A competition was run to find a design for the new coins.Īnyone could submit a design, and over 15,000 enquiries were made before the competition deadline. And the resulting bad publicity meant the Treasury was wary of a repeat performance.īut there was strong political support for the commemorative coins, and in 1972 the Treasury dropped its opposition.

Washington.ĭistribution problems led to the coins being repeatedly discounted, before many finally passed into circulation. And the nadir had been reached with commemorative coins featuring George Washington Carver and Booker T. Previous issues of commemorative coins had not always been successful. But the Treasury were at first reluctant to go along with the idea. The proposals came from a special committee that had been set up a decade earlier to prepare for the bicentenary. Three commemorative coins were proposed to mark the occasion: a quarter, a half dollar, and a dollar. The half dollars struck in 1976 marked 200 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Ready to find out more? Let’s get started! 1976 Half Dollar Value Chart And we’ll investigate some of the error coins that are worth big money. We’ll look at the difference between a coin that’s worth a few dollars and one that’s worth thousands. We’re going to explore the 1976 half dollar value. One of those was the half dollar, commonly referred to as the Kennedy half dollar. To celebrate the occasion, new versions of three denominations were produced. 1976 was a momentous year: it marked 200 years since American independence.

1972 kennedy silver half dollar value