Which Kennedy Half Dollars Are Silver? The 1964–1970 Years Worth Keeping
90% silver, 40% silver, or plain clad — three Kennedys that look identical in hand, sorted entirely by date. Values for every silver year, the 1970-D sleeper, and the Accented Hair proof variety.
Three kinds of Kennedy half dollars look nearly identical in your hand: 90% silver, 40% silver, and copper-nickel clad worth exactly fifty cents. The date tells you everything. 1964 is 90% silver. 1965 through 1970 are 40% silver. 1971 onward is clad— with a handful of collector exceptions covered below. If you've inherited a coffee can of Kennedys, this is the sort that pays for the time.
The three Kennedy compositions
- 1964 — 90% silver (0.3617 oz of pure silver). Struck in enormous numbers as the nation grieved, then hoarded so thoroughly they vanished from circulation almost immediately.
- 1965–1970 — 40% silver (0.1479 oz). A compromise composition: silver outer layers over a silver-copper core. The only US circulating coin that kept any silver after the 1965 switch to clad.
- 1971 and later — copper-nickel clad. Circulated examples are worth face value, with the collector exceptions below.
What the silver years are worth
| Issue (mintage) | XF-40 | MS-65 | MS-66 | MS-67 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 (273.3M) | $24 | $26 | $80 | $700 |
| 1964-D (156.2M) | $24 | $26 | $130 | $800 |
| 1965 (65.9M) | $10 | $45 | $160 | $210 |
| 1966 (109.0M) | $10 | $45 | $260 | $290 |
| 1967 (295.0M) | $10 | $45 | $130 | $160 |
| 1968-D (247.0M) | $10 | $16 | $55 | $80 |
| 1969-D (129.9M) | $10 | $40 | $160 | $240 |
| 1970-D (2.15M) | $10 | $55 | $320 | $600 |
Values shown match LuckyCoin's catalog at the time of writing. The circulated floor for these coins is their metal — at today's spot that's about $23.86 in a 1964 half and $9.76 in the 40% years; the silver melt calculator tracks it live, and every coin page floors its grade values at melt automatically. Verify with current dealer pricing for any transaction.
The sleeper: 1970-D
The 1970-Dwas never released to circulation — just 2.15 million went out inside mint sets, making it the lowest-mintage circulation-strike Kennedy by a mile. It's the one date in the series that carries a premium in any condition, and gem examples reach $320–$600. If a mint set from 1970 is sitting in a drawer somewhere in your family, that's the coin inside it.
A 1964 variety worth a look
Early 1964 proofs include the Heavily Accented Hair variety — struck from the original dies whose hair detail Jacqueline Kennedy reportedly asked the Mint to soften. Look for pronounced, deeply cut hair strands above the ear on proof examples: they catalog from about $26 in PR-63 to $160 in PR-67, comfortably above the standard proof.
Silver Kennedys after 1970
Three collector paths kept silver in the series: the 1976-S 40% silver Bicentennial issues from collector sets, 90% silver proofs sold in silver proof sets from 1992 onward, and modern special strikes. None of these ever circulated — but they surface constantly in inherited collections, so check S-mintmark halves against the Kennedy catalog before assuming clad.
Sorting a pile: the fast method
- Read dates first. 1964 in one stack (90%), 1965–1970 in another (40%), 1971+ in a spend pile.
- Check the edges of the 1971+ pile — a solid silver edge with no copper stripe means a collector silver issue that escaped a set.
- Pull anything uncirculated. As the table shows, mint-state silver Kennedys are worth far more than melt — don't ship gems to a refiner.
The broader pre-1965 silver guide applies the same date-based sorting to dimes and quarters, and the Walking Liberty value chart covers the 90% halves that came before Kennedy.
- What years of Kennedy half dollars are silver?
- 1964 is 90% silver; 1965 through 1970 are 40% silver. From 1971 on, circulation strikes are copper-nickel clad — silver appears only in collector issues like the 1976-S Bicentennial silver coins and the silver proof sets sold since 1992.
- How much silver is in a 1964 Kennedy half dollar?
- 0.3617 troy ounces of pure silver — the same as any 90% silver half dollar. The 1965–1970 40% issues contain 0.1479 troy ounces.
- Is a 1971 Kennedy half dollar worth anything?
- Circulated, it's worth fifty cents — 1971 was the first clad year. High-grade uncirculated examples and proofs carry modest collector premiums, but there's no silver in the circulation strikes.
- Why did Kennedy halves disappear from circulation?
- The public hoarded the 1964 issue as a memorial to the assassinated president, and rising silver prices kept the 1965–1970 coins in drawers too. The half dollar never really returned to everyday commerce afterward.