Community Voice Responses: July 9, 2019

From the June 7 Numismatic News E-Letter

Should the U.S. Mint continue producing the uncirculated Kennedy half dollars or is it time for something new?

Here are some answers sent in from our E-Newsletter readers.

I think the half dollar should be removed completely except for mint and proof sets. I hardly ever see a Kennedy half.

Charles Storms
Address withheld

The coins are not produced for commerce so there’s no need to continue the series. It’s time for the biggest coin dealer (the U.S. Mint) to do something different.

Joe G.
Carlsbad, Calif.

It was a great gesture after the president was assassinated. A lot of folks kept them as a reminder. Plus, in 1964 they were silver!

As of now, in 2019, if I was given a half dollar in change I’d be totally surprised! I haven’t seen any in many, many years!

Would it be a thought to just make them for silver proof sets? Or would that be cost prohibitive?

Robert Bell
Address withheld

In reference to your question on the Kennedy half dollar, I do like the heft and feel of the half dollar, however, I think the time has come to move onto another ex-president to be honored on the half dollar. I think a good choice may be Theodore Roosevelt and then on the back we could have an iconic bison. I feel if the half dollar is going to be a non-circulating coin it may as well be changed once in a while. One of the reasons I do not get too excited about U.S. coinage in general is that the coins are the exact same except for one number changed in the date for a whole decade; I mean how uninteresting is that?

I collect the quarters and also I love to collect Canadian coins because of the numerous amounts of designs each year. I do not really enjoy collecting coins that are only made for mint profit, it seems sort of like sports cards that were made in the millions during the 80s and are worth next to nothing. If it is made just for collecting it seems to have a very low interest level a few years down the road, sometimes even in the same year.

Roger
Williston, N.D.

The U.S. Mint should keep making them. It’s an important coin for younger collectors.

Dennis Nicholson
Address withheld