By Mark Benvenuto, Coins Magazine January 19, 2010

Today, half dollars are the Rodney Dangerfield of small change. We make so few of them that the average person goes for years at a time before seeing even one in a daily transaction. Quarters have enjoyed a decade of state reverses. Golden dollars have morphed into a presidential series. Nickels have been the platform to commemorate the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s bicentennial. Even the Lincoln cent has had a centennial celebration in the form of reverse design changes. Only the dime and the half dollar have the same reverse designs, and the proverbial “no respect.”

In both cases that’s a shame, but it’s doubly so for the half dollars. They are attractive coins that deserve some attention. Interestingly, there exists within the last 90 percent silver series of half dollars—the Franklin halves—some fascinating pieces around which collectors of almost any means can build a gorgeous collection.

Franklin halves were minted from 1948-1963, and while there are some scarce dates and mintmarks within this relatively short series, there are no amazing rarities. However, within the series, starting in 1950, there are also proofs. There were 51,386 pounded out of the Philadelphia Mint that first year, and the number rose pretty steadily from there.

By 1957 the proof Franklins had surpassed the 1 million mark, and in 1961 the total went over 3 million. Indeed, the proofs of those last three years, from 1961 to 1963, went beyond 3 million each year, making them a trio of very common proof coins. For collectors, that means some great prices.

As I dive into this series of proof half dollars and their prices, let’s slap a caveat on the discussion. That is: buy certified coins. Even if you have been a Franklin half dollar aficionado for decades, and know the subtle differences that go into examining the bell lines on the reverses, and the depth of cameo finishes, it’s still wise to buy coins that have been graded and sonically sealed in the tamper-proof holders of a reputable third-party grading service. There is nothing more frustrating than paying for one grade of coin, as a raw coin, only to find later that it appears to be of a lower grade. Be safe, and you won’t be sorry.

That being said, those three lattermost dates all cost about $20 to $25 in Proof-64. That’s not a particularly bad grade, but it is also not one that is prone to having lots of cameo appearance, or of having spotless fields. If you move up to a grade like PR-66 you move to price ranges like $50, but the coins look decidedly better.

Moving back to the proofs of the years 1957-1960, you quickly find that once again these are fairly common coins, at least as far as proofs go. The lowest mintage within this cluster is the 1958, with 875,652 to its tally. The most common is the 1960 with a 1.6 million total.

While those two numbers may seem far apart at first glance, they are both high enough that just about any collector who wants to get his or her paws on one can do so. The PR-64 prices are still in the $25 range (with the 1958 being a tad higher). The PR-66 prices do rise a bit, but are still generally less than $100 per coin. Of note is the price tag of the 1960 in the rather lofty grade of PR-68. It’s $75. That’s not a cameo or deep cameo proof, but it’s still a coin from a completed series in an almost perfect grade. And it’s price tag is less than the cost of a fine dinner for two.

Going back farther gets us to a single proof Franklin half that is something of a stand-alone coin, the 1956. This year saw 669,384 proofs, which makes it considerably less common than any of the dates that we have just seen, but much more available than any of the older dates within the series. The prices for a PR-64 and a PR-66 are $30 and $100, respectively. That’s not too bad at all for the lower level proof, but it’s rather obviously a step up from the prices we’ve just looked at.

If you have read this far, and like the idea of a set of proof Franklins of your very own, and if you qualify as one of the very thorough collectors who wants each and every variety out there, the 1956 is a coin for you. There is a 1956 proof with what is called the reverse of 1950-1955 and there is one with what is called the reverse of 1957-1963. The differences are generally minor, and many price guides don’t even bother to list both. The prices I’ve just noted are the more expensive “reverse of 1950-1955.” You can almost cut them in half for the more common “reverse of 1957-1963.”

Going back to the span of 1952-1955 we come to a short set of proofs that spans a fairly large range of mintages. The 1952 is the last year that saw proof Franklins produced to a total of less than 100,000. By 1955 the sum had risen to 378,200 proofs.

The prices are, unfortunately, not a flat line for these years. Something like $75 to perhaps $100 will keep you in the game for the 1955s, but it’s more of a $300 to $400 investment to go in for a 1952 in PR-64 or PR-66. That shouldn’t necessarily deter a person from going hunting for one of these older beauties. But it’s wise to be warned.

When it comes to these earlier proofs, I haven’t mentioned prices in grades such as the PR-68 I mentioned earlier, simply because there are very few published numbers. For older coins, there are perhaps obviously fewer coins that survived in such pristine states or that were actually made to so high a standard. If you are lucky enough to come across one, by all means, try to make the purchase. But keep in mind that dealers are a generally savvy lot, and they know how uncommon such pieces can be. A bit of polite negotiating may be in order.

The first two years of the Franklin proofs, the 1950 and the 1951, will complete any series of these 50-cent pieces in all their glory. Prices for these to coins aren’t going to be cheap. They are about $500 in PR-64 and about $700 in PR-66. But, as you can see, they aren’t the most expensive coins a person can buy either.

Now, with this date run of proofs under your belt, you could rest easy and enjoy what you have acquired. But it is actually worth taking a gander at a few dates around the series to see if the possibility exists at expanding your proof halves. What I mean here is take into account a proof Walking Liberty half or two, and do the same for the Kennedy halves.

Starting with a couple of possibilities in the Walking Liberty half series, specifically the 1942 and the 1941, we can find that these are much less common coins as proofs than any of the Franklins. The 1942—the last year of proofs for the Walking Liberty—has a total of 21,120 to its name. The 1941 is a smidge lower, with a tally of 15,412.

Each of these will run close to $500 in PR-64 and $700 in PR-66. These much less common halves come in at about the same price tags as the earliest proof Franklin halves. These may not qualify as the greatest sleepers among any coin series, but it’s good to know that a Walker could become an addition to a proof half dollar collection that had been, up until now, Franklins all the way.

If this is good news to you, but the price is still too rich for your blood, look in the other direction. Look at the Kennedy halves. There is only one year of our current design half dollar that was minted as 90 percent silver, and that’s right at the beginning, in 1964. A total of 3.95 million proofs makes this as common as we have seen, and the price reflects it. Want a PR-64 Kennedy from 1964? Well, you’ll have to part with a whopping $15 to get one. Want to try for that PR-68 that I’ve mentioned for a few of the other coins? OK, but it will run you $40.

Moving into the years of Kennedy half dollar with reduced amounts of silver (that’s 1965-1970), then into the current composition with no silver at all, means moving into a pretty common series of proofs. Twenty dollars will get you something attractive for just about any date you choose. Now that we’ve taken a good look at Franklin half dollars and a brief look at the halves around them, we see that there is more than one way to put together a sharp looking collection of 50-cent pieces. You can go for the proof Franklin date set. You can be specific enough that you land each variety of the 1956. But you can also use the Franklins as a launching point. Go backward. Go forward. There are some great proof half dollars in either direction. That’s something for a coin that “gets no respect.”



More Resources:

• Subscribe to our Coin Price Guide, buy Coin Books & Coin Folders and join the NumisMaster VIP Program

• 2010 U.S. Coin Digest, The Complete Guide to Current Market Values, 8th ed.

• State Quarters Deluxe Folder By Warmans

• Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money, 1928 to Date

• Strike It Rich with Pocket Change, 2nd Edition