Printable
Catalog with Mintage Statistics for Items Designed and Minted by Daniel Carr /
Moonlight Mint.
1963 and 1975 Kennedy Half Dollars
Production Blog
All are over-struck on genuine US Mint Kennedy half dollars
(circa 1964-1990), unless otherwise noted.
Some were broad-struck and/or multiply struck with moderate shift between
strikes.
On June 4 1963, President John F
Kennedy issued Executive Order # 11110. This order enabled the US Treasury to
issue blue-seal Silver Certificates and possibly red-seal United States Notes
directly, bypassing the Federal Reserve. This would have effectively diminished
the power of the Federal Reserve to create money and loan it at interest to the
US Government. A few months later on November 22 1963 President Kennedy was assassinated
under highly-suspicious circumstances. Later, on June 4 1968, President
Kennedy's like-minded brother and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was
also assassinated, again under highly-suspicious circumstances.
Shortly after the JFK assassination, the US Mint began working on a Kennedy
half dollar coin, and the first examples were produced in 1964. The earliest of
those proof versions used a slightly modified "Accented Hair"
portrait. These over-strikes (without mint-mark) replicate the Accented Hair
obverse (die pairs 1, 2, and 3). The mint-marked (D and S) over-strikes
utilize the normal obverse (die pairs 4, 5, and 6).
No Kennedy half dollars were originally produced with "1963" dates.
No Kennedy Half Dollars were originally issued with "1975" dates because the "1776-1976" Bicentennial coins were minted during the 1975 and 1976 calendar years.
NOTE: These are NOT endorsed by the US Treasury. Defacing of US coins is legal so long as the defacement isn't for fraudulent purposes.
Production listed in chronological order - newest production at top, oldest production at bottom.
Current Status:
All Die Pairs have all been totally defaced and scrapped, and no more coins will be produced by them.
NOTE: All of these Kennedy half dollar over-strikes that
were released without a mint mark are slightly larger than normal half dollar
coins. A few that were not released are normal diameter. This was necessary due
to some problems. The first being that the integrity of the metal in the
original 1964 Kennedy Half dollars is the worst of any coin I have worked with.
Most of the original coins look just fine, but once the metal is stressed, pits
open up in the surface. The reason for this is unknown, but may have something
to do with the urgent conditions which were present when the coins were
originally produced. These pits were often difficult to entirely strike out.
The other problem was difficulty in striking out the 1776-1976 date on the
host coins used for all 1975 Bicentennial over-strikes. In both cases, the
solution was to stamp all coins four times while in the collar, and then apply
one more light broad-strike out of the collar. This last broad-strike caused
the coins to be slightly larger, but helped to obliterate flaws of the
underlying coin and improved the overall appearance and luster of the over-strikes.
The 1963-D, 1975-D, and 1975-S over-strikes use some different production
methods, and so those have the desired quality and appearance, while retaining
the original diameter.
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Die Pair |
Quantity Struck |
Issue |
Notes |
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Die Pair 8 |
3 high-grade: 3 bag-handled: 0 |
N/A |
90% silver. |
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Die Pair 7 |
3 high-grade: 3 bag-handled: 0 |
N/A |
90% silver. |
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Die Pair 6 |
341 high-grade: 223 bag-handled: 118 |
$95 (high-grade) $55 (bag-handled) |
90% silver. Except 5 test strikes (not
released) broad-struck on 39mm brass blanks |
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Die Pair 6 |
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Die Pair 6 |
5 high-grade: 4 bag-handled: 1 |
N/A
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Struck on 39mm brass blank. First produced November 2013. None released. (2) struck on burnished blanks (1 of those bag-handled pocket piece). (1) struck on wire-brushed blank. (2) struck on sandblasted matte blanks. |
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Die Pair 6 on 39mm burnished brass blank |
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Die Pair 6 on 39mm sandblasted brass blank |
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Die Pair 5 |
143
high-grade: 77 bag-handled: 27 |
$80 (sold out) $45 (sold out) (circulated) |
Copper-nickel clad. One (not released) was over-struck on a 1965-1970 40% silver Kennedy half dollar. Three (bag-handled, not
released) were subsequently over-struck one or more times |
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Die Pair 5 High-grade |
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Die Pair 5 Circulated |
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Die Pair 4 |
160
high-grade: 94 bag-handled: 42 |
$80 (sold out) $45 (circulated) |
40% silver. One (not released) was over-struck on a 1971-1990 copper-nickel clad Kennedy half dollar. |
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Die Pair 4 High-grade |
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Die Pair 4 Circulated |
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Die Pair 3 |
305 high-grade: 174 bag-handled: 131 |
$95 (sold out) (high-grade) $55 (sold out) |
90% silver. |
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Die Pair 3 |
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Die Pair 2 |
141 high-grade: 90 bag-handled: 51 |
$80 (sold out) (high-grade) $40 (sold out) |
40% silver. Two (not released) were over-struck in the middle of 1976-S 40% silver proof Bicentennial Eisenhower dollars. One (not released) was multi-over-struck in the middle of a 1976-S 40% silver non-proof Bicentennial Eisenhower dollar. One (not released) was off-center over-struck on a previously over-struck 1975 40% silver Kennedy half dollar that had a Bicentennial reverse. |
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Die Pair 2 40% silver |
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Die Pair 2 |
140 high-grade: 85 bag-handled: 55 |
$70 (sold out) (high-grade) $40 (sold out) |
Copper-nickel clad. |
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Die Pair 2 Copper-nickel clad |
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Die Pair 1 |
177 high-grade: 106 bag-handled: 71 |
$70 (sold out) (high-grade) $40 (sold out) |
40% silver. Two (not released) were over-struck in the middle of 1976-S 40% silver proof Bicentennial Eisenhower dollars (one of those with a double-over-strike with a large lateral shift between over-strikes). One (not released) was over-struck in the middle of a 1976-S 40% silver non-proof Bicentennial Eisenhower dollar. One (not released) was off-center over-struck on a previously over-struck 1975 40% silver Kennedy half dollar that had a normal (Presidential Shield) reverse. |
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Die Pair 1 40% silver |
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Die Pair 1 |
135 high-grade: 96 bag-handled: 39 |
$70 (sold out) (high-grade) $40 (sold out) |
Copper-nickel clad. |
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Die Pair 2 Copper-nickel clad |
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