I was watching an old 1964 episode of What's My Line just now and was interested to hear one of the guests, who was the Superintendent of the Denver Mint, discuss the shortage of Kennedy half dollars. Panelist Bennett Cerf noted that the new coins were selling for 4 or 5 dollars a piece. See
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beginning at about 14:00.
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That was a good show on Sunday nights on CBS back in the 60's. Brought back a bunch of good memories from a simpler time.
I remember standing in line at the Collin County National Bank on North Tennessee street in Mckinney, Texas in March of 1964 waiting to get one of the new Kennedy half dollars.
The bank Vice President (I think his name was Mr Winders) was sitting at a desk in the lobby with a bank employee standing next to him. You would hand the employee a dollar and Mr Winders would give you 2 of the most beautiful 1964-D half dollars a 15 year old kid like me had ever seen! They limited exchanges to two coins per person.
Will never forget that $1000 bag of half dollars sitting on that desk!
Imagine, a JFK half selling back then for 4.00-5.00. Let's say you paid for them with other pocket change: silver quarters.
4.00 = 16 quarters = $48.99 today.
5.00 = 20 quarters = $61.42 today.
It tells you something about the mindset of the day concerning the JFK presidency and assassination.
I also like how these old TV shows are proof you can have a good time without the typical vices a lot of modern TV/movies seem to have as the very reason why they exist.
I love those old game shows -- used to watch them every week on Game Show Network "Sunday Night in Black & White". I recall an episode of "I've Got A Secret" with a contestant who claimed to be the figure-model for the Indian's nose on the Buffalo nickel. Whether that was true or not, I can't say, but it was interesting to see.
Edit to add: Did some research... That episode of IGAS aired on 9/24/62; it was Chief John Big Tree (the guest was Victor Borge). Unfortunately, that episode doesn't appear to be on YouTube.
Fascinating time capsule. It's interesting that once her identity was revealed, the subject of the Kennedy half dollar and the general shortage of coins immediately came up. It was a hot topic. Ultimately there were 429,509,450 1964 half dollars minted. The US population was 192 million. That's 2.2 coins per person at the time. I have 6 of them that I pulled out of circulation during that timeframe and I was just a kid. The hoarding must have been a frenzy.
Quote: I have 6 of them that I pulled out of circulation during that timeframe and I was just a kid.
When the coins first hit circulation, (when I was a kid) I remember saving my pennies (50 at a time), getting on my bike, riding five miles to the bank and asking the teller if she had any Kennedy half dollars. She did!
Quote: I now have a couple that my mom recently gave me, and I have no idea how long she has had them. She would have been 9 years old when they came out.
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Posted 01/10/2018 01:57 am
