Back in the beginning of my coin collecting experience, the rare Kennedy Half Dollar is the 1970-D. In fact, the Whitman folder I had for Kennedy Half Dollars had a covered hole in its spot with the note “Only in Mint Sets”. 1970 is the last year that half dollar has 40% silver (besides the 1976 bicentennial) and Denver is the only mint branch to mint them. However, none of them come out in circulation and only ends up in the yearly Mint Set. So, there are only 2,150,000 1970-D Kennedy Half Dollars.
As I got older, I learn of an error coin from 1974 which coincidentally is also from Denver. Some 1974-D Kennedy Half Dollars have a double die on the obverse of the coin. It’s suppose to be most noticeable on the “RUS” in “TRUST”. I win an auction from EBay back in the 1990s and get one certified by NGC in grade MS-64. With the naked eye, it’s tough to see. You definitely need to use magnification to see it. In a way, it is rare, but it is the common error for the Kennedy Half Dollar collection.
Shortly after that, I find out there is a rarity in the early proof 1964 Kennedy Half Dollars. The first 3 to 5 percent that have accented hair above the ear. President Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, does not like how it looks. So, the mint thins out the hair in that area and that is the way proofs will look until the late 1970s. With just under 4,000,000 proof half dollars that year, the number of Accented Hair proofs ranges somewhere between 120,000 and 200,000. That makes it rarer than the 1970-D I remember as a child.
So, What’s the Rarest Kennedy Half Dollar?
If you guess it is the Gold 50th Anniversary Half Dollar from 2014, you’re close. There are 73,000 of them from West Point, making it the 2nd rarest Kennedy Half Dollar (not including errors).
At only 62.500, the rarest one is the 1998 Matte Proof Silver half dollar from the San Francisco mint. It is only included with the Uncirculated Robert F. Kennedy Commemorative Silver Dollar in a 2-coin set known as the Kennedy Collectors Set. The Robert Kennedy Commemorative is for the 30th anniversary of him being shot in 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Matte Proofs originate in Europe in the late 1800s. Instead of using polished dies, they use unpolished dies and sandblast them. The US Mint starts using these unpolished dies on gold coins in 1908, but aren’t popular because people like the polished proofs over these new dull looking ones.
The Kennedy Half Dollar Is No Longer In Circulation
By this time Kennedy Half Dollars are not in use much in circulation, except casinos until they start using chips and tickets in place of them. Seeing the reduction of usage, the US mint stops releasing them in circulation in 2002, only seeing them in Mint and Proof Sets. This reduces the production of Kennedy Half Dollars by around 90% as a result, but still not as rare as the 1998-S Matte Proof.
2014 sees more Kennedy Half Dollar Collectors Sets to commemorate its 50th anniversary. One set had High Relief Uncircluated half dollars from Philadelphia and Denver and only 150,000 are released. The second set is the Gold Kennedy Half Dollar that I mention earlier. In the final set, each mint releases a silver half dollar with a different finish: Philadelphia has a proof finish, Denver has an uncirculated finish, San Francisco has an enhanced uncirculated finish, and West Point has a reverse proof. There are 219,000 of those sets.
What Is The 1998-S Proof Half Worth?
As I write this (2018), the 1998-S Matte Proof is still the rarest of the Kennedy Half Dollars. Shortly after they come out 20 years ago, they are worth between $300 and $450. The value has gone down as have many Kennedy Half Dollars. Right now, it’s at $150, which is still more than the $59.95 I paid for the set which includes the Silver Dollar Commemorative. So, that’s a plus. Will you consider getting the rarest Kennedy Half Dollar?