Junk 90% Silver Halves | $1 Face Value

Four Designs, One Silver Standard

This lot is $1 in face value of 90% silver half dollars: two coins struck by the US Mint between 1892 and 1964. The design depends on what we have in stock. It could be a Barber, a Walking Liberty, a Franklin or a 1964 Kennedy, but the silver stays the same whichever one lands in your hand.

 

Seventy-Two Years of Half Dollars

Charles E. Barber, the Mint’s sixth chief engraver, designed the oldest of the four. His Liberty wears a cap and a laurel wreath, with her name on the headband, and Barber halves ran from 1892 to 1915. Adolph Weinman’s Walking Liberty took over in 1916 and lasted through 1947, depicting Liberty striding toward the rising sun.

 

John Sinnock’s Franklin half followed from 1948 to 1963, with the Liberty Bell on the reverse and a small eagle beside it, added only because the law required an eagle on the coin. The Kennedy half arrived in 1964, and 1964 was its only 90% silver year.

 

Same Size, Same Silver

A Barber from the 1900s and a 1964 Kennedy look nothing alike, but the Mint struck both to the same specification: 90% silver and 10% copper, 30.6 mm across, with a reeded edge. That is why we can sell this as a mixed set. Each of the four designs included in this listing were minted with real silver, so you’re getting the same amount of metal with each purchase, regardless of which coins you receive.

 

Older Coins Means More Wear

Every coin in this lot is circulated, and the wear tracks how long a coin spent in pockets. A Barber half may have changed hands for half a century, so heavy wear is common on them. Washington saw it coming: when the president’s Cabinet approved the Barber design, its members asked for a bolder LIBERTY because they expected the word to wear away in circulation, and it did. A 1964 Kennedy, which the public hoarded almost from release, often shows far less.

 

Toning varies from coin to coin as well, from bright to deep gray, and both are normal for coins this old. Our part in it: we do not clean the coins we sell. We cannot speak for what an owner did before us, so we make no promise a coin is untouched, but we can promise we have not altered it.

 

Specifications

Each coin is a US half dollar with a $0.50 denomination, struck in .900 fine silver, 30.6 mm across with a reeded edge. The lot counts as 0.715 troy ounces of silver per $1 face value. Find condition, thickness and other details under the specifications tab above.

 

Junk 90% Silver Halves FAQ

Which design will I get, and can I choose?

The design is our choice and pulled from current stock, so it could be Barber, Walking Liberty, Franklin or Kennedy, and your two coins may not match. If you want one design only, we sell $1 face value lots of each design separately.

 

Could I get a 40% silver Kennedy?

No. Only Kennedy halves dated 1964 are 90% silver. From 1965 to 1970 the Kennedy was cut to 40% silver, and from 1971 on it carried none, so any Kennedy in this lot is a 1964.

 

Why 0.715 ounces and not the full mint weight?

Because wear takes metal with it. A new 90% silver half held about 0.3617 troy ounces of silver, or 0.7234 per dollar, and the trade counts 0.715 ounces per dollar to allow for decades of circulation.

 

Will a Barber half be in worse shape than a Kennedy?

Usually, yes. Barber halves are the oldest coins in the lot and saw the longest circulation, so expect softer detail and heavier wear than on a 1964 Kennedy. Neither is graded, and either way you are buying the silver.

 

Is a half dollar from 1892 still legal tender?

Yes. Every coin in the lot still carries its $0.50 face value as US coinage. Nobody spends one at face, since the silver inside is worth far more than fifty cents.

 

Want to choose the design? Browse our 90% silver half dollars, with single-design lots of Barber, Walking Liberty, Franklin and Kennedy halves.

 

Four designs, one silver standard. Add the Junk 90% Silver Halves, $1 Face Value, to your cart.