1964 Half Dollar Patterns

About This Coin

Carrying profound emotional weight, the 1964 Half Dollar Patterns from the Modern Patterns (1943 to Date) series — 4th of 15 years — were produced during the year the Kennedy half dollar was introduced to honor President Kennedy following his November 1963 assassination. These experimental pieces tested various design proposals and compositions at a moment when American coinage stood on the brink of its most fundamental change since the first federal coins of 1792. The post-war boom had driven silver prices to levels making 90% silver coins worth more as bullion than currency, creating a nationwide shortage that forced Congress to consider abandoning silver coinage entirely. The obverse and reverse feature experimental designs, with some patterns testing copper-nickel clad compositions that would replace silver the following year. Designed by various U.S. Mint designers working under Chief Engraver Gilroy Roberts, these patterns document the intensive research preceding the Coinage Act of 1965. For numismatic historians, they capture a year of extraordinary transition when the Kennedy half dollar's overwhelming popularity collided with rising silver prices and chronic coin shortages.