MEASURED · 6 OCTOBER 2026

Kennedy half dollar value: what every year since 1964 is worth

Kennedy half dollars look much alike, but the date decides what they are made of: 90% silver in 1964, 40% silver from 1965 to 1970, and copper-nickel ever since. That metal is the floor under its price. Below: what the metal in each year’s coin was worth at the latest prices, when each version became worth more than 50 cents, and the few dates that are scarce.

The short answer

Silver at the London (LBMA) price of $60.87 per troy ounce on 29 September 2026; gold at the LBMA Gold Price PM of $4,163.40 the same day; copper and nickel at the World Bank’s September 2026 averages ($14,474 and $16,324 a metric ton). For today’s value, put today’s silver price into the calculator below.

Kennedy half dollar value by year

“Worth at least” is the larger of the 50-cent face value and the metal at the prices above, for a coin as struck; a worn coin holds slightly less metal. Proof and mint-set coins of 1964 to 1970 are the same alloy as the ordinary coins of their year. Collector premiums for dates, mint marks, varieties and grades are not included.

Kennedy half dollar melt value calculator

Enter how many of each silver Kennedy half you have. The result is the silver in them at the price in the box. Copper-nickel halves are left out: their metal is worth less than their face.

How to tell which one you have

• The date decides it. 1964 is 90% silver; 1965 to 1970 is 40%; 1971 onward is copper-nickel, unless the coin came from a silver proof set or a bicentennial silver set.
• The weight confirms it. A new 90% half weighs 12.50 g, a 40% half 11.50 g and a copper-nickel half 11.34 g. A scale that reads to 0.1 g separates the 1964 coin from the rest; the 40% and copper-nickel coins differ by only 0.16 g.
• The edge shows the copper core. The copper-nickel half is two outer layers of 75% copper and 25% nickel over a core of pure copper, by law, so its edge shows a copper band.
• An S mint mark alone does not mean silver. The silver proofs from 1992 carry one, but so do the copper-nickel proofs in ordinary proof sets; the weight tells them apart.

When each one became worth more than 50 cents

A coin’s silver equals its face value at one silver price: 50 cents divided by its silver content. For the 1964 half that is $1.38 an ounce; for the 40% half $3.38.

The 1964 half’s silver passed 50 cents on monthly averages in July 1967. It dipped back to the line once, on 55 London fixes between 8 September 1971 and 3 January 1972, and has not been back. The 40% half took longer: its silver first averaged more than 50 cents in January 1974, and the last London fix at or below its line was on 14 January 1974. At every London fix since, a 1965-1970 half’s silver has been worth more than its face.

The copper-nickel half never got there. In 669 months since January 1971 its metal has never been worth 50 cents. It averaged 1.4¢ in 1971 and was lowest in October 1972, at 1.3¢. Its highest is now: 16.6¢ in September 2026, with copper at its highest monthly average since the World Bank series began in 1960. Copper is 15.0¢ of that and nickel 1.5¢.

The metal in a Kennedy half since 1971

Light grey: the 1964 half’s silver. Mid grey: the 1965-1970 half’s silver. Amber: the copper and nickel in a 1971-on half. Monthly averages (World Bank), so single days went further. Log scale, so equal heights are equal percentage moves.

What a Kennedy half’s metal was worth, year by year

December averages, except the last row (September 2026 average). The record London fix, $118.45 on 29 January 2026, put $42.84 of silver in a 1964 half and $17.52 in a 40% half. The year-by-year silver price is in silver price history.

Fifty cents then and now

Measured by US consumer prices, 50 cents in 1964 bought what $5.40 buys in August 2026. The silver in a 1964 half, at $22.01, has kept 4.1 times that. A 1971 half is still worth 50 cents, which buys about 12% of what 50 cents bought in 1971 ($4.14 in August 2026 dollars).

A $10 roll of 20 halves holds 7.2338 troy ounces of silver if they are all 1964 coins ($440.29 on 29 September 2026) and 2.958 ounces if they are 1965-1970 coins ($180.04). It takes 2.45 of the 40% halves to hold the silver of one 1964 half. Over the last 252 London fixes a 1964 roll’s melt value moved about $9.03 on a typical day and $32.14 or more on 1 day in 20.

What you will actually get

• Melt is the reference, not the offer. Ask two or three dealers what they pay for common 1964 or 40% halves and compare it with the figures above; the gap is what selling costs you.
• Look up the date before selling for melt. The 1970-D, sold only in mint sets, is the scarcest business-strike Kennedy half of 1964 to 2005 according to PCGS, and varieties and top grades of other dates can be worth far more than their metal. Check a grading service’s price guide, such as PCGS or NGC. We did not measure collector values.
• Count the tax. The IRS lists coins as collectibles: a gain on them held for more than a year is taxed at up to 28%.

Halves dated before 1964, the Walking Liberty, Franklin, Barber and older ones, are priced in how much is a half dollar worth? The Eisenhower, Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollars are in how much is a dollar coin worth? The same melt arithmetic for every other US silver coin, from war nickels to Morgan dollars, is in how much is a silver dollar worth?, for the copper and zinc in every penny in how much is a penny worth?, and for US gold coins in how much is a gold coin worth? Whether silver has paid as an investment since 1971 is in is silver a good investment? This page is a measurement, not a forecast or personal advice.

How we measured it

Prices: the LBMA Silver Price and LBMA Gold Price PM in US dollars, daily, to 29 September 2026 (on 5 and 6 October 2026 the LBMA price feed refused our scripted requests, so the latest price here is 29 September 2026, not today); the World Bank Pink Sheet monthly averages for silver, copper and nickel; BLS CPI-U to August 2026. Metal content: 1964 and 90% proofs 12.5 g at 90% (0.36169 oz, NGC melt table); 1965-1970 and the bicentennial silver coin 11.5 g with 4.6 g of silver (Coinage Act of 1965); copper-nickel 11.34 g (31 U.S.C. 5112) at 8.33% nickel (US Mint specifications); .999 proofs 12.685 g (0.4074 oz); the 2014 gold half 3/4 oz. Face-value line: 50 cents divided by silver content; the World Bank monthly average gives the first month above it and the daily London fix the dips after 1968.

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