Silver Dollar Values Prices Climbing, Franklin Half Dollars Surprise Old-Time Numismatists

Dec. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- Check the numismatic month-to-month price guides. If anybody had recommended in the 1950s that one day the 1953-S Franklin half dollar may list for $16,000 in MS-65 with full bell lines, he would have been looked at like he had lost his mind. The high price is only one reason why. The other reason would have been the very notion of MS-65 as a grade. The numerical concept was only known to a couple of early copper collectors in the time and the complete bell lines would not really have been regarded in evaluating Franklin half dollars for some decades. You might notice that the reaction that would have taken place back in the 1950s shows how far we have all come with regards to Franklins. How high will silver go? Learn more >>  http://www.silverpricestoday.cc/KITCO-SILVER/

Surprises when it comes to Franklin half-dollars and to Benjamin Franklin himself probably have to become seen as closer to the rule than the exception. Whatever the cause, with regards to Benjamin Franklin, things just do not seem to adhere to the regular pattern.

Component of the problem is the fact that everyone has usually wanted to honor Franklin, and with good cause, as he was right at the center of events top to American independence. Of course, there was some thing of a challenging scenario in the truth that the American Revolution was basically the product of younger men in their 30s and 40s. Franklin at the time was not in that age group and he had a role as something of a senior spokesman or advisor. Consequently, while others in the group would become President of the United states of America, that was by no means an option for the aging Franklin, who turned 70 in 1776.

Having by no means been President created something of an issue when it came to honoring Franklin with a coin. The matter of his being on a note proved to be no problem as Franklin has appeared on a number of them over the years. In reality, it is something of a joke overseas that Benjamin Franklin is the best loved American worldwide because he is on the $100 bill.

Placing Franklin on a coin, however, has been another matter. Obviously, initially there were no Americans on coins as a rather lively debate in 1792 about using the President’s portrait on coins had ended with George Washington siding with the Home of Representatives to oppose such a notion. That truly put the idea of anybody appearing on coins on the back burner for more than a century. Rare Coins, Silver Coins, Gold Coins, Learn more >> http://www.silverpricestoday.cc/GOLD-COINS/

Throughout the Civil War there was a hint of change as both sides in the conflict used living Americans on their notes. Each side also claimed George Washington as their own.

Franklin, as a clear man of the North, was not going to be utilized on Confederate issues. The United States even had pattern coins produced during the period with Washington, but the tradition of not utilizing Americans on coins remained in place and decades more would go by prior to any American would appear on a coin.

Lastly in 1909 following Washington had joined Lafayette on a commemorative, the tradition with circulating coins was broken as President Teddy Roosevelt decided to go where none had dared go before and have a coin with a well-known American on it to the mark the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln cent was not without its critics, but as soon as produced, the law protected it for 25 years unless Congress authorized a change, which it was not likely to do.

It was definitely a departure from tradition, however the Lincoln cent did not result in a rush of other coins with other Americans on them. In fact, every other denomination that altered in the period 1907-1916 altered to something other than a portrait of a real person.

Interestingly enough during the late teens through the 1930s there had been many Americans depicted on commemorative coins, but Franklin was not among them. He was not alone in being ignored. Even Calvin Coolidge was on a commemorative with Washington. Assorted others also discovered their way onto commemoratives, but Franklin and Thomas Jefferson had been conspicuous in their absence.

Putting Americans on circulating coins took time, but maybe it is fair to say that the commemorative portrait gallery assisted paves the way. Washington was placed on the quarter in 1932 on the bicentennial of his birth. Jefferson followed six years later in 1938. There was no further work to add others till 1945 when President Franklin Roosevelt died in office. The scenario with Roosevelt was slightly different as in a way the Roosevelt dime of 1946 was basically an instant method of commemorating Roosevelt. No one was going object.

The success of the Roosevelt dime may well have built confidence in the idea of altering styles and would have encouraged Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross. It was her pet project of getting Franklin onto a coin. We can't be sure, but it is feasible that Ross had the concept as early as when she first took workplace in 1933 and had seen a Franklin medal ready by Chief Engraver John Sinnock.

Ross was given a green light on the idea of a Franklin half-dollar as the Secretary of the Treasury had the authority to alter the half dollar with out consulting Congress. The Walking Liberty half-dollar had been in production for over 30 years, getting begun in 1916.

Sinnock in coming up having a Franklin half dollar style would modify his 1933 medal. He would take his 1926 U.S. Sesquicentennial commemorative half-dollar Liberty Bell and use it for the reverse.

Sinnock was just about finished with his designs when he died, making some significant issues. The issues weren't that the styles weren't completed, but rather that the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts didn't like them.

One of the problems was the eagle. It was required by law to become on the coin, but it was rendered in a very little size because the Liberty Bell dominated the reverse. The Fine Arts commission observed that the eagle “is so small as to be insignificant and hardly discernible when the model is decreased to the size of a coin.”

The commission had a keen grasp of the matter, which was that Sinnock had deliberately produced the eagle small more than a blob. The reason was that Sinnock had studied his topic and realized that Franklin couldn't stand eagles. In reality, Franklin had championed the turkey for the national bird, but lost out to the eagle, but not before getting a couple of choice comments about eagles recorded for posterity. Sinnock had no option but to obey the law, which required the eagle on the reverse, but he honored Franklin by making it as small as you possibly can.

Nevertheless, the eagle was only one component of the problem. The Commission of Fine Arts also was not pleased using the Liberty Bell and particularly the crack in the bell. In reality, the bell does have a very visible crack, which Sinnock included, but the commission observed, “The Liberty Bell was shown using the crack in the bell visible; to show this might result in puns and statements derogatory to the United States of America coinage.” Today is a good time to stock up on Franklin Halves and stash away. How high will silver go? Learn more >>  http://silverpricestoday.cc/KITCO-SILVER/