Vermillion Enterprises – We Buy & Sell 90% Silver Kennedy Half Dollars!
Vermillion Enterprises specializes in gold & silver. 40% Silver, 90% Silver, and 99.9% Silver. Including 90% Silver Kennedy Half Dollars.
90% Silver Kennedy Half Dollars
1964 KENNEDY HALF DOLLARS – 90% Silver
President Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963. By February 1964, a First Strike was held at TWO U.S. Mints in his honor. Philadelphia and Denver. The 90% Silver 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar was born. Replacing the 90% Silver Franklin Half Dollar.
Please Note: Congressional approval was required for any design change within 25 years of the last. The bill to authorize the Kennedy half dollar passed on December 30, 1963. Just a little over a month after his assassination. Due to the urgency of President Johnson. Due to the effect President Kennedy’s death had on our Nation.
Originally anticipating a total mintage of 91 million coins. However, by 1965 over 430 million 1964 Kennedy Half Dollars had been struck. Initially set for circulation. Instead they were purchased for hoarding. Which prompted the minting of so many. Totaling more minted coins than the Franklin Half Dollar – in it’s 16 year run!
That’s:
- Over 150,000,000 Silver troy ounces!
- Nearly 10,000,000 pounds of Silver!
- Close to 4,800 U.S. Tons of Silver!
Ripley’s! Thus, rapidly depleting the U.S. Treasury’s Silver supply.
40% Silver Kennedy Half Dollars
1965-1970 KENNEDY HALF DOLLARS -40% Silver
In addition to the depleted Treasury Silver supply, prices for silver metal were rising. So much so that by early June a dime contained $0.0933 worth of silver at market prices. On June 3, 1965, President Johnson announced plans to eliminate silver from the dime and quarter. Favoring a clad oreo with layers of copper-nickel on each side of a layer of pure copper. Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1965 in July.
Thus, the half dollar was changed from 90% silver to 40%. The new half dollars retained their silvery appearance. How? An optical illusion of sorts. The outer layer was 80% silver and 20% copper. With an inner layer of 21% silver and 79% copper.
These clad oreo half dollars were struck at the Denver Mint on December 30, 1965. Bearing the date 1965. Unchanged for U.S. coins until the coin shortage was eased. Finally on August 1, 1966, the Mint began to strike 1966-dated pieces. Thereafter resuming the normal practice of striking the current year’s date on each piece.
No More Silver Lining on the Kennedy’s
Base Metal Cladding – No more silver lining on the Kennedy Half Dollars
Despite the proclaimed end to the coin shortage, Kennedy half dollars still circulated little. A scarcity caused by continued hoarding. Plus a dip in production caused by the Treasury’s reluctance to expend more of the nation’s silver holdings on a coin which did not circulate. In May 1969, the Treasury sought authorization to eliminate the half dollar’s silver content, changing it to the same copper-nickel clad composition as the dime and quarter.
However, around this same time frame, former President Dwight D Eisenhower, passed away. Prompting discussions of adding his likeness to the new dollar coin. The Treasury intended the new dollar coin to be base metal clad as well. Hoping to end the coin hoarding and coin circulating to resume again. However, there was much debate on adding a President to a base metal coin. These disputes halted base metal productions of half dollars and dollars. Finally, on December 31, 1970, President Nixon signed the bill authorizing the 40% Proof Silver Eisenhower dollars, base metal circulating Eisenhower dollars, and eliminating the 40% silver content in half dollars.
Thus, Kennedy Half dollars minted in 1971 and beyond, no longer contained any silver at all.
Exceptions to Every Rule
The exception to the silver cessation was the 1976 Bicentennial coins. Issuing a special design for the reverse of the half dollar. As well as on the dollar coin and quarter. Using the 40% Silver cladding. It resumed the base metal cladding in 1977.
90% Silver Kennedy Half Dollars
Why Buy 90% Silver?
The reasons for buying 90% silver coins range as much as the reasons for buying 40% silver. Some reasons for owning and investing in 90% silver coins include:
Face Value
However difficult, it is still easier to counterfeit a silver bar versus a coin. Thus 90% coins could hold more weight (no pun intended) with buyers, since they hold a recognizable and accepted face value that is legal tender by law.
More Silver Per Coin
Some choose to hold 40% silver coins. These coins tend to have a lesser premium and be less rare because they are more recent in strike year. Although they are less rare and easier to find, it takes more than twice as many coins to bare the same amount of silver. Some choose to hold 90% for this reason.
Premium Arbitrage
In times of shortages, 90% coins can fetch higher premiums than silver bars. Often investors stack by buying different types of precious metals. One can take this even further by buying different classes of silver within bullion to profit from the arbitrage, or at the very least keep a balance when price dips come.
Perceived Disasters
Historically, spikes in buyback premiums for 90% coins have come in months leading up to a perceived crisis. No one can predict the future, but perceived crisis and fear mongering will continue. It is the reason coins and precious metal bullion are considered safe havens.
Smaller Divisible Increments
In a true crisis situation, survivalists like to keep 90% silver around because of their divisibility, making them easier to use if basic needs like food and supplies have to be traded on the run. The 90% silver coins are great for the sort of post-apocalyptic, Marshall Law Hollywood movies we seem to have been bombarded with over the last fifteen years. But, if you can dream it, it can come true.
Other Silver Coins/Rounds We Buy & Sell:
- 90% Silver Coins
- American Silver Eagles
- Canadian Silver Maple Leafs
- Austrian Silver Philharmonics
- Australian Silver Lunars
- Australian Silver Kangaroos
- South African Silver Krugerrand
- Generic Silver Rounds – any design.
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