A half dollar, a coin that has been minted in America since 1794, and is one of the most historical denominations of coins in American history. Despite this, most collectors think of them as being a bit boring with how modern the series is. Regardless, there is a very interesting history that surrounds them, even though they have only been minted for just over 50 years! The story of the Kennedy half-dollar and its creation goes all the way back to 1963 with the death of President Kennedy. Amazingly, just a few hours after he was assassinated on that very fateful, November 22ed 1963 they were already thinking of producing a coin in his honor, where his wife Jackline choose the design to be on the half dollar. First minted on February 22ed 1964, the coins were an instant hit and extremely popular to the public, so much so that the mint sold out of their supply the first day they were released. In 1964, the first year they were minted they were composed of 90% silver and 10% copper, and after that point, from 1965 until 1970 they were produced of silver clad, being 60% copper and just 40% silver. Afer that point, they were composed of a copper-nickel clad which consists of 75% copper and just 25% nickel. They were produced for circulation until 2001 where they were made only for collectors and sold at a premium, and were not intended for circulation and are oftentimes referred to as NIFC coins by collectors. Amazingly, the original inspiration for the design of this coin was from President Kennedys Inaugural Medal, which was produced out of 14k gold and was originally designed by Paul Manship. This medal was liked by President Kennedy so much, that he actually kept it on his desk in the oval office during his presidency.
This reverse of this classic design was created by Frank Gasparro, who was first born in 1909 and later became a junior assistant, and eventually an engraver at the US mint. He is well known for his work with this coin, and many others such as the Eisenhower dollar, and the Susan B Anthony dollar. The obverse of the coin was designed by Gilroy Roberts. He was born in 1905 and had a knack for art from the start, where he eventually became the chief engraver at the US mint, while it was while serving this position he designed the obverse of the Kennedy half dollar. He became very famous for his work on this coin, where he would go on to design much more coins and medals throughout his life. Although they do not circulate very much, you can still get them from banks for their face value, and if you are lucky you might even get a really nice one! Other than this, as far as the series goes you can get the silver versions for a low premium over their melt value, where even the proof versions are not too expensive either! Kennedy half dollars are one of the most amazing series of coinage that has ever been produced in America, where they honor one of the nations greatest presidents. Their history, despite being recent is fascinating; which will hopefully help the series and the denomination as a whole stay in front of the American public. By: Brandon Spiegel, Owner, and Founder of Let's Start A Coin Collection
0 Comments
Currently, there are billions of dollars in coins circulating right now. We all own coins in some quantity for one reason or another, and also know that they are minted and that they circulate. What does circulation really mean when it comes to coins, and how do they go about circulating? One major way that coins circulate is through the millions or billion of cash transactions that occur every day across the country. Coins either go, from the consumer to the seller, or from the seller to the consumer. Through this process, coins go from one person to another thousand of times throughout their lives and circulate in that manner. Typically, throughout our lives we tend to have some moment where we have a massive stash of coins, being coin collectors or not from these transactions. At this point, we know that we have money, but often times the denominations of coins are too small to do much, and the quantity is too great to use them in everyday transactions. At this point, we take them to a location that will accept them which is typically either a Coinstar machine, or a bank; where we deposit these coins for cash, and whenever this occurs the facility that we deposited them at has to do something with them. Of course, the US mint also plays a massive and the most important role in the circulation of coins. After they produce coins at one of their mints, they ship them to federal reserve banks and their various branches. After this point, they distribute the coins to commercial banks depending on the demand that they have for them, which arises from the demand that comes from the public. Amazingly, our mint actually varies its production of coins throughout the year, because the demand for them varies at different times of the year, which helps them distribute a proper flow of them into circulation. Throughout the years this process continues, where more and more new coins are put into circulation, and more and more of the older ones are taken out, where sometimes wheat back pennies from the 1940s or even the 1930s can be found, and if you are really lucky; you may find a silver coin. By: Brandon Spiegel, Owner, and Founder of Let's Start A Coin Collection We all know that coins have amazing histories that date back to the time that they were minted, and often times before that. Amazingly, coin collecting in America can be dated all the way back to the creation of America itself, where it really started in the 1850s. Coin collecting has been a pastime for thousands of people since then, where there have been many fortunate events that has brought the coin market to where it is today.
In colonial times, there were very few coin collectors as during that time it was considered to be a hobby for the wealthy. Despite this, there were a few wealthy people that collected ancient and sometimes foreign coins in America, where a couple individuals even saved out rare American coins such a the Brashire Dabloon, and the occasional pine tree shilling. However, these individuals were few and far between, and likely did not know of each other. The next major era of coin collecting in America does not come until the introduction of proof coins, which were known as "master coins" in the 1820s and 30s were about a few dozen of each denomination were minted in the proof format each year by request of individuals. Fortunately, this tradition stuck, and as the years went on more and more people purchased proof coins to add to their coin collection. The tradition of coin collecting really did not start to take off in America until 1857, with the end of the large cent and the introduction of the small cent. After the flying eagle cents were first produced, there were two major changes in the publics perception on the coins that they had. First, people had a great fascination with the small cent, where people were lining up to trade out their old coins fo the new small cents. In fact, it is even reported that people were selling these new coins to people in line for a profit! Next, people started to associate the older large cents and half cents with nostalgia, as they were the primary coins that circulated when they were a kid, so they started to save them aside, where some even tried to complete a date set with cents ranging from 1793 to 1857. People also had a facination with early tokens that had depictions of George Washington, but for the most part peole did not collect anything else. At first, the market was very sparsely populated with a few rare coin dealers here and there, and some collectors that were simply in random places all across the country. Some basic coin clubs started to form, but unfortunately, they failed because they were too "exclusive" for the general population. This was changed, in 1858 with the creation of the American Numismatic Society or ANS for short, which was the first major coin collecting society in America, which is a crucial development as they spearheaded the first initial research in American coins. In fact, during this same year, proof coins are available to the public, where they were sold in sets that consisted of the "minor" denomination coinage for that year. Then came the Civil war. The civil war put a halt not only on the coin market but also just about every hobby all across the country. Interestingly, during this era, many people hoarded silver coins so much that many companies issued "civil war tokens" to be used as pennies in circulation. Despite this temporary halt, the coin market soon got back on its feet after the war ended, where there were even many famous coin collectors that fought in the war! After all the dust settled, we really start to see a lot of growth in the coin market and numismatics. One of the largest development during this era is the advent of coin auctions, and even a popular numismatic publication that was first started in the late 1860s by Ebenezer Locke Mason called "Masons Coin and Stamp Collectors Magazine" which discussed primarily foreign coins, and some American coinage. We also start to see an increase in the production of proof coins, where by 1888 over 4 thousand proof sets that consisted of the Indian head cent, three cent nickel, and Liberty Head nickel. As time continued, coin collecting became increasingly popular, where the number of coin collectors continually grew. In the 1880s, we see a major change in numismatics with the creation of the American numismatic association in 1888, where it long running numismatic publication called "The Numismatist" started to be produced at regular intervals in 1891. Amazingly, during this same year, the founder of the organization predicted that there were 20,000 coin collectors in America! Soon, the organization was officially founded and in the early 1900s, they started to hold a coin convention every month, where people met up to discuss coins but did not sell them. As time continued, we start to see people expanding the kind of coins that they collected, as people started to collect more and more silver coins, which was likely aided by inflation, as they could purchase less and less. The coin market exploded in the 1930s with the great depression, because people had a lot more free time to do things such as collect coins from their pocket change, where rare pieces could fetch them some money. We also see the advent of "coin boards" where people tried to complete entire date sets of various series such as the liberty nickel and various other series. The next major event that has a massive change in the coin market is WWII, and the changes it brought to the coins that were minted. In 1943, pennies were produced primarily of steel instead of copper, so the government could save the copper for the war effort. This, combined with how nickels were made of a composition that had 35% silver in it, and no nickel for a similar purpose created an entry point for many future collectors. Additionally, during this time in American history soldiers were coming home with foreign coins, where many wanted to learn about the pieces that they had acquired, which lead to many becoming coin collectors themselves. In 1947 there is the first publication of "A Guide Book of United States Coins" better known as "The Redbook" which changed the coin market forever. Soon after its initial release, it became standard reference material for many coin collectors due to the vast amount of information that it contained. It is very interesting to note the lack of a standard in its initial production, as throughout the entire book only three different grades were used, being "good" "fine" "uncirculated" and "proof." The 1940s brought along another fundamental aspect to the modern numismatic market, which is the 70 point grading scale known as the "Sheldon Scale" after its founder, William Sheldon. Although it was originally supposed to be a pricing system for the 1794 large cent, since its introduction in 1949 it has become so much more. Throughout the 1950s the market continued to grow, with a "roll craze" that swept the nation to the point where some prices for rolled coins have not reached the prices they were selling for during that time. In 1965, we see the introduction of clad coinage and the end of silver in coinage with the exception of the Kennedy half a dollar which had 40% silver until 1970. At this point, a lot of people started to search for their change to try and find silver coins, where many people started to find a fascination in older coins that were in circulation. Additionally, means of publishing material about coins and selling was becoming easier and easier which lead to the increase in coin dealing and the amount of content that was published about coins. However, an official grading standard was still not in the market, which was causing problems in the growing market. It was not until 1977 with the publication of "The Official ANA Grading Standards for United States Coin" that the official 70 point grading standard was adopted, which had a profound effect on the market; changing it forever. The 1970s also brought the serious studying of coins by individuals such as Kenneth Bresset and David Bowers, who have contributed to a lot of what we know about American coins. The 1980s brought along even more major changes in coins, as we see the advent of third party grading services in the mid 1980s with companies such as PCGS and NGC becoming very popular, as they provided and still do provide a very professional opinion on the grade of peoples coin along with a hard plastic case that many are still in today. The first third party grading company was the ANACS which is better known as the American Numismatic Association Certification Service which was first founded in the early 1970s by the American Numismatic Association to help people get a better idea as to what the grade of their coins was in, and to help them verify that they were authentic. This caught on that dozens of companies were founded on this concept, where PCGS and NGC are the two primary third party grading companies that are still around today. Third party grading services became increasingly popular, where in the 1990s the ANACS had to sell their company to private hands so they would not risk losing their non-profit status. In the 2000s, we start to see a lot of the people that started their coin collection in the mid to late 1960s retire, where this is a major foundation of the coin market today. These retired individuals have a lot more time to dedicate to numismatics than they did in the past, which has to lead to a lot of growth in the hobby. Fortunately, they are also interested in helping other people start coin collections to keep the market growing, where many younger people have received free coins to add to their coin collection. There has also been the ever increasing use of the internet and technology, where websites such as YouTube and eBay have brought coin collecting to more people than ever before! Another amazing thing that is seen in the 2000s is the creation of awesome circulating coins series such as the state quarter series which ran from 1999 until 2008, where many people collected all 50 designs from coins in circulation. This and other circulating series has brought many more coin collectors into the market, which is something that will help the market grow for years to come. Currently, the market is strong, and we will see what the future holds for the next generation of coin collectors and dealers taking over the hobby. Although it is hard to predict the future, I know that it will be good; and filled with coins. I really hope that you enjoyed this article, and please keep on the lookout for more content from Let's Start A Coin Collection. |
Author: Brandon Spiegel.
Archives
January 2019
Categories
All
Archives
January 2019
Categories
All
Categories
All
|