Kennedy Half Dollar Sparked Interest In Numismatics

Above, Franklin and Kennedy silver half dollars. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Back in the early 1960s, my dad got me interested in coin collecting.

Those were the days when they contained silver (except the Lincoln penny) and were worth saving. 

When the Kennedy half dollar came out, we, like so many others, collected as many as we could. I have quite a number of them. They were in a strongbox that I had for years but had no key. I had a locksmith open it (and make a key) and the treasure trove of 1964 Kennedy half dollars were inside.

According to Numismatic News, Kennedy silver half dollars sparked interest in numismatics for many people. This is the topic of an article they posted.

They begin it with:

Public reaction to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, led to a massive surge in the number of coin collectors. One of the ways that the nation commemorated his death was the replacement of the Benjamin Franklin half dollar with a new one featuring Kennedy.

Within a month of Kennedy’s death, Congress passed, and President Johnson signed a bill into law for the new half dollar. Mint sculptors Gilroy Robers and Frank Gasparro had already done work on designs, which led to the quick preparation of master dies. The first coins were offered to the public on March 24, 1964. This may be a record for the shortest time, at least in recent decades, between the introduction of legislation in Congress and the resulting coins being released to the public.

To read more, go here.