Gary's 20th Century Type Set
50c FRANKLIN 1948-63


Obverse
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Reverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Origin/Country: United States
Design Description: HALF DOLLARS - FRANKLIN
Item Description: 50C 1958 D
Grade: NGC MS 64
Owner: coinsbygary
 
Winning Set: Gary's 20th Century Type Set
Date Added: 3/17/2009
Research: See NGC's Census Report for this Coin

Owner's Description

In 1948 just as our nation was entering the “Cold War” with the Soviet Union, the Franklin Half Dollar replaced the Walking Liberty Half Dollar. In a significant departure from past practices, the reverse of the Franklin Half Dollar has as its prominent device the “Liberty Bell” rather than an eagle. During the “Revolutionary War”, the “Liberty Bell” was a symbol of liberty and justice and in the “Civil War” became a symbol for the abolitionist movement. Over the duration of the Franklin Half Dollar, during the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, the “Liberty Bell” would again serve to remind Americans of the enduring principles of liberty and justice by which our nation was founded. This would be especially important in light of the threat of communism that would have the United States entering the “Korean War” and the “Vietnam War” in the 1950’s and 60’s respectively. The Franklin Half Dollar, featuring a bust of Benjamin Franklin on the obverse, is the final coin in a transition from allegorical representations of Liberty to historical portraits that started in 1909 with the Lincoln Cent. In many respects, it is fitting to honor one of our nation’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin on one our circulating coins. Among his many accomplishments, Benjamin Franklin is partly responsible for the designs on our nation’s earliest coins. In 1783 while in France, Benjamin Franklin commissioned the striking of the “Libertas Americana” medal that would become the basis for the obverse designs of our first copper and silver coins in 1793 and 1794. This MS-64, 1958-D Franklin Half Dollar is also in my 1958 birth year set.

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