1964 introduces the Kennedy Half Dollar
to honor President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated on November 22, 1963. This is the only year that the Kennedy Half Dollar has 90% silver in circulation. The Coinage Act of 1965 takes silver out of dimes and quarters, but reduces the silver content in half dollars. The years 1965 to 1970 only have 40% silver. After 1970, circulating Half Dollar no longer contain silver.
Expecting a large demand for the new Kennedy Half Dollar, Philadelphia mints 273 million half dollars and Denver mints 156 million. To put this in perspective, there are more 1964 Kennedy Half Dollars than the whole Franklin Half Dollar collection between 1948 and 1963. This is also be the last year that Philadelphia mints Proof Coins and produces almost 4 million of them. There are 2 variations of the 1964 Proof Kennedy Half Dollar. The following close ups are graded Proof-68 by NGC, but there is one difference between the 2 Half Dollars.
Accented Hair Kennedy Half Dollar
The first 3% to 5% (120,000 to 200,000) of the 1964 proofs have extra hair above the ear. Jacqueline Kennedy sees one of these and disapproves them. So, the mint makes a change.
In order to please Mrs. Kennedy, the mint reduces the number of hairs above the ear.
This makes the Accented Hair proof more valuable. For example, my Proof-68 Accented Half could be worth as much as five times more than the updated half dollar at the same grade.
The 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar
is still popular today. Some collectors will go through numbers of coin rolls to find this 90% Silver Coin. Of course, they were easier to find when I was a kid than today. I’m sure a number of them have been melted over the years. Do you have any of these half dollars?