MELT VALUES / SILVER
Silver Half Dollar — Franklin & 1964 Kennedy (90% Silver)
Melt value now SNAPSHOT
$24.97
49.9× face value
Designer
John R. Sinnock (Franklin, 1948); Gilroy Roberts & Frank Gasparro (Kennedy, 1964)
Years struck
Franklin 1948–1963; Kennedy 1964 only at 90%
Mints
Philadelphia, Denver (D), San Francisco (S)
The 1964 Kennedy alone saw ~430 million struck as the nation hoarded them on release.
THE STORY
The Franklin half carried Sinnock's Liberty Bell for sixteen years until Congress, within weeks of the assassination, authorized the Kennedy half. The 1964 issue was hoarded so completely that half dollars effectively vanished from American circulation and never returned — a coin killed by its own memorial. At 0.3617 ozt of silver it is the heaviest junk-silver unit.
The Mint struck 1964-dated Kennedys into 1966 trying to satisfy demand — over 400 million pieces, and still none circulated.
KEY DATES WORTH REAL MONEY
Check these before treating any coin as melt.
| 1949-S Franklin | Semi-key, tough in Full Bell Lines |
| 1955 Franklin | Lowest Franklin mintage (2.5M) |
| 1964 Kennedy Accented Hair proof | Early proof variety, Jackie Kennedy reportedly disliked it |
Think you have one? Check recent auction records before selling — and read our grading basics first.
SPECIFICATIONS
Grading: where wear shows first
Franklins: check the Liberty Bell's lines - Full Bell Lines command premiums. 1964 Kennedys are almost always lightly circulated at worst; most sat in drawers.
Never clean a coin. Ever. Cleaning permanently destroys collector value — dark original toning is worth more than shiny damage.
Counterfeit check
Rarely faked; the risk is misidentification - 90% (1964) vs 40% (1965-70) Kennedys look identical. Check the date, then the edge color.
Gear that settles it: an electromagnetic verifier, a calibrated scale and calipers — counterfeit basics.
QUESTIONS PEOPLE ACTUALLY ASK
How much silver is in a 1964 half dollar?
0.3617 troy ounces - about $25 of silver at $69 spot. It is the single most valuable common coin still occasionally found in bank rolls.
Why did half dollars disappear?
The public hoarded the Kennedy half from the day it appeared in 1964; commerce adapted without it and never went back.
Coin image: Wikimedia Commons — Public domain — John Baumgart (Variety Slabbing Service) for the image; John R. Sinnock for the coin design..
