Franklin Half Dollar (US)
Value: 0.50 US dollars
Mass: 12.5 g
Diameter: 30.6 mm
Edge: reeded
Composition: 90.00% Ag, 10.00% Cu
Obverse
Design: Benjamin Franklin
Designer: John R. Sinnock
Design Date: 1948
Reverse
Design: Liberty Bell
Designer: John R. Sinnock
Design Date: 1948

The Franklin half dollar is a coin of the United States, minted from 1948 to 1963. The half dollar pictured Benjamin Franklin on the obverse and the Liberty Bell on the reverse. A small eagle to the right of the bell was necessitated by law; ironically, Franklin himself had opposed the selection of the eagle as the US national symbol. A bill rushed through Congress after the assassination of John F. Kennedy caused the Franklin half to be replaced by the current Kennedy half dollar in February 1964, nine years before the design would otherwise have been eligible for a change.

Approximately 510 million Franklin halves were minted during the period 1948 to 1963. Coins without a mint mark were minted in Philadelphia, whereas those with a "D" were minted in Denver and with an "S" in San Francisco. Numbers in parentheses are the number of coins minted that year which were distributed in mint sets.


This table should be above External link section
Year Philedalphia Mint Denver Mint San Francisco Mint
1948 3,006,814 4,028,600  
1949 5,614,000 4,120,600 3,744,000
1950 7,793,509 (51,386) 8,031,600  
1951 16,859,602 (57,500) 9,475,200  
1952     13,696,000
1953 2,796,820 (128,800) 20,900,400 4,148,000
1954 13,421,503 (233,300) 25,445,580 4,993,400
1955 2,876,381 (378,200)    
1956 4,701,384 (669,384)    
1957 6,361,952 (1,247,952) 19,966,850  
1958 4,917,652 23,962,412  
1959 7,349,291 (1,149,291) 13,053,750  
1960 7,715,602 (1,691,602) 18,215,812  
1961 11,318,244 (3,028,244) 20,276,442  
1962 12,932,019 (3,218,019) 35,473,281  
1963 25,239,645 (3,075,645) 67,069,292  



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