How long until the Dime and Half fall victim?

On 05 Oct 2004 18:10:06 GMT, (Malanutt 4 Life)
wrote:

Now that the nickel, quarter, and dollar coin were redesigned, and there are
bills for a redesign of the of the cent in 2009, and dollar coin yet again in
2006, how long until someone thinks we need a new dime and half dollar? (Well
there was that Reagan dime idea) But the half might look neat if they change
the design since they are so big and can have more detail added to a new
design. I wonder if they would circulate *very* slightly more with a new
design.

Tom

I had thought that the state quarters were actually circulating
commems, and that the quarter would revert to the pre-SQ reverse once
the program ended. No?

Malanutt 4 Life wrote:
But the
half might look neat if they change the design since they are so big
and can have more detail added to a new design. I wonder if they
would circulate *very* slightly more with a new design.

My plan for coinage redesign calls for the discontinuation of the
Kennedy half, to be replaced by a circulating commemorative half whose
design changes every year. We already make clad commemorative halves
(most recently, the 2003 First Flight half) -- rather than sell them
directly from the mint, make a bunch and release them to circulation.
Sure, they won't circulate *much* -- but then, neither does the JFK
half.

--
Bob

My plan for coinage redesign calls for the discontinuation of the
Kennedy half, to be replaced by a circulating commemorative half whose
design changes every year. We already make clad commemorative halves
(most recently, the 2003 First Flight half) -- rather than sell them
directly from the mint, make a bunch and release them to circulation.
Sure, they won't circulate *much* -- but then, neither does the JFK
half.

Somewhat off topic, but does anyone have any idea why the half dollar
circulates so little today.

35 or 40 years ago, this was a common circulating piece.

--
To e-mail me get rid of the cats and dogs.

We already make clad commemorative halves
(most recently, the 2003 First Flight half) -- rather than sell them
directly from the mint, make a bunch and release them to circulation.
Sure, they won't circulate *much* -- but then, neither does the JFK
half.

Then why bother doing it?


Somewhat off topic, but does anyone have any idea why the half dollar
circulates so little today.

35 or 40 years ago, this was a common circulating piece.

It was a common circulating piece
circa 1964-69?

I think you need to go back further
than that for when it was a
common circulating piece.

JSTONE9352 wrote:

We already make clad commemorative halves
(most recently, the 2003 First Flight half) -- rather than sell them
directly from the mint, make a bunch and release them to circulation.
Sure, they won't circulate *much* -- but then, neither does the JFK
half.

Then why bother doing it?


Somewhat off topic, but does anyone have any idea why the half dollar
circulates so little today.

35 or 40 years ago, this was a common circulating piece.

It was a common circulating piece
circa 1964-69?

I think you need to go back further
than that for when it was a
common circulating piece.

Halves was common items (about equal in use to quarters) until the
USMint screwed up by not making them 'cupro-nickel clad' like dimes and
quarters were in 1965.

--
___________________________________________ ____ _______________
Regards, | |\ ____
| | | | |\
Michael G. Koerner May they | | | | | | rise again!
Appleton, Wisconsin USA | | | | | |
___________________________________________ | | | | | | _______________

"Michael G. Koerner" wrote:

Halves was common items (about equal in use to quarters) until the
USMint screwed up by not making them 'cupro-nickel clad' like dimes and
quarters were in 1965.

I don't think that was the main reason and I don't believe a lot of people
realized that the half still had silver in it until 1970. They'd look at the
edge, see the copper sandwich and assume they were copper-nickel clad.

Although they did circulate somewhat throughout the 60s to a limited extent, I
can think of a few reasons (listed in order of importance):

a. the Kennedy mystique....people hoarded them
b. couldn't use them in the majority of vending machines
c. the size...although not a problem in the past
d. some people knew they contained some silver through 1970 and hoarded them
e. some people though tthey contained silver even after 1970 and hoarded them

A few weeks ago I received a Kennedy half in change for the first time in about
10 years. I did my civic duty and immediately put it back in circulation.


++++++++++
Phil DeMayo - always here for my fellow Stooge
When bidding online always sit on your helmet
Just say NO to counterfeits

As I've posted at least 35 times in the past:

The half dollar does not work in vending machines.

-Fred Shecter
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQgotopage...sortpropertyZ1

--
"""Remove "zorch" from address (2 places) to reply.
"AK47" wrote in message
...


My plan for coinage redesign calls for the discontinuation of the
Kennedy half, to be replaced by a circulating commemorative half whose
design changes every year. We already make clad commemorative halves
(most recently, the 2003 First Flight half) -- rather than sell them
directly from the mint, make a bunch and release them to circulation.
Sure, they won't circulate *much* -- but then, neither does the JFK
half.

Somewhat off topic, but does anyone have any idea why the half dollar
circulates so little today.

35 or 40 years ago, this was a common circulating piece.

--
To e-mail me get rid of the cats and dogs.

On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 19:48:21 GMT, "Fred Shecter"
wrote:

As I've posted at least 35 times in the past:

The half dollar does not work in vending machines.

-Fred Shecter
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQgotopage...sortpropertyZ1

When I was much younger (very early 60s) the vending machines in
service station bathrooms often took the half dollar. I believe it
was 3 for 50 cents where I usually shopped.
Cliff

On Thu, 07 Oct 2004 16:22:22 -0400, Cliff
wrote:

On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 19:48:21 GMT, "Fred Shecter"
wrote:

As I've posted at least 35 times in the past:

The half dollar does not work in vending machines.

-Fred Shecter
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQgotopage...sortpropertyZ1

When I was much younger (very early 60s) the vending machines in
service station bathrooms often took the half dollar. I believe it
was 3 for 50 cents where I usually shopped.
Cliff

And just what were you buying there Cliffy??

Gary

'Tickle the French.........errrrrrrr.......something.......... ..'

AK47 wrote:

Somewhat off topic, but does anyone have any idea why the half dollar
circulates so little today.

35 or 40 years ago, this was a common circulating piece.

A combination of several reasons -

Paper money had been gradually gaining acceptance. It had first
been introduced at least a century before and folks had always
preferred "cold hard cash". With the withdrawal of gold and the
switch to a non-silver nickel, paper money gradually became more
popular and coins less so. Between this and inflation, paper
dollars finally became more popular than half dollars. Consider
that now people think paper is more convenient but they still
say "cold hard cash".

With the switch to clad coins in 1965 the half still contained
silver for several more years. During that time almost all
halves released into circulation were hoarded so habits went from
using every half to hoarding every half and that killed its
circulation.

The time range of 1965 on happened to be a huge boom in vending
machines. That is the time that vending machines became smart
enough to count change and that led to an explosion of vending
machines. The problem is they were built during a time when
halves were being hoarded. Ever since then almost no vending
machines have been built that take halves. Vending machines
*dominate* coin usage now.

Think back to the last time you saw a vending machine capable
of taking halves. Every once in a while one of the dollar
changers that takes ones or fives and gives out quarters has
a slot for halves. That's it. I've only seen one of those in
a laundry mat and that must have been 5 years ago.