The Franklin Half Dollar Turns 75

By Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez

One of the most underrated and short-lived United States coins of the 20th century turns 75 years old in 2023, and we’re not talking about the Susan B. Anthony Dollar... The Franklin Half Dollar began its relatively uneventful stint of 16 years in 1948, replacing the beloved Liberty Walking motif by Adolph A. Weinman after its illustrious 32-year run.

The human subject of the Franklin Half Dollar is perhaps one of the most famous Founding Fathers to have never become president of the United States. The Boston native became a Philadelphia icon after running away from home at the age of 17 and becoming a printer, postmaster, and scientist in the City of Brotherly Love. He would eventually invent bifocals, the glass armonica, the odometer, and dozens of other contraptions.

Benjamin Franklin is depicted in this 1778 portrait by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis. Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

As the American colonies worked harder to break free of its ties to Great Britain, Franklin took an active role as a patriotic statesman who eventually signed the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the United States Constitution. He died at the age 84 in 1790 and is forever recognized as an amiable diplomat, a prudent philosopher, and one of America’s most enduring heroes.

The Franklin Half Dollar was minted from 1948 through 1963. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

Chief Engraver of the United States Mint John R. Sinnock is seen working on the Roosevelt Dime. Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

It is little wonder that Franklin was chosen as the primary subject for the new half dollar, designed by Chief Engraver of the United States Mint John R. Sinnock, who had recently completed work on the Roosevelt Dime. Debuting in 1946, the Roosevelt Dime caused a bit of a “red scare” when Sinnock’s initials, “JS,” led some conspiracy theorists of the time to believe the letters were a reference to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. These rumors were quickly beaten back by the U.S. government but nevertheless persisted in urban legends and remain prominent in the memories of the numismatic community.

The Mercury Dime and Walking Liberty Half Dollar, both designed by Adolph A. Weinman and released to the public in1916, came to their ends in the 1940s when John R. Sinnock was tasked to replace them with new designs. The Mercury Dimewas supplanted by a new design in 1946 honoring the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who contracted polio in hislate 30s and founded the March of Dimes. The Walking Liberty Half Dollar was superseded by the Franklin Half Dollar in1948. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

The Roosevelt Dime was designed by John R. Sinnock and debuted in 1946. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

The initials “JS” (seen to the left of the date on the Roosevelt Dime) for designer John R. Sinnock stirred concerns from some Americans that the letters were a reference to communist Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

Interestingly, the dime was originally slated to sport a portrait of Franklin beginning in the early 1940s. However, the 1945 passing of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a most famous face of the dreaded disease polio and founder of the March of Dimes, spurred government officials to believe the most appropriate tribute for the fallen commander-inchief would be to place his likeness on the dime.

It may be difficult for modern-day numismatists, many of whom revere the numismatic works of famed sculptor Adolph A. Weinman as nearly sacred, to imagine any interest in replacing the designer’s Winged Liberty Head (or “Mercury”) design on the dime or his Liberty Walking motif on the half dollar – both series having premiered in 1916. Yet, by the early 1940s, both of these designs were growing long in the tooth to the eyes of some of the mint brass and had surpassed the mandatory minimum run of 25 years, after which a coin can be redesigned without an Act of Congress per an 1890 United States coinage law. So, the dime and half dollar were fair game for new designs.

However, the demands of World War II absorbed much of the mint’s operational bandwidth. Therefore, coin redesigns and even annual proof sets were temporarily put aside to focus on producing circulating coinage to meet the demands of the booming wartime economy.

Nellie Tayloe Ross served as director of the United States Mint from 1933 through 1953. This 20-year term at the mint came after her historic two-year governance of Wyoming in the mid-1920s as the first female governor in the United States. She lived more than two decades after departing from the mint contributing to various women’s publications. Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

Sinnock was no stranger to working Franklin’s bust into an attractive design on a disk of metal. The skilled engraver designed a medal bearing the likeness of Benjamin Franklin in 1933, and this piece may have provided a spark of inspiration for U.S. Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross, who thought Franklin would make a wonderful design subject for a coin. After World War II drew to a close and the U.S. Mint resumed a semblance of a normal peacetime pace, Ross asked Sinnock to adapt the Franklin device from his 1933 medal for use on the half dollar.

The 1739 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack . Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

Not lost on Ross was the irony of placing on a coin a likeness of Franklin, who preferred placing pithy sayings on coins over portraits. In a May 13, 1948, Associated Press interview, Ross, a self-declared lifelong fan of Franklin’s famous Poor Richard’s Almanack, stated that “probably it was the royal heads he objected to” on coinage, which, in Franklin’s time, honored reigning kings, queens, and other royalty. “Had [Franklin] known in his day that 150 years hence his image would be placed on a coin of this, his native land, to whose service his life was consecrated, we may assume, I believe, that he would not have been seriously displeased.” Noting that Franklin’s

The Franklin Half Dollar was released in 1948 to broad public acceptance. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

portrait had already appeared on the $100 bill, Ross added, “it seemed a good idea to put him on a piece of currency which the average citizen sees more often.” And in the late1940s, half dollars still circulated about as widely as any other denomination of coin.

Enshrining Franklin’s portrait on the half dollar originally was Sinnock’s project, but he sadly passed away in May 1947, just as he was wrapping up preliminary design work for the new coin. Newly installed U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Gilroy Roberts, who served as Sinnock’s trusted assistant, completed engraving work on the new Franklin Half Dollar, which was paired with a reverse motif featuring the Liberty Bell – an icon of Franklin’s time as elder U.S. statesman and an enduring symbol of Liberty from his adopted hometown of Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell design was originally engraved on the Franklin Half Dollar by Sinnock, who also designed the 1926 United States Sesquicentennial Half Dollar bearing a nearly identical version of the Liberty Bell. However, numismatists have in more recent years concluded that the Liberty Bell design seen on both the 1926 Sesquicentennial Half Dollar as well as the Franklin Half Dollar isn’t the brainchild of Sinnock but rather a design he borrowed from a sketch by English artist John Frederick Lewis, who died at the age of 72 in 1876.

The 1926 United States Sesquicentennial Commemorative Half Dollar, recognizing the 150th anniversary of the nation, was engraved by John R. Sinnock and carries a reverse depiction of the Liberty Bell. The motif, borrowed by the Franklin Half Dollar more than two decades later, was itself derived from the mind of another artist – John Frederick Lewis. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

The reverse of the Franklin Half Dollar also received a small device depicting an eagle alongside the Liberty Bell motif. Many in the numismatic community characterize the tiny eagle as an “afterthought.” Apparently, it was included only after mint officials realized the designs lacked an eagle, which the Coinage Act of 1890 requires on all denominations higher than a dime. The crack on the Liberty Bell was another notable quagmire, with the Commission of Fine Arts suggesting the fissure would lead to derogatory comments about the coin. However, numismatic expert Rick Tomaska wrote in his 2002 book A Complete Guide to Franklin Half Dollars that, “Over the years there would probably have been even more puns and derogatory statements if there had been an attempt to depict the bell without a crack.”

The prominence of the crack in the Liberty Bell was cause for some concern by some influential thinkers of the day while the relatively small depiction of the American bald eagle was a product of last-minute corrections to ensure the coin was legal, as U.S. coin denominations above the dime must carry an image of an eagle on the reverse. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

Treasury Secretary John W. Snyder overrode the misgivings of the Commission of Fine Arts, whose review role was only advisory, and forged ahead in moving the Franklin Half Dollar into production, perhaps partly in tribute to the fallen Sinnock. A United States Treasury release on January 7, 1948, characterized the Franklin Half Dollar as a coin proposed by Ross that received Snyder’s “enthusiastic approval.” The release stated that at that time just two specimens were released, one of them being shown to President Harry Truman, who was said to have been “much pleased with it.” Noting Franklin’s trademark “thrift,” Synder reportedly “thinks it will remind everyone that an excellent thing to do with spare half dollars and other spare coins these days is to buy savings bonds and stamps.”

In January 1948, Ross said she had been encouraged to place the Franklin design on the one-cent coin because of his adage “a penny saved is twopence dear,” which has been translated to the more famous saying “a penny saved is a penny earned.” She added, “You will agree, I believe, that the 50-cent piece, being larger and of silver, lends itself much better to the production of an impressive effect.” She also was concerned about being culpable for removing the portrait of Abraham Lincoln from the very popular Lincoln Cent had she followed through on the advice to put Franklin on the penny.

The Franklin Half Dollar enjoyed a gala preview at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where Ross invited 200 to a dinner party on April 29, 1948, and presented each guest with a Franklin Half Dollar encased in a card emblazoned with her autograph. The coin was formally released to the public on April 30, 1948. A May 1, 1948, New York Times article recounts employees from the Franklin Savings Bank were dressed in Revolutionary-period apparel and sold the new Franklin Half Dollars from a booth outside the SubTreasury building in New York City.

This time, the Sinnock-engraved coin carried the initials “JRS,” referencing the late designer’s middle name “Ray” in an effort to prevent further rumblings about any communist references. Yet, before the coin was circulating for very long, some were already connoting the coin as a poorly camouflaged tribute to Stalin. Thankfully, the conspiracy theories were easily disproved and the Franklin Half Dollar enjoyed a respectable run as a successful coin widely embraced by the public.

Collecting the Franklin Half Dollar

As popular as the Franklin Half Dollar is with collectors, it’s a series that seems to fly under the radar for whatever reason. Perhaps it’s the fact that the series, running for notably less than two decades, lacks any major key dates of remarkably low business-strike mintages; even the lowest-mintage business strike, the 1955 issue, was struck to the tune of nearly 2.5 million pieces. There’s also the perception among some that there isn’t much challenge to building the set. And, on the surface, some of these judgments seem to ring true.

Yes, the series ran from just 1948 through 1963 – that’s 15 years, 16 if counting those calendars inclusively from end to end. Yes, there are no equivalent 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cents or 1916-D Mercury Dimes among the Franklin Halves – all the regular-issue circulation strikes can be obtained for prices not too far off from spot values in worn grades. And, yes, there are no major doubled dies or other oddities that help the Franklin Half Dollar leap afore collectors’ minds – as do pieces like the 1955 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent and 1937-D Three-Legged Buffalo Nickel for their respective series.

Full Bell Lines (FBL), “Bugs Bunny” varieties, and proofs are among the many curiosities that keep Franklin Half Dollar enthusiasts going beyond a basic date-and-mintmark set. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

The dearth of marketplace zeal for Franklin Half Dollars has meant that those collectors who are enamored with these mid-century halves were able to enjoy some really good deals for a very long time. Looking at the crux of the series, the Franklin Half Dollar yields 35 regular-issue coins, inclusive of all business strikes from the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints.

Yet, add in the proofs, major varieties, and other curiosities, and the number of required items well more than doubles. And this isn’t even counting the FBL Franklin Halves – that is, those which carry Full Bell Lines on the Liberty Bell, giving rise to the “FBL” acronym so familiar with Franklin Half Dollar aficionados. FBL is important… Some of the rarest and most valuable Franklin Halves encapsulated by PCGS carry the FBL designation on their certification label.

On the other end of the spectrum are the circulated regular issues. There was a period in the 1990s when one could buy a complete 35-piece basic set of Franklin Half Dollars for as little as $200 and $300, depending on the grade of the coins involved and the dealer. At the time, silver traded for around $4 to $5 an ounce and the bulk of the circulated coins could be plucked from dealer bins for $5 to $7 each, sometimes less. Many run-of-the-mill uncirculated specimens were readily available for $10 or $12 each.

Such deals are long gone today, with silver up over $20 an ounce and numismatic premiums on all circulated pre-1965 90% silver U.S. coinage running at lofty highs. Meanwhile, Franklin Half Dollars are no longer the overlooked coins they once were 25 or 30 years ago. Yet, it’s still one of the most underrated U.S. series of its time.

A decent set of circulated Franklin Half Dollars is a favorite goal of many collectors who love this mid-century series. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

The series offers a tantalizing blend of reasonably obtainable coins, challenging rarities, and grade-based keys that appeal to a broad range of collectors. The budget collector can still land a circulated set for maybe $500 or so, while the more quality-conscious fan of the series can amass the set in MS63 or MS64 for $1,000 to $1,300, depending on the grade of specific pieces.

Collectors who demand only the best of the best in grade, eye appeal, and complexity must dish out far more than a grand or two to assemble their sets. The series specialists who desire only coins with FBL designation and examples of the most sought-after varieties could easily push into the six figures with their Franklin Half Dollar goals. This is where the competition between collectors can get intense, as there are remarkably few examples of any single Franklin Half Dollar issue at the very top of the grading charts. These collectors wind up notching some pretty impressive results on the PCGS Set Registry.

FBLs, Varieties & Conditional Rarities – Oh, My!

Looking at the Franklin Half Dollars in greater depth, it becomes clear that the series offers a rich array of pieces that can keep even the most intrepid collectors busy on their quest to complete a set of these coins. While even a basic date-andmintmark set can pose a financial hurdle to some who want only choice examples, the additional criteria of including only coins that are graded with the FBL designation or expanding into varieties and finest-graded specimens can turn what might otherwise be a rather pedestrian pursuit into a full-on numismatic challenge.

For PCGS to bestow the FBL grading designation to a Franklin Half Dollar, the coin must “grade MS60 or better and show full separation of the lines on the bottom of the Liberty Bell on the reverse. To qualify for this designation, a coin must also show no major disturbances, including cuts and marks, of the separation of the bell lines.” Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

The FBLs alone pose a tremendous test of numismatic grit, as many of the Franklin Half Dollars prove nearly unattainable for most collectors, if not for cost than for elusiveness. Consider the 1953-S Franklin Half Dollar with FBL designation. Just one exists in the top grade of PCGS MS67FBL, meaning only one collector can claim the most pristine of all examples for this issue with the coveted Full Bell Lines details. There are no known public transactions for this example, suggesting it is either long locked up in a collection or only being traded among a very small network of collectors or dealers.

Going down the grading scale to the next 1953-S FBLs we come to MS66FBL, of which two are currently known. The last public offerings at this level were in 2001, when two sales were notched – one at $35,075 and the other at $69,000. PCGS CoinFacts currently lists the value for a 1953-S MS66FBL as $60,000 – a figure beyond the financial flexibilities of most collectors. As a matter of fact, even in MS63FBL, the lowest grade point for which PCGS CoinFacts lists prices for the 1953-S in FBL, the retail market still points to prices of around $8,250 – a price that may have a collector deciding between buying a coin for their Franklin Half Dollar set or perhaps paying down a sizable chunk of their mortgage. Decisions, decisions.

Some consider the 1953-S with FBL designation to be the conditional series key. Examples of this issue with Full Bell Lines generally soar deep into the five figures. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

Assuming the Franklin Half Dollar collector building such a top-notch cabinet on the PCGS Set Registry can clip away a 1953-S in FBL, there are at least 34 other dates required with the FBL designation to complete the assemblage with this prestigious designation. And many of these take $10,000 or more in grades of MS66+ or higher with the FBL designation. Need the proof? Check out the 1963 in MS66+FBL, which is an $85,000 coin. The 1962 in MS66+FBL isn’t far behind at $70,000. In MS66+FBL or MS67FBL (whichever is the higher available for said issue) at least 20 other dates fetch retail prices of $10,000 or better. If you’re doing the math, you’ll quickly realize the majority of the issues required for the basic date-and-mintmark set take over $10,000 in the highest grades known; in many cases, these price tags exceed $20,000 and in at least a few, $30,000.

The 1961 Doubled Die Reverse Proof Half Dollar shows strong doubling across the inscriptions “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” “UNITED STATES,” and “HALF DOLLAR.” Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

Of course, collecting FBLs is just one way the Frankie collector can advance their numismatic game. There are varieties galore among the Franklin Half Dollar realm. Many doubled dies are attributed for the series, but the 1961 Reverse Doubled Die Proof is probably the single-most famous among Franklins. Dramatic doubling on this coin is evident in the inscriptions “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” “UNITED STATES,” and “HALF DOLLAR.” There are other Doubled Die Reverses for that year, but they are not as dramatic and are far less valuable.

The one to look for has very strong doubling of “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” “UNITED STATES,” and “HALF DOLLAR.” None have been graded by PCGS with the DCAM designation, and the service has encapsulated only four with the CAM distinction – perhaps only 20 would qualify at that level. At present, the few known 1961 Reverse Doubled Die Franklin Half Dollars retail for between $5,000 in PR64CAM and $14,500 in PR66+CAM. A PR68 (no cameo designation) realized $15,000 at a November 2020 Stack’s Bowers Galleries offering, with PR66s obtainable for around $5,000.

The so-called “Bugs Bunny” die clashes also rank high among Franklin specialists. This variety entails the rather comical appearance of what looks like buck teeth on the Founding Father in very much the fashion of Bugs Bunny – the wise-cracking, carrot-chomping grey hare of Looney Tunes fame. Arising from the clashing of obverse and reverse dies, the funny “teeth” (a spike) were the result of the eagle’s wings on the reverse die pressing into the region of Franklin’s mouth on the obverse die.

A closeup of the miniature spike protruding downward from Franklin’s upper lip that gave rise to the popular Bugs Bunny variety. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

Bugs Bunny Franklin Half Dollars made waves during the height of the coin collecting boom in the mid-1950s, when coins like the 1955 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent were coming to the fore and millions of people were scouring pocket change and bankrolls for the latest valuable varieties. The peculiar Franklin Half Dollars with apparent need for orthodontic intervention were emerging during the era when Bugs Bunny was a household name, appearing in a colorful variety of cartoon shorts on television and movie theaters.

The Bugs Bunny die clash is most commonly seen on 1955 and 1956 Franklin Half Dollars, with the 1955 being the more numismatically prominent of the two. However, the variety is also known among other dates in the series, and it may yet still be discovered on issues not currently known to include it. PCGS has graded well over 2,500 examples to date, with most of these bearing the 1955 date, a small but significant minority are dated 1956, and the small balance inclusive of issues from 1949, 1951, 1953, and other dates in the series run.

It’s a variety that is fairly difficult to spot unless one knows what to look for and where to look for it on the coin, and it can be readily cherry picked raw as many dealers either don’t know about the Bugs Bunny variety or don’t think to look for it when reviewing and pricing inventory. When the Bugs Bunny Franklin Half Dollars are attributed and encapsulated in PCGS holders they are popular sellers and frequently included in PCGS Registry Sets representing the larger series.

The bulk of these curious pieces are graded MS63 to MS65 and sell in the $50 to $125 range, though higher-graded specimens and those possessing the Full Bell Lines designation are scarcer and sell for much more. A 1955 graded MS66FBL took $1,200 in an online auction in 2022, and a 1956 in that same grade snagged $989 that same year.

Other Franklin Half Dollar varieties collected within the PCGS Set Registry include dozens of others, such as the 1949-S Over S Repunched Mintmark, 1952 Scarface, 1957D Over D Repunched Mintmark, 1959 Goiter, and 1963 Doubled Die Reverse. Even proofs, which are supposed to represent the epitome of minting perfection, aren’t immune from a few gaffes – certainly not in the case of the Franklin Half Dollar anyway. The proofs were struck from 1950 through 1963, which notably excludes the first two years of the circulation run; this is due to a temporary moratorium on proof production beginning in 1943 that was necessitated by a focus on producing business strikes and military medals during World War II.

The 1952 Scarface, one of several varieties like this in the series, features a die break on Franklin’s lower cheek that resembles something of a reverse capital letter “J.” Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

When proof production resumed in 1950, things kicked right off with some interesting varieties for the Franklin Half Dollars with the 1950 Quadrupled Die Obverse. This was followed up with the 1951 Doubled Die Reverse, 1952 Bugs Bunny Proof, 1956 Type 1 and Type 2 varieties, 1957 Tripled Die Reverse, and 1962 Doubled Die Reverse – all curiosities that, along with the aforementioned 1961 Doubled Die Reverse, captivate Franklin connoisseurs. All of these are also collected within the PCGS Set Registry.

Cameo and Deep Cameo Proof Franklin Half Dollars are very scarce and highly valuable. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

Any conversation about Franklin proofs must also touch on the remarkable challenge – and expense – in procuring cameo examples. As students of modern United States proofs generally know, cameo proof coinage dating before the 1970s is extremely scarce – even rare. Proof Franklin halves with cameo frosting, and especially deep cameo (DCAM) contrast, are infrequently encountered and highly sought after. One of the biggest spreads in pricing between regular proof and DCAM occurs with the 1951 Proof. The 1951 lists at $2,150 in PR67, while in PR67CAM it goes for $4,250 and in PR67DCAM it realizes $85,000. Meanwhile, the 1959 in PR69 takes $750, with the PR69CAM going for $12,500 and the PR69DCAM drumming up $50,000. Most other high-end DCAM Franklin Half Dollars trade for more modest four-figure prices and many of those in the middle proof grades can be had for three figures, and quite often less than $100.

What this all goes to show is that the Franklin Half Dollar series offers something for just about everyone, and those with the pocketbooks and perhaps more important the patience can build an incredible set. And about building those sets… What are your options?

Collecting Strategies

The Franklin Half Dollar offers myriad collecting avenues and opportunities. There is always the option of going the tried-and-true route with collecting the run of circulation strikes by date and mintmark – surely the most frequently pursued path for this series. The PCGS Set Registry offers the Franklin Half Dollars Basic Set, Circulation Strikes (19481963). One can up their collecting stakes on the circulationstrike set by only going for examples with FBL detail; this objective is actualized on PCGS Set Registry with Franklin Half Dollars FBL Basic Set, Circulation Strikes (1948-1963).

The addition of proofs provides greater depth to any Franklin Half Dollar set, and in the case of the PCGS Set Registry there are several options for incorporating these numismatic strikes from the series. These include the proof-only Franklin Half Dollars Basic Set, Proof (1950-1963) and the more advanced Franklin Half Dollars FBL Basic Set, Circulation Strikes and Proof (1948-1963). Greater complexity can be further built into these sets by narrowing the proofs down to only those graded with the CAM or DCAM designation.

Finally, there are the Franklin variety sets – and these are by far some of the most challenging sets to build. Consider the 79-coin Franklin Half Dollars Complete Variety Set, Circulation Strikes (1948-1963), which is also available in an FBL-only option. The proof strikes rank their own varietybased PCGS Registry Set with the 29-coin Franklin Half Dollars Complete Variety Set, Proof (1950-1963).

If you’ve got a tighter budget, don’t forget the Franklin Half Dollars Date Set, Circulation Strikes (1948-1963), which requires just 16 coins and avoids tougher, more expensive issues such as the 1949-D and 1950-D. Then there are the PCGS Everyman sets, which mirror the configurations of their corresponding “regular” sets but allow for collectors to be more competitive and earn potential prizes without the challenge and expense of buying top-grade pieces.

The 1949-D is one of the tougher dates, and depending on what type of set a collector chooses to build, this and other rare issues can either be included or avoided. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

Many other PCGS Registry Sets also cater to the Franklin Half Dollar buff, and that’s not even discussing the slew of type sets that, along with other classic U.S. coins, have at least one hole dedicated to the coin. Deciding which Franklin Half Dollar set to build all comes down to the degree of challenge you desire, how much money you can budget to the endeavor, and what your overarching collecting goals encompass.

The Franklin Half Dollar’s Legacy

Had a lone assassin named Lee Harvey Oswald not killed President John F. Kennedy at the age of 46 in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, the Franklin Half Dollar might have lived well beyond 1963. Seeing how presidential portraits first placed on circulating coins during the first half of the 20th century are still produced today, it’s not all that far-fetched to believe the Franklin Half Dollar may have therefore even continued rolling along today. It’s even further plausible to think that the half dollar would still be a widely circulating denomination had the Kennedy Half Dollar not been struck – at least not with the sudden and devastating events that precipitated its creation. After all, halves really only disappeared from commerce when millions of Americans began pulling Kennedy Half Dollars from circulation as a memento of the fallen young president. This collecting habit persisted well beyond the mid-1960s and even into the coppernickel clad era on the belief that all Kennedy Half Dollars were worth more than face value, which – unless made from silver, are uncirculated, and / or contain errors and varieties –they are not.

The last Franklin Half Dollars were minted in 1963, the year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Congress acted quickly to honor the fallen president on the half dollar beginning in 1964. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView.

While the Franklin Half Dollar is certainly a well-known and popular collectible, the series never really got its due. Presuming a normal course of events would have otherwise played out for the Franklin Half Dollar, its life was likely cut short by at least a decade given the mandate of a 25-year minimum on the lifespan of coin designs, per the earlierreferenced 1890 coinage law. After the sudden and tragic event that ended Kennedy’s life, a coin honoring his likeness was passed into law in a matter of only weeks and thus brought an end to the Franklin Half Dollar.

Of course, it’s hard for many to envision the appearance of a Franklin Half Dollar bearing a date from the 1970s, ‘80s, or ‘90s, let alone think of the coin in the copper-nickel clad composition it surely would have adopted had it survived another decade or more. And maybe that’s exactly as it should be. The Franklin Half Dollar holds many unique distinctions, serving as the last large-denomination U.S. coin series not produced in a clad format and is one of the few circulating United States coins carrying the likeness of a non-presidential politician. It also marks one of the few occasions Franklin ever spent so much time paired with an eagle, a bird he was well known to despise – at least in jest.

An 1816 artistic representation by Benjamin West depicting Benjamin Franklin’s discovery of electricity when his kite was struck by lightning. Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

Franklin remains one of the nation’s most beloved historic figures, and he remains every bit as much a mascot for Philadelphia as fictional boxer Rocky Balboa. Collectors wishing to pay tribute to the man who discovered electricity when his kite was struck by lightning may be electrified with the many possibilities for collecting the Franklin Half Dollar; as we see, there are options suitable for virtually everybody. And with the 75th anniversary of the Franklin Half Dollar, there has perhaps never been a more punctual time to collect a coin honoring one of the nation’s most practical –and timeless – heroes.

Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez has won multiple awards from the NLG and ANA for his work as a numismatic journalist and editor. He has been a coin collector since 1992 and enjoys all areas of United States coinage and U.S. minting history.