JFK and Coin Supplies
John F. Kennedy was the second youngest president elected to office, after Teddy Roosevelt. He was the first president to be born in the 20th century and during WWII served as commander of Motor Torpedo boats in the South Pacific. He was assassinated in 1963 after serving less than three years in office. Soon after his assassination there was serious consideration to giving his face to one of the larger American coins, either the silver dollar, the half-dollar or the quarter dollar. Jacqueline Kennedy was consulted and said that she would prefer him to be on the half-dollar, replacing Benjamin Franklin, so as not to replace George Washington.
Within a few months, by January 1964, the mint had struck the new half dollar ensuring it would be found in coin collections. Today only the Philadelphia and Denver mints strike the half dollar, in circulation numbers of under two million, which shows how rare it is to encounter these coins. Early coins depict detailed hairlines in the president’s profile and are valuable in coin collecting.
Today Kennedy continues to be recognized as a great president, often ranking in the top five of all time. Although his presidency was short-lived, it was symbolic of the social change in the early 1960s. His face is still found on half-dollars in many a coin collection.
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Posted on: Monday, September 12th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Posted in: coin supplies
Tags: Coin Collecting, coin collection, coin collections