In 1948, World War II had given way to an uneasy calm-a "Cold War," as presidential adviser Bernard Baruch so aptly named the new climate of international tension. The year also witnessed the killing of baseball legend Babe Ruth, the birth of the State of Israel and, with his presidential selection commotion of Thomas E. Dewey, a new lease on life in the White House for Harry S Truman.
In 1948, an important change took place in United States change as well, when the Franklin half money made its entrance. Its introduction finished the conversion of U.S. coin designs from allegorical figures to portraits of notorious Americans. It also rang down the curtain on an era that many involve as the blond age of U. S. Currency art. The Walking Liberty half bucked, last struck in 1947, was the decisive precious-metal coin enduring in production from the early 20th-century interlude that spawned the "Mercury" dime, Standing Liberty area and Saint-Gaudens magnify eagle.
Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross had contemplated a coin reverence Benjamin Franklin ever since a U.S. Mint nobility ready in Franklin's honor in 1933 by John R. Sinnock, the Mint's chief sculptor-engraver. Evidence suggests that Ross might have made the change in the early 1940s, when the half dough's conceive, worn for the statutory lowest of 25 living, became eligible for replacement. Although escalating production burden occasioned by World War II postponed Ross' strategy, she showed her enthusiasm for the predict by directing Sinnock to invent a Franklin coin on a contingency source. It would be hard to criticize Director Ross for her variety of Ben Franklin as a U.S. money focus. Of all the Founding Fathers, Franklin very possible enjoyed the most build among his contemporaries, not only in this country but also abroad. He was fairly legendary as an imprinter, publisher, author, inventor, scientist and moderator, and he played a crucial task in ration the colonies return their independence by securing crucial aid from France.
In an oration at the promotion of the Franklin half cash, Ross recalled the people had urged her to place Franklin's likeness on the cent because he was identified so narrowly with the guideline "A money saved is twopence vindicate" (often misquoted as "A currency saved is a penny earned"). Ross explained her catalog of the half buck: "You will permit, I trust, that the fifty-cent part, being bigger and of silver, lends itself much better to the production of an impressive result," she declared.
Sinnock's picture of Franklin, modeled after a bust by 18th-century sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, is bold and cleanse, contrasting sharply with the clever, complete depiction of Miss Liberty on the Walking Liberty coin it replaced. LIBERTY is extolled above the right-facing portrayal, IN GOD WE TRUST below and the time to Franklin's right. Tucked below Franklin's shoulder are Sinnock's initials, JRS.
The Liberty Belled on the repeal made sense as a compliment to Franklin, since both have become narrowly identified not only with the populace's birth but also with the city of Philadelphia. Three inscriptions are arranged around the timer in the same minus serif tailor used on the frontage: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is above, HALF DOLLAR below and E PLURIBUS UNUM, in much lesser script, to the left. To the right of the timer is a frail-looking eagle. This had been mandatory by law on the half cash since 1792 and was reaffirmed by the Coinage Act of 1873, which mandated the post of an eagle on every U.S. silver coin superior to the dime. The eagle was added by Gilroy Roberts, who finished work on the coin following Sinnock's fatality in 1947.
Understandably, the central Commission of Fine Arts (an advisory body) took deliver with the eagle's size. Oddly enough, they also disapproved of displaying the crack in the Liberty Bell, arguing that "to show this might charge to puns and to statements derogatory to United States money." Although the Commission recommended a blueprint competition, the Treasury Department approved Sinnock's models lacking change.
Years later, Sinnock was accused of modeling his report of the Liberty Bell, lacking prim belief, on a sketch by performer John Frederick Lewis. The robbery first occurred in 1926, when Sinnock apparently used the sketch in fashioning his purpose for the commemorative half money marking the sesquicentennial of U.S. independence. His Franklin half buck overturn figure was patterned, in turn, on that earlier work. Numismatic allusion books now praise Lewis tardily for his role.
Although Franklin half dollar mintages were modest by novel-day standards, the string contains no issues that are particularly erratic. The production lowed headland came in 1953, when the Philadelphia Mint struck just under 2.8 million examples; the peak occurred in 1963, when the Denver Mint made just over 67 million. Franklin halves also were minted in San Francisco. On fork-mint issues, the D or S mintmark appears above the bell on the contrary. Total mintage for the chain, with proofs, was almost 498 million coins.
Because they are so bounteous, in circulated situation most Franklin halves take little or no premium above their bullion amount. Several dates are subtle, however, in the upper mint-national grades, especially with effusive defined "bell defenses" near the Liberty Bell's foot. Although the relatively low mintage 1949-D and 1950-D issues are considered "key" dates in the chain, some coins with higher mintages, while customary in lower grades, also command impressive premiums in Mint State-65 and above. These coins routinely came with weak strikes, and the paucity of "ornaments" is compounded by the statement that few were wisely saved. Dates in this grouping involve 1960-D, 1961-P and D and 1962-P and D. Proofs were issued every year from 1950 through 1963 as part of yearly evidence sets: over 15.8 million were made. Small numbers of proofs were struck with cameo disparity, an attractive frozen outward on the campaign contrasted with a polished mirror-like appearance in the fields. These cameo coins can beget substantial premiums over the prices of ordinary proofs without such contrast.
A full set of Franklin halves consists of 35 different question strikes and 14 different proofs. Because it is so compact and certainly affordable in minus-than-unspoiled grades, the series is widely serene by year and mint. Those with deeper pockets who ardor a challenge seek to assemble dating-and-mint sets in MS-65 and above or collections of high-grade proof Franklins with resonant cameo contrast. Points on the design to first show garb are Franklin's cheek, shoulder and fleece behind the ear and the lettering and ranks on the Liberty Bell.
Franklin half dollars were made for just 16 time. The series was cut succinct at the end of 1963, when John F. Kennedy's shocking assassination led to the concept of a new the dollar memorializing the martyred head.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter: 30.6 millimeters Weight: 12.50 grams composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net load: .36169 degree innocent silver
BIBLOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Ehrmantraut, Jack, Jr., An Analysis of Gem Franklin Half Dollars, Five Seasons Publishers, Hiawatha, IA, 1983. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Tomaska, Rick, The Complete Guide to Franklin Half Dollars, DLRC Press, Virginia Beach, VA, 1997. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.
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