Is the Half Dollar the “Coin of the People”?
Dennis: I was talking with some numismatic colleagues last week; the topic was U.S. commemorative coins. The idea came up that, among a three-coin program, the clad half dollar is “the coin of the people,” because it’s priced lower than the silver dollar and gold five-dollar coin. The theory was the half dollar is the coin that kids will collect, because they can afford it, and therefore it should have the boldest, most innovative design of the three coins.
I think this price dynamic may have been the case when I was a young collector, but no longer. The first commemoratives that I was really aware of, and saved up my money to buy, were the 1986 Statue of Liberty centennial coins. The Uncirculated half dollar debuted at $5.00 per; the silver dollar cost $20.50; and the gold coin was $160. You could buy four half dollars for the price of one silver dollar. The half dollar was a bargain, and affordable. (Not to mention its wonderfully sentimental design by John Mercanti, showing an immigrant family arriving in New York.)
Today, in the 2024 Greatest Generation commemorative program, an Uncirculated clad half dollar costs $52.00, and the silver dollar is $82.00. The price of the silver dollar won’t even buy you two half dollars. In other words, if a kid or budget-conscious collector can afford one, he can afford the other.
Adjusted for inflation, the $5.00 I spent for a Statue of Liberty half dollar in 1986 is equivalent to $14.00 today. I could see today’s commemorative half dollars being the “coin of the people” if they were issue-priced at $14.00. But with the pricing so close, the silver dollar seems the better buy. Sales numbers from recent coin programs show that silver dollars are always more popular than half dollars. Here are some rounded numbers from the past ten years of commemorative coin sales:
2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Coins
Half dollars: 392,000 sold
Silver dollars: 400,000 sold
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2015 U.S. Marshals Service Coins
Half dollars: 107,000 sold
Silver dollars: 163,000 sold
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2016 National Park Service Coins
Half dollars: 77,000 sold
Silver dollars: 99,000 sold
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2017 Boys Town Coins
Half dollars: 39,000 sold
Silver dollars: 45,000 sold
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2019 American Legion Coins
Half dollars: 39,000 sold
Silver dollars: 77,000 sold
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2020 Basketball Hall of Fame Coins
Half dollars: 96,000 sold
Silver dollars: 116,000 sold
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2021 National Law Enforcement Coins
Half dollars: 38,000 sold
Silver dollars: 46,000 sold
Collectors like half dollars, but they like silver dollars better.
I think if the Mint could find a way to issue commemorative half dollars at face value, or even at $1.00 each, it would have a seigniorage bonanza on its hands. This might happen in 2026 when the Semiquincentennial brings a new half dollar design to circulation and everyday Americans start saving the coins from their pocket change.
Steve, what are your thoughts on commemorative clad half dollars?
Steve: Dennis, wow! I had to go to the U.S. Mint’s web site to confirm that at $54, the half dollar is copper nickel rather than silver. That is expensive and quite a commitment for a collector. I have fond memories of getting the clad commemorative half dollars as Christmas gifts when I first had an interest in numismatics. The 1989-D Congress Bicentennial half dollars had huge mintages of 931,650 across Proof and Uncirculated formats, while the 1991 Mount Rushmore Golden Anniversary half dollar saw a slightly reduced mintage of 926,011 in both formats. Mintages for the commemorative half dollars stayed strong through the 1990s, though legislators favored the silver dollar for standalone commemoratives. This made sense given the relatively modest price of silver in the era, the larger format which accommodated more design options, and the higher surcharges that would result from a dollar versus a half dollar.
The 2001 U.S. Capitol Visitor Center half dollar was part of a 3-coin set and saw a meager 177,119 halves in both formats, and as you’ve pointed out, mintages continue to decline over the next two decades. The “Red Book” lists just 11,301 Uncirculated 2018-D Breast Cancer Awareness half dollars distribute. That’s a mintage that would not look out of place in the classic commemorative series of 1892 to 1954.
Some modern half dollars, like the 1992 Columbus Quincentenary issue and the 1986 Statue of Liberty Centennial half dollars – are modestly priced today and extremely handsome in their designs. Others might be key issues in the future if…and that’s a big if given the choices collectors have today with U.S. Mint products…there is interest in modern era commemorative half dollars in future generations.
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About the Collecting Friends Blog
Hello! And welcome to the ANA’s blog series, “Collecting Friends.”
We decided to approach this much like a conversation between friends. One of us starts with a topic, then the other responds. Simple as that. Along those lines, we’ll keep the tone conversational as much as possible.
We both write about coins professionally, and will keep our relative style guides in our writing. For Dennis, Publisher at Whitman Publishing, that means capitalizing “Proof” and italicizing Red Book and never saying anything bad about Ken Bressett, who’s awesome anyway.
For Steve, who’s written with Coin World for 15 years, it means Winged Liberty Head dime instead of “Mercury” dime, and similar nuances and oddities. And, it means writing A Guide Book of United States Coins (better known as the “Red Book”).
Both of us started collecting when we were little, introduced to coins by a chance encounter with an old coin that sparked our curiosity. One of Steve’s interests is coin valuation, and he gravitates towards the intersection of art and coins. Dennis enjoys medals and world coins, and studying modern U.S. coins in the context of older series, what came before.
We met in 2012 at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia at an event hosted by the Austrian Mint where there was both a Ben Franklin and a Betsy Ross impersonator. We’ve become great friends in the past decade. We even were appointed together to sit on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee starting in 2016, but Steve resigned soon after he was appointed to accept a full-time job at the Treasury Department while Dennis was re-appointed in 2020.
We taught a course together on numismatic publishing and writing a few years ago at the Summer Seminar, and while life has gotten in the way of us teaching another class, we jumped at our friend Caleb’s suggestion that we write a column. We hope you enjoy it!
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About the American Numismatic Association
The American Numismatic Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect coins and related items. The Association serves collectors, the general public, and academic communities with an interest in numismatics.
The ANA helps all people discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of educational programs including its museum, library, publications, conventions and numismatic seminars.