Franklin Half Dollar (1948-1963): The Iconic Coin of Mid-Century America

Franklin Half Dollar (1948-1963): The U. S. Mint was established shortly after this great country was founded and since its establishment, the U. S. Mint has been minting coinage for the United States as well as other countries. The mint was established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the initial stages; however, it started franchising later on as it expanded. Whenever a new facility to manufacture the coinage for the U.S. mint was produced, a new mintmark was incorporated into the coins to indicate which mint they hailed from.

Over the years of the existence of the U. S. Mint, it produced many types of coins for the population. The mint has not only been involved in the provision of base metal coins for use in the country but also a host of commemorative and symbolic coins. Even if we consider the Founding Fathers as the builders of the United States, the Franklin Half Dollar is named in honor of one of the most famous personalities, Benjamin Franklin.

The Franklin Half Dollar is a very circulated silver coin and has the face value of $.50. They were produced between 1948 and 1963. Such coins are in circulation even today because of the value that is placed on their history and meaning. The subsequent parts of this article will explain the history of the creation of these coins, their exterior and interior design and why people chase these coins in the first place.

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Franklin Half Dollar History

The Franklin Half Dollar came into existence because the then mint director, Nellie Tayloe Ross, was a fan of Franklin and wanted his picture on a coin. Ms. Ross told the mint’s chief engraver in 1947, John Sinnock, to start working on designs for such a coin. However, before a design could be done on the circulating coin, Mr. Sinnock died, and the coin’s final design was done by Gilroy Roberts.

The coins were introduced in April 1948 and closely followed; this was characterized by some measure of controversy. Franklin’s neck and the snapshot of his bust on the Liberty Bell were impressed by Sinnock’s initials at the cutoff of Franklin’s shoulder on the ebony surface of the coin. Many of them had thought that these initials were in fact in honor of the former dictator of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin. The mint said, however, that these were the initials of Sinnock and nothing else and the mint did not alter the design of the coin in any way. Franklin Half Dollars were then regularly minted up until 1963, a time that predates the start of the set. The previous version of the coin was the Franklin Half Dollar, which was minted up to the year 1964.

Franklin Half Dollar Design

The design of the Franklin half dollar you see today was designed by John Sinnock. The design is said to have some kind of allusion to one of the most revered Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin.

The die illustrating the front side of the coin is a portrait profile of Benjamin Franklin. The profile of Franklin has been depicted with flowing hair and the area representing hair is cut up to the shoulder level. It turned out that the obverse is appropriately intricate in terms of Franklin’s profile while retaining rather simple design elements. On the head side, there is the inscription ‘Liberty,’ and on the reverse side of the face is ‘IN GOD WE TRUST,’ and the year of minting.

On the Franklin Half Dollar, the reverse side shows the Liberty Bell along with an eagle. The actual Liberty Bell shows the crack on the bell and was at first made subject to jokes. Furthermore, the first response of the public to the outlook of the coin was an appeal against the small eagle but despite the appeal, the mint proceeded to produce the coin with the said outlook. On the reverse side of the coin, there is a relatively clear imprint of a bell and an eagle, as well as several sayings that include E PLURIBUS UNUM, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and HALF DOLLAR.

The Liberty Bell has excellent detailing with complex engraving and the overall design of the coin makes it one of the most representative pieces of circulating money.

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Franklin Half Dollar’s Popularity Among Collectors

The Franklin Half Dollar unit is among the favorites of Ace coin collectors for the following reasons: This piece of currency has historic imagery and has an image of one of the most popular American icons ever.

Like the Franklin Half Dollar, this one is also equal to fifty cents and, as such, the difference between them and many other coins like $1, $5 or even more in face value. Apart from its face value, this kind of coin is also appraised based on the value of the silver it contains. This flan was struck from 90% pure silver with a reeded edge.

The other and maybe final aspect that may contribute to attention towards these coins is the fact that they are older in age. The Franklin Half Dollar has been out of circulation for more than half a century and there are several reasons to predict that time may only add to demand for these fifty-cent coins.

Franklin Half Dollars was minted for some years, however in the early years, the mintage of these coins was comparatively low and collectors might want to have some of the original specimens. It is for this reason that these coins are not regarded as being especially scarce and there is a likelihood that they exist in nominal quantities.

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