Should The Kennedy Half Have Never Existed?

That's thinkin' 'outside the box'. ....!
I like!

I think it was mostly inflation that did in the half dollar.

Half dollars never had as much velocity as quarters. Mostly you received quarters in change unless the total was something like $3.55 and then you'd likely get a half and a nickel. At that time anything you wanted from vending machines could be had for nickels and dimes though a pack of cigarettes cost 20 or 25 cents.

But there was a lot of inflation and suddenly these things usually required "real money" like quarters and the machines didn't accept half dollars. Many times the bank would give me a half dollar and I'd hand it back to get quarters. The banks got out of the habit of even offering half dollars and the denomination gradually failed until it was hardly used at all after 1980.

A half dollar was really just two quarters and took up no more or less spoace or weight. It saved half a moment in making change but in light of its uselessness in making vending purchases this simply was insufficient justification. The government should have withdrawn it as soon as it was seen that it was no longer a useful denomination which was quite obvious by late 1969.

There was actually little hoarding of the silver clad issues because people considered it debased junk. Some were hoarded by Kennedy fans but this had little or no effect on the outcome. If the coins circulated the mint would have had to make a few more.

If you could buy cigarettes now from a machine you'd need a whole roll of quarters instead of two dimes.

I agree with jpsned, the Kennedy half is a visually striking coin, much more so than any of the other coins since the 60's.

I also think that real people should not be on coins in a democracy. It is fine for a monarchy to have images of the monarch, but in a democracy there should be more abstract images, like the various Liberty designs (IH Cent, SLQ, Mercury dime etc.)

Kennedy halves - I like the looks. He was a great man as far as politics goes. The rest of his life I will not commnet on (or did I just do that?). He wanted to oust the power of the fed and this likely got him killed (the red seal notes - blue too right?).

I like the Kennedy errors (great looking DDOs on some of the 70s - no magnifying glass needed). I also cannot get over the looks of the 1998-S matte proof - simply beautiful!


As to Reagan on a coin, I care not what the media propagates. The actual facts when researched (yes, I have - from both sides), show he was an amazing man for America. Although the media likes to say Clinton was the reason for Reagan's success, I find it interesting that JFK and Reagan's economic plans were about identical at the roots - Clinton's the opposite - and Clinton claimed to be just like JFK (listen to the speeches - yes I have!). Clinton was Obama the first - 'nuff said.

So I most certainly would like to see a Reagan half as long as the effigy is done well. I am also looking forward to the JFK dollar coin. I only have Presidential dollars of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy (for his early years), and am looking forward to Ike, JFK, and Reagan (if they get that far).

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