretty much all worn now and some dates either didn't get heavily saved or there
were few nice specimens made.
It's doubtful that people are going to flock to collecting these if they come to believe the
coin wasn't responsible for the failure of the denomination, but I believe it's important to
keep the record straight. It certainly wasn't impossible to live through the times and come
to believe it was the hoarding of Kennedys that ended the half but I remember thinking at
the time that people would make this claim someday and I'd disagree.
one as a gift either. I only encountered multiples at foxwoods when they first opened (early 90's). Now that casinos are all paper, that is now dead also.
edit to add, a buddy I hung out with in the early 70's had a brother who had just come back from the V. Nam, and had a bunch of franklins at the time I thought to
be cool, but in no way money
but eh, the collecting bug had not surfaced yet
Go BIG or GO HOME. ©Bill
<< <i>When did casinos use fifty cent peices ?
I don't recall ever seeing a fifty cent slot.
50 cents = 2 bits, correct ? >>
50c = 4bits
It's all comes the old "piece of 8" coins that were broken down into 8 pieces so 2bit was a 1/4. It's why america use quarters and the 20cent pieces died off
<< <i>Halves circulated commonly in the 1950's and early '60s. >>
This is my guess as well. Say 1965 or so. once all the silver was removed by the early 70s almost NONE circulated at all.......
TC
The term “slot machine” was applied to any device that had a slot into which the consumer inserted coins. Telephones, player pianos, merchandise vending machines and railway ticket dispensers were all called “slot machines.” Use of the term to refer largely to gambling devices, “one-armed bandits,” did not become common until after WW-II. Very few slot machines of any type accepted half dollars.
While we coin collectors might have many anecdotal associations with half dollars and feel that they “circulated,” the banks and general public apparently treated them more like my Grandmother: she called them a “nuisance.”
So far, I’ve read nothing to contradict the various treasury and mint documents about declining demand for halves as important, actively circulating coin. Aside from the silver situation in 1964-65, that seems to be about it.
Any old timer coin/bullion dealers on here? Out of all the 90% "junk silver" you have bought in over the counter in the past 30 years or so, what percentage of the face value has been in half dollars? I missed the 1980 boom and have only been buying silver since 1984, but would estimate that year in and year out around 15% of it has been halves.
TD
Sorry, Capt, I have to also disagree with you on this one. I think cladking and rwb are right.
I think you will agree that I have certain powers of observation when it comes to coins.
The pre 1964 circulation of halves was an illusion. Yes, they circulated, but it was a very thin supply. The banks used them regularily and it seemed like they had unlimited rolls of them. But who in the world ever asked for them?! And the mintage figures for halves are much less than for quarters. (Incidently halves were even scarcer in Canada. If I tried to get a roll from a bank there, I found quite often the bank had none.)
I worked as a cashier for the A&P supermarkets in 1953-1957. We never, ever got halves from the bank. I know of no business that did. (There could be some that I don't know of that did.) While it true that the typical cash drawer had halves in them, it was only a very few.
If some customer had ever asked for six halves, it would have difficult to humor him. We got our halves from customers who spent them and gave them out again. In the meantime, we are constantly breaking open rolls of quarters to make change. It was best not to attempt to give a half to a woman since many of them had change purses with slots for coins, but NOT for halves. As you can imagine, being me, I was very reluctant to hand out my last half in the drawer for change.
I remember, vividly Wednesday, March 24, 1964 when the Kennedy halves came out. It was the first warm 70 degree day of the season. That afternoon I had my first root canal. The local banks did not open until noon on Wednesdays. I was in line for the halves. It was one per customer. We all paid with a dollar bill, hoping for a second Kennedy in change. We ALL got a second half, but it wasn't a Kennedy. That one day might have done a lot to deplete the bank supply of halves. I still got rolls from the bank after that, but it was not too long before they were out of them. Once the banks got out of the habit of using halves, they never went back to using them.
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
Complete Set of Chopmarked Trade Dollars
Carson City Silver Dollars Complete 1870-1893http://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/showcase.aspx?sc=2722"
One might wonder why minting more silver dollars was so important to Mansfield and Metcalf. After all, they represented a state whose population was only 674,767 – forty-first among states. Although a “small” state, Montana was one of the few where cartwheels actually served the needs of local commerce. The coins were commonplace in merchant’s cash drawers, making their way through business and banking channels much like subsidiary silver. The Federal Reserve Bank branch in Helena was consistently among the top three users of silver dollars in the country. The same pattern held through the 1950s, and in fiscal year 1960, the Helena branch distributed 3,950,000 silver dollars, more than any other branch. This consistent local usage helped to confirm Mansfield’s insistence on continued production of the coins.
All of the mints and assay offices routinely pulled worn and mutilated coin from circulation. This was melted, the loss accounted for, and then recoined. Available records show that this was largely gold and small silver, with few halves and dollars
We also got Newfoundland 20 cent pieces in change. George V came in both 20 and 25 cent versions. Quite often the denomination and date were worn off. I could tell them apart by checking the position of the last colon in the inscription versus the bust. Whether, you could read things or not, they always passed readily for 25 cents.