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Did they make silver '66 & '67 Kennedy halfs?
notlogical
Posts: 2,235 ✭
I was looking through a couple rolls of half dollars and found 2 '67 and 1 '66 Kennedy half dollars that look and sound silver. I thought they stopped making silver halfs in '64? They wouldn't be proofs would they? They sure don't look like it.
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designset
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From 1965 through 1970, the half dollars were not clad, but they were debased from 90% silver to 40%.
You may be able to score some from bank rolls.
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<< <i>These are 40% silver, and do trade for a premium over face for the silver content.
From 1965 through 1970, the half dollars were not clad, but they were debased from 90% silver to 40%. >>
From www.coinfacts.com:
Metal Content:
Outer layers - ±80% Silver, ±20% Copper
Center - ±79% Copper, ±21% Silver
Looks like clad to me.
The name is LEE!
They were silver clad coins. The outer layers were 80% silver and 20% copper. The core was 20% silver and 80% copper. The whole thing came to 40% silver.
The same composition cropped up again in 1976 for the silver Bicentennial quarter, half dollars and dollars.
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bob
<< <i>Considering the fact that the Mint produced 1964 dated Kennedy Halfs in 65 and 66 to meet demands for the 64 dated coins you never know - I have not heard of this happening but after the recent fiasco's with the Prez Bucks you never know. >>
For a 90% Silver 1865 or 1966?
Now that would be sweet and totally possible. I wonder if anybody has ever bothered to check?
11.5 grams for the silver clad vs 12.5 grams for the 90 percenter.
The name is LEE!
<< <i>
<< <i>Considering the fact that the Mint produced 1964 dated Kennedy Halfs in 65 and 66 to meet demands for the 64 dated coins you never know - I have not heard of this happening but after the recent fiasco's with the Prez Bucks you never know. >>
For a 90% Silver 1865 or 1966?
Now that would be sweet and totally possible. I wonder if anybody has ever bothered to check?
11.5 grams for the silver clad vs 12.5 grams for the 90 percenter. >>
I believe you meant1965.
The coin shortage was blamed in part on "coin collectors". I don't recall specifically, but there also might have been some concern that the strategic stockpile of silver would have to be tapped if coin production continued at that rate so Congress, in their infinite wisdom, decided to go the route of the Romans in debasing the coinage (halves) from 90% silver to 40% silver in 1965. Silver was entirely eliminated in the dimes and quarters in 1965. The coin shortage was also a factor in elimination of the mintmarks from 1965-1967, since collectors were less likely to hoard as many coins when there was only a single "plain vanilla" specimen to collect each year.
Back then, half dollars circulated regularly. But when the silver content was reduced or eliminated, the natural tendency was to "save" the silver coins and to put them away for posterity. This helped to prolong the coin shortage somewhat, but you could still find both 40% silver and 90% silver halves in circulation even into the early 1970's.
Along about that same time - the early 1970s, halves lost their utility and most people were using quarters anyway. So, as halves stopped circulating the silver halves disappeared, and by 1977 or 1978, you seldom got a clad half back in change anyway. So silver as a medium of exchange took about 10 years to wind down completely, even after it was eliminated from coinage. At least, that's how I remember it.
I knew it would happen.
<< <i>For a 90% Silver 1965 or 1966? >>
I think I remember a 65 on a 90% planchet for sale.
Probably a very rare wrong planchet error?
Outer layers of .800 silver and .200 copper
Inner core of .209 silver and .791 copper.