A 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar sold for a world record $108,000, making it the most expensive coin of its type, during a public auction of rare U.S. Coins held Thursday, April 25, 2019, by Heritage Auctions. The rare example of the rather common piece of pocket change is one of about a dozen special issues struck in 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper for special coin sets issued by the U.S. Mint during the mid-1960s.
The sale smashed the $47,000 previous world record price, set by Heritage Auctions in 2016. Both the seller and the winning bidder wish to remain anonymous at this time. Heritage Auctions presented the coin at an auction during the Central States Numismatic Society (CSNS) Convention just outside of Chicago in Schaumburg, Illinois.
“This the ‘king of Kennedy half dollars,'” said Todd Imhof, Vice President at Heritage Auctions, the world’s largest auctioneer of coins and paper money. “It seems we were very successful in attracting all the right bidders to this modern rarity and collectors did not want to miss the opportunity to own one of the United States’ rarest Kennedy Half Dollars.”
Within six weeks of President Kennedy’s November 22, 1963 assassination, the U.S. Mint announced that they would be releasing the “Kennedy Half Dollar.” The first ones were struck at the Denver Mint on January 30, 1964
