1957 Franklin Half Dollar Proof
Complete your Franklin collection with this 1957 Franklin half dollar. The Franklin series was minted between 1948 and 1963 at all three mints – Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco. this version was minted in Philadelphia, and notably, bears no mintmark. The Franklins are popular as they are all made with 90% silver, the last half dollar series with such high silver content. The series was cut short when U.S. President John F. Kennedy was killed and the 1964 Kennedy half dollar was rushed through to replace it.
History
The Franklin half dollar series was the first half dollar to include a portrait of a real figure, which had previously been based on an allegorical Liberty figure. U.S. Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross long admired Benjamin Franklin and wanted the founding father on a coin. She asked her chief engraver, John R. Sinnock, to prepare the designs, which included worked based on an earlier medal crafted by Sinnock, the work of Jean-Antoine Houdon and John Frederick Lewis. As Sinnock passed away before completing the work, Gilroy Roberts finished the designs. While it received some backlash for featuring only a small eagle on the coin's reverse and for displaying a crack in the Liberty Bell, also on the reverse, the Mint struck the Franklin every year until 1963.
Design specifics
The coin features Franklin with his left side on display on the obverse and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia on the reverse with the eagle to the right of the bell. The Latin phrase "E pluribus unum" appears to the left of the bell, which means "Out of many, one," which is the nation's motto. It bears no mintmark.
1957 Franklin half dollar value and mintage
The 1957 Franklin half dollar has a mintage of 5,114,000 and has sold for up to $3,000 at auction.
