1976-S Kennedy Half Dollar Clad Proof : A Collector’s Guide

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
The 1976-S Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar Clad Proof is one of five 1976 Bicentennial Half Dollars the United States Mint struck in 1975 and ’76 as part of the official celebration of the nation’s 200th birthday. Other half dollars featuring Seth G. Huntington’s “Independence Hall” reverse and the 1776-1976 dual date are the 1976 (Philadelphia) and 1976-D (Denver) coins struck for circulation, and the 1976-S silver-clad Proof and Uncirculated coins sold as part of special Bicentennial three-coin Proof and Uncirculated sets.

The story of the 1776-1976 circulating commemorative coinage begins in 1970 when the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission’s Coins and Medals Advisory Panel advocated for the production of circulating commemorative coins to mark the nation’s 200th birthday. The Treasury Department was cool on the idea at first, following a policy that it had set after the multitudinous commemorative coin releases of the 1930s, many of which went unsold and were returned to the Mint for melting.

The numismatic community, led by prominent figures in the American Numismatic Association, strongly advocated for special coins, including the issuance of special gold coins; the United States had not issued legal tender gold coins since 1933.

In November 1972, the Treasury Department agreed to add the date 1776 to 1976’s coinage but would not change the design of its circulating coinage to commemorate the Bicentennial.

In the face of this opposition, collectors lobbied Congress to authorize commemorative designs. Here they succeeded, and on October 18, 1973, two days before President Richard M. Nixon doomed his Presidency with the “Saturday Night Massacre”, Senate Bill 1141 was signed into law as Public Law 93-127 (PDF link). The law required that the Mint change the designs and inscriptions of the Washington Quarter, the Kennedy Half Dollar, and the Eisenhower Dollar and strike coins with designs “emblematic of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution.”

On December 26, 1974, the law was amended to allow the minting of silver-clad Bicentennial coinage for the collector market.

To determine the designs of the nation’s Bicentennial coinage, the Treasury Department held a design competition starting on October 23, 1973. Five judges were appointed to select winners from a nationwide competition. Each winner received $5,000 USD for their winning entries. The public got their first view of the new coin designs on March 7, 1974, when Mint Director Mary Brooks appeared on NBC’s Today show to unveil the winning designs.

The Kennedy Bicentennial Design Honors Independence Hall

Seth Huntington’s design for the Kennedy Half Dollar features a head-on view of the rear facade of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and its bell tower.

Independence Hall is a Georgian-style brick structure built to serve as the Pennsylvania State House, designed by architect Edmund Woolley. Construction began in 1732, the year of George Washington’s birth, and concluded in 1753.

During the Revolutionary period, Independence Hall served as a meeting place for the Second Continental Congress. It was here that Washington was named commander-in-chief of the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, and the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. The signing of this landmark document marked the founding of the United States of America. The United States Congress under the Articles of Confederation met in Independence Hall from 1781 to the summer of 1783, when some 400 Continental Army soldiers launched a mutiny over unpaid wages for their service during the American Revolutionary War.

Washington mobilized troops to put down the mutiny, just as he would again four years later when Continental Army Captain Daniel Shays inspired an uprising over unpaid wages and unfair debt collection.

Following Shays’ Rebellion, Congress met again to strengthen the Articles of Confederation. Instead, it put forward a completely rewritten Constitution. The document was written in secret in the assembly room of Independence Hall from June to September 1787. Philadelphia remained the capital of the United States, as the government planned to move the capital to Washington, D.C. upon its completion.

The Bell Tower at Independence Hall held the famous Liberty Bell, which was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly in 1752 and cracked shortly after its arrival. Twice repoured, the bell cracked again after nearly a century of use. The Liberty Bell and the Moon feature in Dennis R. Williams’ Bicentennial Eisenhower Dollar design.

How the 1976-S Kennedy Half Dollar Clad Proof Was Sold

The 1976-S Kennedy Hald Dollar Clad Proof was sold as part of the 1975 and 1976 United States Mint Proof Sets.

1975 and 1976 Proof Sets include one Proof example of each coin the United States Mint struck that year. The sets were packaged in a hinged hard plastic shell that fit into a black paper sleeve or envelope.

With the excitement surrounding the new designs, the Bicentennial coins proved wildly popular, and the Mint reported sales of 2,845,450 Proof Sets in 1975 and 4,149,730 Proof Sets in 1976. Both the 1975 and 1976 Proof Sets included each of the three Bicentennial coins carrying the dual date 1776-1976. Each set contained a face value of $1.91 in coins and had an issue price of $7.00 ($38.42 in 2024 inflation-adjusted dollars).

Forty-percent-silver versions of the Bicentennial Dollar, Half Dollar, and Quarter in Proof and uncirculated were offered separately in a three-coin set.

As for the Clad Proof Sets, these remain common despite being nearly 50 years old and trade every day on sites like eBay for about $10 to $15 each. Some coins have been cracked out over the years and placed into circulation, where they lose their intended pristine finish. Impaired Proofs are worth little over their 50¢ face value. Other coins are cracked out of their holders and submitted to leading grading services for encapsulation.

Have We Reached Bottom? A Predictable Condition Rarity Catastrophe

From a high water mark of $5,175 to frequent eBay auction appearances, the story of the market decline of the 1976-S Kennedy Half Dollar Clad Proof was easily predictable and should serve as a cautionary tale for collectors misinterpreting modern coin certified populations and how incorrect inferences often lead to major losses.

When Heritage Auctions sold the Kallenberg #1 PCGS Registry Set of Proof Half Dollars, the cataloger noted two things about the 1976-S Kennedy Half Dollar Clad Proof that stood in stark contrast:

The Bicentennial design Kennedy half is likely among the most common coins of the late 20th century. Nearly every accumulation of coins offered for sale by hoarders contains example after example of dual-dated 1776-1976 half dollars, a combination of the beloved Kennedy design with the festivities surrounding the celebration of two centuries of independence for the United States.

and…

Despite the production (or because of the production) of more than 8 million 1976-S clad and silver proof sets, however, proofs attaining the perfect PR70 grade are seldom seen.

At the time of the January 2008 sale, PCGS had certified only 16 coins at the “perfect” PR70DCAM grade. Seldom seen in PR70DCAM may have been true at the time, but the price of 1975 and 1976 Proof Sets and the ability of collectors and dealers to acquire sets in bulk meant that the upfront costs of putting together bulk submissions of the coin were quite low.

What transpired over the next 10 years is a cautionary tale.

By 2013, the population of PCGS PR70DCAM Clad Bicentennial half dollars had doubled (most of these new coins having been certified in 2011 and 2012), and auction prices had fallen by $1,300. The population reached 50 by early 2015, 70 by mid-2015, and 80 by the end of that year. During these 12 months, the value of the 1976-S Kennedy Half Dollar Proof fell by more than 50%. Coins were now selling for about $1,600 each.

In 2016, the population reached over 100 coins and has continued to climb steadily. At the time of this writing, more than 420 coins have been certified PR70DCAM and examples sell on eBay for just over $400.

The NGC population, by contrast, sits at just one in Proof 70 Ultra Cameo. We do not understand why such a vast discrepancy exists between the two grading services on the criteria necessary to earn a “perfect” 70. We couldn’t locate an auction appearance of the NGC coin and strongly advise against considering this coin to be somehow better or more stringently graded than comparable coins from PCGS or CACG. We also strongly advise against inferring that many additional coins won’t, at some future point, be added to the rolls.

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Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens

Top Population: PCGS PR70DCAM (424, 7/2024), NGC PF70UCAM (1, 7/2024), and CAC PR68 (2, 7/2024).

• PCGS PR70DCAM #45619453: eBay, June 17, 2024 – $495.
• PCGS PR70DCAM #31382044: eBay, April 24, 2024 – $434.
• PCGS PR70DCAM #31372044: eBay, April 21, 2024 – $460.
• PCGS PR70DCAM #7732288: Goldberg Auctioneers, May 27, 2003, Lot 1704 – $2,588. Pop 10 when offered; “The Kallenberg #1 PCGS Registry Set of Proof Half Dollars,” Heritage Auctions, January 10, 2008, Lot 2246 – $5,175. Pop 16 when offered; Heritage Auctions, January 8, 2017, Lot 9996 – $1,057.50. Pop 106 when offered.
• PCGS PR70DCAM #72405586: “The J.S Hamilton Registry Set of Proof Kennedy Half Dollars,” Heritage Auctions, April 28, 2006, Lot 3176 – $4,312.50. Pop 16 when offered; Heritage Auctions, September 14, 2014, Lot 4281 – $3,055. Pop 39 when offered.
• PCGS PR70DCAM #72842608: Heritage Auctions, June 1, 2012, Lot 4192 – $2,300. Pop 32 when offered; “The GeoHan II PCGS Registry Set,” Heritage Auctions, July 12, 2013, Lot 4169 – $3,818.75. Pop 32 when offered.
• PCGS PR70DCAM #7657573: “The Basque Guy #1 All-Time PCGS Registry Set,” Heritage Auctions, February 3, 2011, Lot 3856 – $3,737.50. Old Green Holder. Goldenrod toning. Pop 17 when offered. Heritage Auctions, August 14, 2015, lot 5293 – $2,232.50. Pop 70 when offered.

Design

Obverse:

The obverse of all Kennedy Half Dollars was designed by Gilroy Roberts, Chief Engraver of the United States Mint from July 22, 1948, to February 11, 1965. Roberts also designed Kennedy’s inaugural medal, which served as the basis of the coin’s design.

The central motif is a portrait of the 35th President of the United States, the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. A war hero and the youngest president in American history at the time, Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961, and assassinated on November 22, 1963. The nation’s grief was such that Congress and the Mint rushed through a design change on the half dollar denomination to commemorate the bereaved president.

Atop the upper half of the rim is the word LIBERTY, with Kennedy’s hair covering the bottom portions of the letters “B”, “E” and “R”. The dual date 1776 * 1976 is cradled at the bottom of the coin, with the numeral “1” of “1776” placed beneath the “G” in “GOD” and the “6” in “1976” located under the “R” in “TRUST”. The national motto IN GOD WE TRUST is inscribed in a straight line above the year but divided by the sharp truncation of Kennedy’s neck. The S mintmark of the San Francisco Mint is found on the right side of the point of this truncation.

Gilroy Roberts’ initials SR can be found on the truncation line of Kennedy’s bust, above the “WE” on the bottom right side of the coin.

Reverse:

The reverse features a symmetrical front view of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA wraps around the top half of the rim, while the denomination HALF DOLLAR is found at the bottom. Thirteen small stars are lined up above the denomination, following its curvature. The phrase 200 YEARS OF FREEDOM is located to the (viewer’s) left of Independence Hall, and the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM (“Out of Many, One”) is on the right. The name of the building runs immediately underneath.

A spire atop the hall inserts itself between the last two letters of the word “STATES” and almost touches the edge. Seth Huntington’s initials SGH are found at the lower right corner of the hall, below the motto.

Edge:

The edge of the 1976-S Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar Proof is reeded.

Designers

Gilroy Roberts was the ninth Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, serving from 1948-1965. He is primarily remembered for his design of the Kennedy half dollar obverse.

At the time his design was selected, Seth Huntington was the head artist of Minneapolis, Minnesota marketing firm Brown & Bigelow.

Coin Specifications

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