The United States Mint hit its first Kennedy half-dollar anniversary product out of the ballpark with first day sales of 68,974 for its clad set, or nearly 32,000 more than the Mint originally produced.
Based on its start and our visit to the U.S. Mint in West Point where we saw more halves, I expect similar home-runs for the upcoming dual-dated 2014-W Proof 50th Anniversary Kennedy Half-Dollar Gold Coin and the four-coin set of 90% silver Kennedy halves.
My brother Darrin and I traveled to New York this week to stop by the West Point Mint. An added bonus to the trip was watching the making of the gold halves and 2014-W Reverse Proof 50th Anniversary Kennedy Silver Half-Dollars. The gold piece in 0.7500 ounces of 99.99 fine gold launches on Aug. 5 and the silver piece debuts within a four-coin silver set this fall. Both coins are dazzling and exceptional collectibles, and that’s without considering their original 1964 portrait design that makes them more unique.
I’ll focus on the 50-cent gold piece today, and return to talk about the reverse proof on Monday.
In size, Kennedy gold coins look just like typical halves with their 1.205-inch diameter, 2.16 mm thickness and reeded edge. Visually, the similarities from there begin to depart. The luster of the designs and mirrored surfaces, all in gold, scream "buy me." This is one of those coins that if you have the money and see it, you’re going to get it. If gold prices stay within $1250.00 to $1299.99, you’ll have to say goodbye to $1,240. The U.S. Mint plans to have 40,000 of them ready for launch on Aug. 5, 2014. I can’t predict the future, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see sales fly above 100,000 by the time all is said and done. Of the seven different 50th Anniversary Kennedy halves, it is the only gold coin and the only one with a dual date. Its price will be the main limiting sales factor.
On Thursday, the U.S. Mint added the coin’s product page to its online store, found here. Images found there offer a great take on the designs, but they fail in showing how the coins look in person. We took many photos of the coins and had the same problem, but a few offer a better idea of what to expect with the coin in hand.
I’ve also embedded a short video that offers a unique look as you can see how the coins appear when the camera pans, hitting different angles. I suggest watching it a few times.
2014-W Proof 50th Anniversary Kennedy Gold Half-Dollars go on sale with household ordering limits of five for web and phone orders and limits of two for retail points at U.S. Mint shops in D.C., Philadelphia and Denver, and at the 2014 Chicago World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Ill.
To follow are a few more photos of the gold coins as well as a U.S. Mint Certificate of Authenticity that ships with them. Return to CoinNews.net on Monday to see photos of the 2014-W Reverse Proof 50th Anniversary Kennedy Silver Half-Dollar. We’ll cover the production of both coins in later articles about our West Point trip.
Buy me one, Daddy? Please? I’ll do my homework, wash the dishes and pick up my room. 🙂
Damn! that coin is beautiful! i’ll take two please.
Nice looking coin, I like that they put the mintmark back on the reverse. Will the silver versions also have a reverse mintmark?
JT, mintmarks on the 50th anniversary silver coins are on the obverse — the same location as regular issues.
It’s Aug 5, not Aug 4, unless you know something the mint hasn’t published yet.
Jim, thanks! I fixed the release date above to the 5th.
What an amazing beautiful coin! Excellent reporting Mike. Thanks for sharing.
Wow. Bet the privately sold plated knock-offs and miniatures won’t be far behind.
1 word…..A-W-E-S-O-M-E…. Nuff said….
Simply beautiful coin, well done US Mint.
Had been led to believe that the raw unboxed coins were being set to Indiana for packaging. The photos seem to say otherwise.
Is there a facility at West Point where the coins are married to the packaging?
Boz, the U.S. Mint packages all of its coins. In most cases, automated machines marry the coins to the packages. The Kennedy gold coins, however, are assembled manually in West Point. We’ll publish a short article later that shows the coin production and assembly process for the gold pieces.
As a collector of the JFK memorial half dollars (I recall first hand when issued in 1964 originally), I can appreciate the artistry of the faithfully restored portrait as it appears on these 50th Anniversary editions. The current portrayal of Kennedy on the regular half dollars in the last 20 years before this year are an absolute disgrace to the 35th President of the United States. The pre 2014 cartoon-like portraits of Kennedy (in order to reduce expense and relief for striking purposes) is enough to make me sick to my stomach. Having said all that, if given a choice… Read more »
Bravo Mike! Another superb article. We are all eager to read the next article on the silver set.
Agree with Stuart that the recent “redesign” of the JFK half has become cheesy and cartoonish..especially the spaghetti-type hair. How refreshing it is to see the Mint go back to the original design – and placement of the mint mark for th gold issue. Mike Unser – what is your opinion on how the Mint will handle mintage limits? Will they go for an “ordering window” or set a limit? Just curious. Can’t wait until Aug. 5..
I think these will be the most counterfeited modern coins in history.
The pseudo-government mints in rouge countries are probably already churning out gold plated copies.
Just checked the site for its sale, price is yet to be determined at .75 oz troy, what do you suppose its price will be, a gouge or according to its guides on current spot price comparison chart ? In any event will the site be as messed up as I experienced trying to get logged in, during the Hall of Fame Baseball debacle ?
We will know the price of the gold Kennedy by THIS WEDNESDAY noon. I think gold should stay between the $1,300 to 1349.00 area.. The coin as you know will be released a week from this Tuesday August 5th 2014. Probably the coin will sell for thirteen hundred and change. At the beginning on the website and phoning the Mint, a maximum of 5 per household will be released. After things calm down after awhile, I think you will be able to purchase as many as you want. I don’t believe there will be a 2 week window or maximum… Read more »
I’d like to think it is just for collectors, but when there is a quantity of more than one per household I would think that an investment strategy is in play. There have been many examples of this over the years, but one comes to mind. The 25th anniversary of the 5 coin Silver dollar Walking Liberty Set with the reverse proof San Francisco mintage. Shortly after their delivery there were many available to those who weren’t fast enough to get their “one”; on EBay at a hefty profit, $$$$$$ ka-ching ! But ain’t that America
SactoMike, I’ve visited all four U.S. Mint production plants and the West Point Mint twice. The management of each has voiced core concepts of striking quality coins, and producing to meet demand. I think they will stick to household limits and not have an ordering window. But, quality and time are limiting factors that could swing their decisions. The West Point Mint is busy, consistently running three shifts for five days a week. They only have 11 coining presses. Plus, they are manually feeding each gold Kennedy half-dollar blank, they are only getting about 600 halves per die with some of… Read more »
Mike –
You meant platinum eagles not palladium eagles, right? Did not know us mint was making palladium eagles.
Don’t know how they define “household”. Same address, same name, same credit card – any one or combination or all?
@Stuart Wheeler : It still looks like a flat eagle on the reverse though rather than the decidedly more three-dimensional looking one found on the 1964-1987 halves. It’s a shame how flat and barely-there the designs are on coins from the late ’80s to present are…
Jim, right… Platinum Eagles.
Group buy on a tray of them! 🙂
Mike Unser – thanks for the exceptional opinion. We’ll let it all unfold.. certainly part of the fun in all this in what will be a history-making program.
In God We Trust. All others will pay cash…
Can’t wait for this one! It will be part of a very successful Gold and Silver series.
I grew up with J.F.K., Like so many here.Those were the days of Camelot. This, In my opinion, Will be ( to me anyway ), One of the greatest collectors coins ever made. ( graded or left in it’s original government shipping ) You get a beautiful certificate of authenticity with the piece, So why have it graded? Who cares if it’s a 69 or 70??? Just a persons opinion.. Why pay for the “sticker” on the slab?? I think this baby being left in the O.G.P. should be worth just as much as a graded JFK…, But probably not…… Read more »
I agree 100% JOE #2.
Hi: I thought the gold half was to have a thicker planchet
The clad half weight is .365 troy
The gold half weight is .75 troy
But they have the same other dimensions
Thickness 2.15mm
Diameter 30.61
Curious
Clad Gold
Weight in Troy 0.365 0.75
Fantastic !! I’ll never miss an opportunity to take it. I’ve no sense of beauty but I’m sure of my aesthetic choice this time.
I just purchase one of these 24 K gold Kennedy Half Dollars from Nationwide Coin,
the selling price was 2.150.00 ! OK I know that I probably got hosed,but the sales pitch was that the mint only minted 40,000 of these coins. Today I just found out that gold prices fell, regardless, on 40,000 were minted.
Last time I passed on an opportunity to purchase a 2006 gold proof 50$ American Buffalo, that was selling at 800.00$ , that was back in 07, I’m still kicking myself in the butt.
I recently found three gold coins while going through many boxes of 500 dollar Kennedy half dollars. They are all different but one coin has three dates on it. They cant be reel can they? I also found a Barber 1888 silver half dollar and 6 1964 kennedy’s 1/2 Dollar and 40 1965 to 1969 Kennedy 1/2 Dollars and 4 Ben Franklin 1/2 Dollars. I also found mint errors of Kennedy half’s things like scar face Kennedy ear cut in half Kennedy Kennedy with ear piercing and Kennedy with a huge mole on his chin. I cant believe it either… Read more »