This 2014 P & D Uncirculated Kennedy Half Dollar Set was created to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The design of these coins replicates the accented hair from the original 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar but is struck in a "Special Uncirculated" finish, which is a special matte finish developed by the Mint. The coins come in the original government issued packaging. This includes plastic capsules that are attached to the COA which is stored in a folder.
The Kennedy Half Dollar was first struck in 1964 as a memorial to the recently assassinated American President, John F. Kennedy. The U.S. Mint and Congress moved very quickly to make the coin a reality, and the coin was authorized by Congress only a month after Kennedy's death. Initially, consideration was being given to depicting Kennedy on one of the larger silver coins, the silver dollar, the half dollar, or the quarter dollar but The president's widow, Jaqueline Kennedy, expressed her preference that he be depicted on the half dollar and that she did not want him to replace George Washington on the quarter dollar.
The designs on the coins replicate the portrait on the 1964 design:
Obverse: The design shows a portrait of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the youngest person ever elected to the office. U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Gilroy Roberts based this profile on a portrait prepared for Kennedy's presidential medal. Roberts created his original 1964 design shortly after Kennedy's assassination.
Reverse: The design is based on the Presidential Seal and was done by U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Frank Gasparro. It consists of a heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast, holding a symbolic olive branch and a bundle of 13 arrows. A ring of 50 stars surrounds the design, which gives this coin the distinction of having more stars than any other United States coin ever produced for circulation.
The metal composition of the Kennedy Half Dollar has changed several times since the coin was first minted in 1964. Initially, it featured a 90% silver composition, but only for coins bearing the date 1964. However, due to the incredible demand for the Kennedy Half Dollar, coins with the date 1964 were reauthorized two times and continued to bear the date 1964 until well into 1965, with almost 430 million 1964 Kennedy Half Dollars minted in all. Due in part to the large number of 1964 Kennedy Half Dollars, the mint had used up a large portion of its silver holdings, which combined with the rising value of silver, led the amount used in the coins to be reduced to 40% from 1965 until 1970. Kennedy Half Dollars produced from 1971 on contain no silver and are comprised of copper and nickel.
Each coin in the 2014 P&D Kennedy Half Dollar 50th Anniversary Uncirculated Coin Set is comprised of an outer layer of .750 (75%) copper and .250 (25%) nickel bonded to a core of pure copper. These Kennedy Half Dollars have a diameter of 30.6mm and a mass of 11.34 grams.
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