Owner Comments:
The tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 filled the nation with grief and prompted Congress to authorize a coin in his memory. Although the Franklin half dollar had been in circulation for only 16 years, Congress decided to replace it with the Kennedy half dollar.
Designers Gilroy Roberts (obverse) and Frank Gasparro (reverse) were faced with the then unprecedented task of preparing a new design and getting it up and running for mass production in little more than a month’s time. To speed the process the designers borrowed from the work of Paul Manship who had designed the Kennedy Inaugural medal in 1960. (A photo of this medal in silver is shown to the right of the coin.) Manship’s design featured a profile of the youthful president on the obverse and a reproduction of the Presidential Seal on the reverse.
The Kennedy half dollar was instantly popular, and citizens could barely wait to acquire an example. Despite a mintage of almost 430 million pieces, very few JFK half dollars ever reached circulation because most of the coins were kept as keepsakes. Soon after the government released the JFK half dollar, speculation about the future price of silver bullion also resulted in wide-spread hoarding of the coin. Proof sets were exceedingly popular. By the end of the year Proof set mintage had reached a record of almost 4 million sets.
This coin has nicely frosted contrast between the devices and the fields. Only a few minor toning marks show, and the coin is very attractive for the PR-67 Ultra Cameo grade.