Franklin Half Dollar Gains Respect with Melting
When a list of great coins of the 20th century is compiled, the 1953 Franklin half dollar is unlikely to make it. In fact, if you put together a list of the better- than- average coins of the century, it would be conspicuous in its absence.
There are probably a host of reasons for ignoring the 1953 Franklin. To be blunt, it was not all that memorable in the first place. Part of the problem was that it was preceded by the Walking Liberty half dollar, which was a great design and featured some significant key and semi-key dates.
After the Franklin came the Kennedy half, which initially was wildly popular despite the fact that it wasn’t rare. There was another problem. It was first produced in 1948 and last produced in 1963. That does not make it a terribly large set. Moreover, it was a set produced in the height of the golden era of collecting coins from circulation. For the Franklin half dollar, that carried with it a couple serious drawbacks in terms of ever getting much respect.
The first is that the Franklin half dollar was spending money. In fact, a half dollar was one roll of cents. That, in the minds of most young collectors, was a great deal of money. Any denomination above a cent suffered, but the higher the denomination the more likely it would be overlooked.
That brings up the second reason to overlook the Franklin. That roll of cents might contain all sorts of treasures. Maybe there would be no 1909- S VDB in it, but many better dates were possible. If you saved a Franklin, you had a half dollar, not a desirable coin, but if you kept checking cents, you possibly could turn up something much rarer.
If you actually did collect Franklins, it was a tough time if you happened to want anyone to pay much attention to your collection. You could go to any bank and get them, and it was natural to assume it would always be that way and that they would never have any special value. Thirty- six years after the series concluded, it is still fighting the reputation it earned in the 1950s.
Back then, people might not have laughed if you showed any interest in the 1953. They were more polite then. But collectors of that time would think little of a 1953 produced in Philadelphia, for that mint had a well-deserved reputation for producing more coins than either San Francisco or Denver.
Over the years, however, a funny thing happened with the 1953. It gained some respect that it never had at the time it was released. Certainly its mintage of 2,796,920 has not hurt. That is fewer business strikes than many more recent dates have proofs. Moreover, it is a low half dollar mintage for any time in the 1900s. There are plenty of Barber halves with greater mintages.
Nor is it just the mintage, as it must be remembered that the 1953 was not a special date for years. When silver rose dramatically in price, literally all Franklins in all grades were subject to melting for their silver content. We will never know how many were destroyed, but we can assume many 1953 pieces are gone. Since it was not heavily saved in the first place, you have the makings of a below- average survival rate.
The 1953 Franklin half dollar is not a great numismatic prize today, but it is now recognized as a better Franklin. It commands a premium price, and an MS-65 is $125, which is not bad. It might have been a long time coming, but now I wish I had put a BU roll of 1953 halves aside when I was 11.