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 Replies: 18 / Views: 3,251 |
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Pillar of the Community
708 Posts |
I just got done talking with a Mint customer care representative, and I asked him if he knew what the current supply of "circulation quality" halves was at, and I told him about a decade ago, I read that there was a 10 year's supply worth of public demand at that time, and he said "Hold on. Maybe I can check" then he comes back to the phone and says "Nope, sorry. I don't have that information for you" and I asked him if I should contact the Federal Reserve on the issue, and he said that I should write a letter directly to the U.S. Mint to ask about that one. Then, just to confirm what I read, I asked him "I have read that, when the current supply of circulation quality halves is depleted, will more halves be minted for circulation?" and he said "Yep. That's one thing I do know" and I said "Yeah, just like the BEP prints $2 bills as needed, when their supply runs out" and he said "Correct" and he did say that, like $2 bills, halves "are" in circulation, but he just don't know where.
So there. I've done it. I have proven that the half, like the $2 bill is NOT a "dead" denomination. Its just currently "in hibernation" I predict that more circulation quality halves should be made around 2020. I just have a gut feeling on that, though. But hey, that will have been 20 years instead of ten. And I did mention how someone here on this board said that there was an unusually larger amount of halves made in 2013, and the Mint guy checked that and said "Hey, you're right"
In other news, I asked if the special Mint sets are going to have a design change, or if they would just have special mint marks or something, and he told me they still don't know what is going on with those half sets, but there is a possibility of a silver half in a set with no design change, but that's about all he guessed.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
927 Posts |
Well then, lets keep spending those halves and maybe they will release them for circulation sooner. I am doing my part. I love the half dollars.
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Pillar of the Community
968 Posts |
Speaking to some random dude at the mint who more than likely just wanted you to hang up and was going to say whatever it took to get you to hang up in a reasonable timeframe now constitutes solid evidence?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
899 Posts |
I think is fairly safe to say... the mint will produce more halves for circulation if requested by the FED to do so. In 2013 they did exactly that towards the end of the year. There are several articles indicating that the mint processed a request from the FED to produce an additional 6 million half dollars and it was later cancelled - yet the mint has now got 6 million extra 2013 halves to sell by June 20th.
So the mint can and will produce these - it is just a given fact - the interest isn't there in the general public to circulate them.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4901 Posts |
Fox, really? Speaking to a customer service rep about US Mint policy/procedure is like talking to a gas station attendant about fuel distillation product procedure. They serve to answer questions about orders and products for sale. That's it. "If we run out will we make more?" doesn't imply that we WILL ever "run out".... FYI $2 bill "hibernation"...printing stats: 230 million printed in 2006 134 million printed in 2012 They are being printed..just not being widely used. Circulating quality half production (sold at a premium): 2011.....3.45 million 2012.....3.5 million 2013.....3.6 million (plus 6 million hiding somewhere) Quote:
All of the half-dollars are in circulating quality, the same as if produced for commerce. But since 2002, none have been delivered to the Federal Reserve for banks to order so you won't see them in pocket change. The U.S. Mint produces enough to meet collector demand, making them available through numismatic products only. Quote:
Coin production figures show plummeting half-dollar mintages after their circulation distribution ended in 2001. Annual mintage totals have steadied in recent years, hovering around the 3.5 million mark. Over 40 million were minted in 2000 and in 2001 Edited by Foxwoods Man
02/14/2014 08:00 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4901 Posts |
oops I forgot: Quote:
but there is a possibility of a silver half in a set with no design change Now THAT's exciting...  |
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Moderator
 United States
187862 Posts |
Well, considering how easy it is to get boxes (boxes, plural) of half dollars for CRH, and how most of those boxes are dumped back into the system, I think you will be waiting a long, long time for that supply to run dry.
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Valued Member
United States
446 Posts |
The last time I got a half dollar in my change that wasn't from a coin shop was in 1993, at a movie theater. When I was in downtown Vegas in the early 2000s, I noticed some half dollar slot machines, but I didn't get any in my change there. I also didn't see any half dollar slots in downtown Vegas when I went there last April.
When I was a cashier in retail in the 1980-81 timeframe in my San Jose days, I'd occasionally get halves from customers, but they may have brought them back from Reno. I've been told Ikes circulated in Reno/Tahoe and halves may have as well. It did seem as if they were attempting a comeback, but the following year I wasn't getting any.
I did know someone who was a cashier in the early 60s, and he told me that when they started minting clad coins, the half dollars disappeared overnight.
All that said.....yes, if the Fed tells the mint they want 20 million or so JFKs to meet circulation needs, then they'll be made. I tend to think that half dollars these days circulate amongst us box/roll hunters and that's the extent of it. Even so, I'm trying to do my part for the Project 100K circulating dollars/halves thread.
Edited by DCM Coins
02/14/2014 1:41 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
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Vegas in the early 2000s, I noticed some half dollar slot machines, but I didn't get any in my change there. I also didn't see any half dollar slots in downtown Vegas when I went there last April. They seem to have moved away from them for slots in the newer and renovated casinos. Using them as 50 cent chips is really the biggest use of halfs at this point and they only do that because its cheaper than making the chips themselves. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4901 Posts |
Yup, I know of only two casinos in Las Vegas that have machines that use coins. The D and Binion's downtown each have a small slot area that is retro and uses coins in the machines. None that I know of on the strip
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Valued Member
United States
446 Posts |
There is another one along Fremont St that uses them; a small one where you get beads handed to you to wear around your neck as you enter. Mardi Gras? The name escapes me at the moment.
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Pillar of the Community
 708 Posts |
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Speaking to some random dude at the mint who more than likely just wanted you to hang up and was going to say whatever it took to get you to hang up in a reasonable timeframe now constitutes solid evidence? Oh, you mean "that "random dude at the Mint" that told me to "call back ANY time" if I had anymore questions, and "thanked" me for my interests in United States Mint issues? That was the "guy who was trying to "get me off the phone at a reasonable time-frame"? I think not. Quote:
Fox, really? Yes, Foxwoodsman, really! Quote:
Speaking to a customer service rep about US Mint policy/procedure is like talking to a gas station attendant about fuel distillation product procedure. They serve to answer questions about orders and products for sale. That's it. Well, this guy talked about more than just products for sale. I guess that makes him special. Quote:
"If we run out will we make more?" doesn't imply that we WILL ever "run out".... It STILL means "We WILL make more" Quote:
FYI $2 bill "hibernation"...printing stats:
230 million printed in 2006
134 million printed in 2012
They are being printed..just not being widely used. I was "implying" that, the $2 bill and the half were NOT "dead denominations" but I only meant that the "half" was in hibernation, and although the $2 bill is rarely used, I know that denomination is not in hibernation. I only mentioned the $2 bill because it is also a rarely used denomination. Quote:
Circulating quality half production (sold at a premium):
2011.....3.45 million
2012.....3.5 million
2013.....3.6 million (plus 6 million hiding somewhere)
Yes. As you said with the $2 bill being printed, halves are STILL being minted...just not widely used. The fact that they are only being minted for collectors, at a premium, does not excuse that they are still currently being minted. Now, if they had stopped minting the half all together, THEN I would say "Okay, the half is a dead denomination" (and then I would start hoarding them, because I like them) But as of right now, the Mint has NO plans to "stop" minting halves. Not even for 2015 and beyond the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy half. |
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Pillar of the Community
708 Posts |
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There are several articles indicating that the mint processed a request from the FED to produce an additional 6 million half dollars and it was later cancelled - yet the mint has now got 6 million extra 2013 halves to sell by June 20th.
And, what happens to those 2013 halves if that are not sold by June 20th? Are they melted down, or does the Mint just do the logical thing, and toss the remaining 2013 halves in with the rest of the circulation quality halves of older years? |
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Valued Member
United States
446 Posts |
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And, what happens to those 2013 halves if that are not sold by June 20th? Are they melted down, or does the Mint just do the logical thing, and toss the remaining 2013 halves in with the rest of the circulation quality halves of older years? Quote:
Oh, you mean "that "random dude at the Mint" that told me to "call back ANY time" if I had anymore questions, and "thanked" me for my interests in United States Mint issues? If you call that guy back, he'll answer your question about the 2013 halves. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1817 Posts |
What's his name, Fox? He got a direct line? I'd like to talk to him, too.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
I'm not sure I would assume the guy at the mint (or the gas station attendant for that matter) doesn't know anything. Reminds me of a Big Bang Theory episode:
Dmitri: [Dmitri rings in on the final question in the physics bowl] The answer is minus eight pi alpha.
Sheldon: Hang on, hang on a second, that is not our answer! What are you doing?
Dmitri: [wearily] Answering question; winning physics bowl.
Sheldon: How do *you* know anything about physics?
Dmitri: Here I am janitor. In former Soviet Union, I am physicist; Leningrad Polytechnica - Go Polar Bears.
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Replies: 18 / Views: 3,251 |
Posted 02/14/2014 12:52 am
