Values
The Kennedy half is the same Roberts and Gasparro design from 1964 on. The circulating alloy changed twice. This page is the clad circulating type, 1971 and later. Silver years live on the 1964 Kennedy half and 40% Kennedy half pages. This page does not duplicate those mintage or value tables.
A clad Kennedy’s market depends on the date, the mint mark, and the grade. Melt is not a silver conversation here. This page is a series reference, not a price list.
The G, VF, and MS-63 columns sit in the mintage chart below. Those figures are from the NGC US Coin Price Guide, retrieved 2026-08-23, for any clad type dates NGC printed in this pass. They are a published guide, not an offer and not melt. A blank cell means that grade was not printed in this pass.
A dealer looking at the coin in hand will beat a guide number. If you are trying to sell a pile of them, start with how to sell a coin collection and the Ohio coin dealer directory.
Key Dates
This page does not invent a key-date list. 1971 is the first clad year. That is not a key. NGC Coin Explorer is the catalog used for this pass.
There is no key-date bolding on the mintage chart for that reason. A worn clad date is still clad.
No key-date list is printed here yet.
Key date names: NGC Coin Explorer. This is a name list, not a price list.
Errors
These are named type facts. They are not extra invented rows.
1971 clad. The circulating alloy changes. It is not an error and not a key.
1964 90 percent silver. That first-year alloy lives on the 1964 Kennedy half page.
1965–1970 40 percent silver. That spec lives on the 40% Kennedy half page.
1776–1976 Bicentennial reverse. The clad Philadelphia and Denver coins are rows here. The 40 percent silver San Francisco coin is not.
Compare the coin in hand to the NGC Coin Explorer Kennedy page. We do not host their plates.
Varieties
Clad Kennedy halves keep the presidential-seal reverse except for the Bicentennial. Proof mint-mark styles are the other split guides name. The 90 percent and 40 percent years are other pages.
- 1776–1976 Bicentennial reverseIndependence Hall replaces the seal. The clad Philadelphia and Denver coins are rows on this chart. The 40 percent silver 1976-S is not.
- 1979-S and 1981-S proof mint marksProofs of those years come in Type 1 and Type 2, a filled S and a clear S. Guides name both. They are proof mint-mark styles, not circulation rows.
Names follow PCGS CoinFacts and NGC, the same publishers this site already cites. This is a name list, not a price list and not a count.
Mintage
This chart is clad 1971 through 2024. Silver 1964 and 1965–1970 mintages live on their own pages. This page does not duplicate those tables.
Counts NGC left blank are the Wikipedia Kennedy business strikes. 1975 was not struck. The clad 1776–1976 Philadelphia and Denver coins are rows. 2025 stays off, and 2026 is a different half.
| Year | Mint | Mintage | G | VF | MS-63 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | P | 155,164,000 | — | — | — |
| 1971 | D | 302,097,424 | — | — | — |
| 1972 | P | 153,180,000 | — | — | — |
| 1972 | D | 141,890,000 | — | — | — |
| 1973 | P | 64,964,000 | — | — | — |
| 1973 | D | 83,171,400 | — | — | — |
| 1974 | P | 201,596,000 | — | — | — |
| 1974 | D | 64,625,000 | — | — | — |
| 1976 | P | 234,308,000 Dated 1776–1976. Clad business strike. The 40% silver 1976-S is not this chart. | — | — | — |
| 1976 | D | 287,565,248 Dated 1776–1976. Clad business strike. The 40% silver 1976-S is not this chart. | — | — | — |
| 1977 | P | 43,598,000 | — | — | — |
| 1977 | D | 31,449,106 | — | — | — |
| 1978 | P | 14,350,000 | — | — | — |
| 1978 | D | 13,765,799 | — | — | — |
| 1979 | P | 68,312,000 | — | — | — |
| 1979 | D | 15,815,422 | — | — | — |
| 1980 | P | 44,134,000 | — | — | — |
| 1980 | D | 33,456,449 | — | — | — |
| 1981 | P | 29,544,000 | — | — | — |
| 1981 | D | 27,839,533 | — | — | — |
| 1982 | P | 10,819,000 | — | — | — |
| 1982 | D | 13,140,102 | — | — | — |
| 1983 | P | 34,139,000 | — | — | — |
| 1983 | D | 32,472,244 | — | — | — |
| 1984 | P | 26,029,000 | — | — | — |
| 1984 | D | 26,262,158 | — | — | — |
| 1985 | P | 18,706,962 | — | — | — |
| 1985 | D | 19,814,034 | — | — | — |
| 1986 | P | 13,107,633 | — | — | — |
| 1986 | D | 15,336,145 | — | — | — |
| 1987 | P | 2,890,758 | — | — | — |
| 1987 | D | 2,890,758 | — | — | — |
| 1988 | P | 13,626,000 | — | — | — |
| 1988 | D | 12,000,096 | — | — | — |
| 1989 | P | 24,542,000 | — | — | — |
| 1989 | D | 23,000,216 | — | — | — |
| 1990 | P | 22,278,000 | — | — | — |
| 1990 | D | 20,096,242 | — | — | — |
| 1991 | P | 14,874,000 | — | — | — |
| 1991 | D | 15,054,678 | — | — | — |
| 1992 | P | 17,628,000 | — | — | — |
| 1992 | D | 17,000,106 | — | — | — |
| 1993 | P | 15,510,000 | — | — | — |
| 1993 | D | 15,000,006 | — | — | — |
| 1994 | P | 23,718,000 | — | — | — |
| 1994 | D | 23,828,110 | — | — | — |
| 1995 | P | 26,496,000 | — | — | — |
| 1995 | D | 26,288,000 | — | — | — |
| 1996 | P | 24,442,000 | — | — | — |
| 1996 | D | 24,744,000 | — | — | — |
| 1997 | P | 20,882,000 | — | — | — |
| 1997 | D | 19,876,000 | — | — | — |
| 1998 | P | 15,646,000 | — | — | — |
| 1998 | D | 15,064,000 | — | — | — |
| 1999 | P | 8,900,000 | — | — | — |
| 1999 | D | 10,682,000 | — | — | — |
| 2000 | P | 22,600,000 | — | — | — |
| 2000 | D | 19,466,000 | — | — | — |
| 2001 | P | 21,200,000 | — | — | — |
| 2001 | D | 19,504,000 | — | — | — |
| 2002 | P | 3,100,000 | — | — | — |
| 2002 | D | 2,500,000 | — | — | — |
| 2003 | P | 2,500,000 | — | — | — |
| 2003 | D | 2,500,000 | — | — | — |
| 2004 | P | 2,900,000 | — | — | — |
| 2004 | D | 2,900,000 | — | — | — |
| 2005 | P | 3,800,000 | — | — | — |
| 2005 | D | 3,500,000 | — | — | — |
| 2006 | P | 2,400,000 | — | — | — |
| 2006 | D | 2,000,000 | — | — | — |
| 2007 | P | 2,400,000 | — | — | — |
| 2007 | D | 2,400,000 | — | — | — |
| 2008 | P | 1,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2008 | D | 1,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2009 | P | 1,900,000 | — | — | — |
| 2009 | D | 1,900,000 | — | — | — |
| 2010 | P | 1,800,000 | — | — | — |
| 2010 | D | 1,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2011 | P | 1,750,000 | — | — | — |
| 2011 | D | 1,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2012 | P | 1,800,000 | — | — | — |
| 2012 | D | 1,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2013 | P | 5,000,000 | — | — | — |
| 2013 | D | 4,600,000 | — | — | — |
| 2014 | P | 2,500,000 | — | — | — |
| 2014 | D | 2,100,000 | — | — | — |
| 2015 | P | 2,300,000 | — | — | — |
| 2015 | D | 2,300,000 | — | — | — |
| 2016 | P | 2,100,000 | — | — | — |
| 2016 | D | 2,100,000 | — | — | — |
| 2017 | P | 1,800,000 | — | — | — |
| 2017 | D | 2,900,000 | — | — | — |
| 2018 | P | 4,800,000 | — | — | — |
| 2018 | D | 6,100,000 | — | — | — |
| 2019 | P | 1,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2019 | D | 1,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2020 | P | 2,300,000 | — | — | — |
| 2020 | D | 3,400,000 | — | — | — |
| 2021 | P | 5,400,000 | — | — | — |
| 2021 | D | 7,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2022 | P | 4,800,000 | — | — | — |
| 2022 | D | 4,900,000 | — | — | — |
| 2023 | P | 30,200,000 | — | — | — |
| 2023 | D | 27,800,000 | — | — | — |
| 2024 | P | 15,700,000 | — | — | — |
| 2024 | D | 21,900,000 | — | — | — |
Mintage: NGC Coin Explorer, retrieved 2026-08-23. A blank year in the prose is a year NGC did not print. These are Explorer manufacture figures, not a Red Book net or melt.
Collector-standard year/mint presentation follows A Guide Book of United States Coins (the Red Book). These cells are Mint manufacture figures, not a Red Book net or melt.
Values: NGC US Coin Price Guide, retrieved 2026-08-23. Guide values, not offers. Not melt. NGC IDs link to the same publisher’s price-guide listing.
Key date names: NGC Coin Explorer. Bold rows are only dates that publisher named.
This chart is clad 1971 through 2024. Counts NGC left blank are the Wikipedia Kennedy business strikes, retrieved 2026-10-06. 1975 was not struck. 1776–1976 clad P and D are rows on this chart. The 40 percent silver 1976-S is not. 2025 P/D halves stay off because that split is not the full year. 2026 is a different half. 1964 and 1965–1970 silver live on their own pages. Guide cells retrieved 2026-08-23.
These are NGC Explorer manufacture figures, retrieved 2026-08-23, not a Red Book net or melt. The grade columns in the same box are NGC guide values from 2026-08-23, not an offer.
Read the date. Read the mint mark. Do not call 1971 a key because it is clad.
Specifications
These are mint specs, not what a dealer pays. Wear can take a little weight off. We will not invent a tolerance.
This page is the clad circulating Kennedy. Catalogs also print the silver figures, so those sit in the box. The silver years themselves live on the 1964 Kennedy half and 40% Kennedy half pages.
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 30.6 mm |
| Thickness | 2.15 mm |
| Weight | 11.34 g clad 1971–present |
| Composition | 1971–present is copper-nickel clad copper. 1964 is 90% silver, 10% copper. 1965–1970 is 40% silver clad. |
| Fine silver | 0.36169 troy oz (1964 only); 0.1479 troy oz (1965–1970 only). Melt math uses this figure. It does not appraise a coin. |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Designer | Gilroy Roberts / Frank Gasparro |
Thickness 2.15 mm is the Numista clad Kennedy type-page figure (N#6918). Clad 1971+ is 11.34 g copper-nickel clad. Diameter follows the circulating half-dollar standard. 1964 is 12.5 g / .900 fine. 1965–1970 is 11.5 g / 40 percent silver (N#10865). Those silver years live on their own pages.
Grading
A clad Kennedy half wears first on Kennedy’s hair and cheek, and on the shield and wings. This page is copper-nickel clad, 1971 and later.
The alloy change is not a key-date story. 1964 90 percent and 1965–1970 40 percent live on their own pages.
Key Diagnostic Areas
| Area | What to examine | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Kennedy’s hair and cheek | The hair above the ear and the cheekbone. | Those high points flatten while the coat can still look busy. |
| Shield and wings | The presidential seal, the shield lines, and the wing feathers. | The shield goes slick first. Read the shield, not the story. |
| Alloy | 1971+ circulating coins are copper-nickel clad. Silver Kennedy years are other pages. | Alloy is composition, not a grade and not a key date. |
| Date | The numerals under the bust. | A worn date is a worn half. 1776–1976 is a different reverse. |
Circulated & Mint State
These cards describe this coin, not a second copy of the P-1 through MS-70 chart. The shared numbers live on the glossary.
See graded photos. The photos that show what VF looks like live at PCGS. We do not host their plates. NGC Coin Explorer is another look if you want a second set. Guide values on this page came from the NGC Price Guide.
What each named grade looks like on this design.
Poor
Poor
A clad half you can still name if you already know the type.
- Kennedy’s hair is gone.
- The shield is a lump.
- the date may be a shadow. Shine does not raise this.
AG
About Good
You might read a digit. The high points are already slick.
- Kennedy’s hair is worn to a blank patch.
- The shield is not a conversation yet.
- If you cannot read the date without hoping, stay here.
Good
Good
The date is readable. The design is still mostly an outline.
- Kennedy’s hair is flat. The portrait is a head, not a face.
- The shield is outlined.
- Clad is composition, not a key.
VG
Very Good
The date is clear. A little life returns away from the high points.
- Some leftover detail sits next to kennedy’s hair.
- The shield starts to hint at itself.
- Do not clean the date to “see it better.”
Fine
Fine
You can follow the design. The high points are outlined, not sharp.
- Kennedy’s hair is outlined and tired.
- The shield shows leftover lines, not a full coat.
- the date should be clear.
VF
Very Fine
The design is doing real work. The high points still decide.
- Leftover detail sits in kennedy’s hair.
- The shield has leftover lines. The center is still the worn spot.
- Clad is composition, not a key.
EF
Extremely Fine
Most of the coin looks sharp. The high points tell on it.
- Light wear on kennedy’s hair and the shield.
- Those spots go first. A pretty tone does not hide a flat high point.
- Clad is composition, not a key.
AU
About Uncirculated
Almost no wear — and “almost” lives on the same high points.
- A trace of rub on kennedy’s hair.
- Luster may still sit in the fields. Rub is still rub.
- Clad is composition, not a key.
Basal MS
Mint State
No wear. The fight is marks and luster, not how white the coin looks.
- No rub on kennedy’s hair or the shield.
- Marks and luster decide how this mint-state coin lives.
- Clad is composition, not a key.
Choice
Choice Mint State
Still no wear. Cleaner fields than basal mint state.
- Same no-wear rule on kennedy’s hair.
- Fewer marks in the fields. Luster is more intact.
- Clad is composition, not a key.
Gem
Gem Mint State
A clean example of the type. Still mint state, still not a story.
- No wear on kennedy’s hair or the shield.
- Marks and luster, not a romance about a date.
- A slab is an opinion in plastic. The glossary has the numbers.
Proof Kennedy halves exist for most of the clad run. This page does not invent a PR price grid — NGC did not print one in the 2026-08-23 sheet used here. The proof numbers live on the glossary.
Copper color designations (BN, RB, RD) do not apply here. Those belong on copper coins. See the Lincoln Wheat cent and the glossary.
Overview
A Kennedy half on this page is a United States half dollar struck on Gilroy Roberts’s portrait and Frank Gasparro’s reverse in copper-nickel clad from 1971 on. Same portrait. Same seal. The circulating alloy changed in 1971.
Silver 1964 and 1965–1970 live on their own pages.
People like them because the portrait is easy to show someone across a table. A worn clad half is usually face value plus a dealer’s time. They are also easy to ruin. A wiped coin looks “better” to a seller and worse to everyone else.
This page is a series article, not a shop listing.
History
Franklin ends in 1963. Kennedy begins in 1964 in 90 percent silver. In 1965 the half moves to 40 percent silver. In 1971 the circulating half becomes copper-nickel clad. That is not a key-date story. 1776–1976 is a different reverse, and the clad Philadelphia and Denver coins sit on this chart. They are not a key.
This page will not invent a melt story that treats a 1971 half like silver.
Design
Obverse: Kennedy facing left, “LIBERTY,” “IN GOD WE TRUST,” and the date. Reverse: the presidential seal, “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” and “HALF DOLLAR.” Look at the hair, the cheek, and the shield. Those spots go flat first. Clad versus earlier silver is composition, not a grade.
People Also Ask
What years are Kennedy halves on this page?
This page is the clad circulating type, 1971 through 2024. 1964 is 90 percent silver. 1965 through 1970 is 40 percent silver. Those silver years live on their own pages. This page does not duplicate those charts. 2025 stays off because that P/D split is not the full year. 2026 is a different half.
How much is a clad Kennedy half worth?
It depends on the date, the mint mark, and the grade. The G, VF, and MS-63 columns in the mintage chart are NGC guide values from 2026-08-23 for any clad type dates on this page, not an offer. Silver values live on the 1964 and 40 percent pages. A dealer looking at the actual coin will beat a guide number.
Are silver Kennedy halves on this page?
No. 1964 is 90 percent silver. 1965 through 1970 is 40 percent silver. Those years, mintages, and values live on their own pages. This page does not duplicate those charts. Same design. Different melt.
Is 1971 a key date Kennedy half?
No. 1971 is the first clad year. An alloy change is not a key date. This page will not invent that story.
What about the 1776–1976 Kennedy half?
The clad 1776–1976 coins from Philadelphia and Denver are rows on this chart. The 40 percent silver 1976-S is not. 1975 was not struck.
Collector Considerations
Buy the coin, not the story. A pile of worn clad halves is face value plus a dealer’s time. A pile of worn 1964 or 40 percent halves is often a melt conversation, and those charts live on their own pages.
If you inherited a box, do not scrub the date. The coin dealer directory starts in Ohio.
For the 90 percent year, read the 1964 Kennedy half. For the 40 percent years, read the 40% Kennedy half. For the half that came before Kennedy, read the Franklin half.
A Final Word
Clad Kennedy halves reward people who slow down. Read the date. Read the mint mark. Look at the hair and the shield. Leave the polish under the sink. Do not call a 1971 half silver because the face looks the same.
When you want the silver Kennedy years on this site, the 1964 Kennedy half and the 40% Kennedy half are already here.