Bag the first year mint of the Franklin half with this 1948 Franklin half dollar, bearing the head of American founding father Benjamin Franklin. The Philadelphia mint is the Ben Franklin half dollar's lowest mintage; it was struck with 90% silver, and as the first year in the series, these features overall contribute to a coin with a decent numismatic value.
History of the 1948 Franklin half dollar
The Franklin half dollar was minted between 1948 and 1963 from the reverence of Mint director Nellie Tayloe Ross of the polymath. Ross asked her chief engraver John R. Sinnock, in 1947, for the half dollar designs but he died before completing them, so Gilroy Roberts finished the job. The reverse exposes the Liberty bell's crack, which earned disapproval from the Commission of Fine Arts. Despite this objection, it went into circulation and also bore a small eagle on the reverse, uncharacteristic of half dollars at the time, which almost all depicted a full-size eagle – inclusion of the eagle was mandated by law. Further controversy followed its release as the inclusion of Sinnock's initials "JRS" was construed as a tribute to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. It continued circulation until it was replaced by the Kennedy half dollar.
Design specifics
Each 50 cent piece has a reeded edge, is 30.68mm wide, 1.55mm thick, and weighs 12.5g. Coins minted in Denver and San Francisco bear "D" and "S" mint marks. Philadelphia mint coins did not strike with mint marks until 1980.
Franklin half dollar value and mintage
Only 3,006,814 were minted of the 1948 Franklin half dollar, which is a low mintage considering in some years mintage of the Franklin series numbered almost 26,000,000 million. The intrinsic value of 1948 Franklin half dollar coins is more than their face value due to the changing price of silver while its numismatic value could net in the hundreds if you auction a mint state graded piece.
