92 Half, Shame It Aint Silver

The thing I don't like about half dollars is they tend to look cheaper, design-wise than their dollar counterparts. There are some downright beautiful classic half dollars, why then are the modern ones so typically awful. for my money, the most attractive modern half is the Statue of Liberty- I love the high relief reverse. The most unfortunate one, to my taste? the 2011 Army half.

There are several modern series half-dollar designs/coins that I believe stack up incredibly well against those of the classic series. The 1982 George Washington 250th Anniversary (of GW's birth) by Elizabeth Jones is one. The 1986 Statue of Liberty, 1992 Columbus Quincentenary and 1995 Civil War Battlefields are a few others. I would put just about all of the modern half-dollar designs ahead of the Carver-Washington half-dollar of the classic series - the map of the US on that one is so poorly done that I cringe a bit every time I see it.