When Did The 50 Cent Piece Stop Circulating?

We had a bunch of nickel fifty cents coins that we always took with us when we went to restaurants, and we would give them as tips to the waitresses.
One waitress ased me me as I paid the bill, was it real?.. I told her yes, it is real but only nickel content not silver, she said.."I'm going to keep it the the rset of my life"..I told her that's fine!..lol

You got them in change in the 1960's , but by the 1970's you didn't see them too often.

Ya, my parents hoarded all the 2002 coins the got, as did everyone I know.

I know people still tip with them, I know hwat year they stopped putting them in circulation but where they still popular in the 80's?

So far we have a pre 1970 answer. Does that sound about right?

The fifty cent piece had spotty circulation after the early 1970s in a few places. I lived in Eastern BC and it was common to see them in change until about 1973. Then they really dried up. In the late 1970's the Capitol Theatre used them when movies were $4.50 in numerous BC locations. The 2002 issue was a misguided attempt to circulate the fifty cent coin again. It seems two 25 cent coins are more convenient. Personally the last one I received in an actual transaction was 2003 at a post office.

The only place I used the fifty cent coin and received in circulation was from the toll bridge to get to the U.S. Back east when I was a boy.

Back in the 60's and 70's the Canadian national exhibition in Toronto, all the game crown and anchor,horse birthday and more used 50 cents pieces .Had my pockets filled with them.

Here in the US, for all intent and purpose, they quit circulating in my area when the Kennedy half dollar came out in the Spring of 1964. Everybody started hoarding the silver half dollars and it was just a matter of time before we had the big coin shortages in 1965.

In the 70s and 80s, that's all you saw if went to play some games at the Canadian National Exhibition