On November 22, 1963, during a presidential motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas, Lee Harvey Oswald shot the President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in his neck and he died soon afterward. On that same day, after hearing the sad news, the current director of the mint, Ava Adams made a phone call to the chief engraver of the mint, Gilroy Roberts to talk about the plans of putting the assassinated president on either a quarter which currently depicted Washington, half-dollar with Benjamin Frankin, or a dollar coin on which was currently the peace design. After talking with the deceased Kennedys wife, Jaqueline, Jaqueline had said that she would prefer him to be depicted on a half dollar. Shortly after this, many letters were received asking for a coin to honor him, and the chief engraver took Kennedys inaugural medal, and with several changes, both minor and major, it was ready to be depicted on the half-dollar. The assistant engraver, Frank Gasparro, engraved the reverse, which shows the Great Seal of the United States. In the middle of December, Jaqueline reviewed the designs and stated that she did not like how the hair was shown, so that was reworked to a layout that she liked. A little after one month from his death, congress approved the coin. It needed to be approved by congress because its design had not been in use for over 25 years. If a coins design has been in use over 25 years, the Secretary of the Treasury can authorize a change without consent by congress. By the time congress passed the law on December 30, 1963, dies had already been sent to the Denver Mint because of such high anticipation of congress approving the production.
On March 24, 1964, the coins were to be released. 70,000 coins had been approved for public sale and a limit of forty half dollars per person. Even though they were going to be released on the 24th of March, the day before, on March 23, long lines had already wrapped around the blocks which the distribution centers were located on. The people in the lines were full of anticipation to purchase half dollars commemorating the deceased president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and by the end of the day, the coins were sold out.
The United States Mint was originally planning on minting 91 million half dollars that year from all of the mints combined, but the supply ran dry, and they were still not circulating, so the treasury had to increase the maximum mintage to the large amount of 141 million coins, 50 million more than the treasury assumed would be needed. There was still not a sign of the coins in circulation due to the immense hoarding. By the end of the year, 160 million half dollars had been minted, but there was still an overwhelming and endless demand for the halves. The treasury requested congress if they could mint 1965 coins dated 1964 to help satisfy the strong demand, and by the time 1965 came to an end, almost 430 million halves here existent which were dated 1964. As a comparison, this is more half dollars then all of the Benjamin Franklin Half Dollars in existence!
A topic that is rarely thought of or talked about by collectors of coins from the early United States Mint is What events and thoughts made the designs of early U.S. coins look like they do?A fact that is not known by many collectors today is that politics of that day were a huge influence in the design changes of United States coins early on in the history of our country.
Very early on in the history of the constitutional United States there were to major political parties, the first of the two was the Democratic-Republicans and the second was the Federalists. The Federalists wanted an effigy of the president on the coins but the Democratic-Republicans wanted an effigy of Liberty with flowing hair. The effigy of Liberty narrowly got approved by three votes, thus making the designs of our earliest United States coins have Liberty with flowing hair. A myth that Washington did not want to be on coins is clearly not the truth, when the first U.S. election came around not a single vote was against Washington. Clearly, if Washington did not want to be on the coinage of the young government his wish would have been granted by far more than the small amount of three votes that made the design show what it showed for many, many years.
In the middle of the 1790s, the mint got a new engraver named Robert Scott to fill in the vital office of engraving the hubs, which in turn would be used to make the dies which would be used for the nations coinage. The engraver, Robert Scott, along with two directors which served during the same time period while he was in office were Federalists which strongly opposed the Democratic-Republicans view. Because the Federalists employed at the mint were strongly opposed to flowing hair being shown on the nations coinage, they quickly changed Lady Libertys portrait and added a hair tie also known as a filet to the back of Libertys hair to keep it from flowing and removed the liberty cap to form a design which would appeal Federalists much better than the earlier designs which had been on the coinage of the U.S. Mint.\
In 1793 the United States suspended payments to France on the loan that had been made during and to help fund the American Revolution. France decided to counter this and soon France started seizing United States ships. In 1798 Robert Scott decided to make a stern political statement by placing the arrows in the eagle's left claw of the hubs for silver coinage, the one that the eagle was looking at, stating that America was ready for war. While some people say that this was accidental, Robert Scott paid meticulous attention to detail, so much that there was no way that he could have made such an obvious but yet hidden blunder. Later that year, the United States started the Quasi War against the French and Robert Scott, through the eagle on the reverse of silver coinage surely and clearly expressed what the U.S. was thinking at that time period in regards to France. Several years later, the reverse design was subsequently changed showing a more realistic arrow with the arrows in his right talons and an olive branch in his left representing peace, this design was also by Robert Scott and showed that he clearly understood which position the arrows and olive branch should be in.
Even in the mid twentieth century one can find examples of politically motivated changes on coin designs. Democrat Franklin Roosevelt was placed on the dimes shortly after his death in office. Shortly after his assassination, Democrat John F Kennedy replaced Benjamin Franklin on the half dollar. Not to be outdone by the Democrats, the Republicans placed Dwight D. Eisenhower on the largest coins in circulation at the time, the large dollar coins. If you think the coinage today is free of political intrigue, what are your thoughts of the American Women series of quarters?What about the decision to replace John Flanagans winning submission of George Washington on the quarter with the design that was submitted by Laura Gardin Fraser?Are there any political statements with these changes, or are they simply a reflection of the times?
Gold and silver prices have been at or near record levels recently, heightening interest in buying and selling gold and silver coins. Consumers, however, should resist the temptation to make impulse buys or to sell an item before researching its potential value.
Bullion Buying Checklist
Following the checklist below is encouraged when buying or selling gold or silver bullion coins:
1.) The reputation and expertise of your bullion dealer is important.
Your dealer needs to be a respected name in the industry with experience buying and selling bullion in fluctuating markets.
2.) Know the actual cost per ounce of precious metals.
Gold, silver, and platinum prices fluctuate daily, so check that day’s spot price prior to making a transaction. Expect to pay a higher percentage over melt value for fractional gold pieces (1/10th, 1/4th, and 1/2 ounce) than for one-ounce pieces. Also, American Eagle and Canadian Maple Leaf bullion coins typically have a higher retail price than South African Kruggerrand bullion coins.
3.) Understand the fees and/or commissions involved.
According to the Professional Numismatists Guild, the average retail commission for one-ounce American Eagle or Maple Leaf gold coins is about five or six percent.
4.) Arrange for timely delivery.
If immediate delivery is not possible, obtain from the seller in writing specific confirmation about the delivery date. Only then should you execute your order.
5.) Know that all investments come with risks.
If you intend to buy bullion coins for investment purposes, your best protection is to spend time learning about the coins before you buy them. Uninformed buyers who make hasty purchases often overpay. Like any investment, there are no guarantees – and no one can predict with certainty that gold and silver prices will remain at the current levels or continue to appreciate.
6.) Protect against identity theft.
Do not give out credit card numbers or bank account numbers or other private information such as Social Security numbers over the phone to anyone not known to you.
This b-roll shows the blanks arriving at the annealing furnace, where they will be heated to soften the metal. [NOTE: For most coins, annealing is done in a large furnace. However, because this process is difficult to capture on film, this video includes a shot of a 3-inch medal being annealed by a blowtorch. Because medals are made in lower quantities, it is possible to anneal them by hand.]
From the furnace, the blanks drop into a quench tank to reduce the temperature. Next, the blanks travel through a huge cylindrical tube called the "whirlaway." Suspended high above the ground, these tubes tilt at a 45-degree angle toward the washing and drying station. As the blanks travel up the whirlaway toward the washer, excess liquid is drained.
After leaving the whirlaway, blanks are placed in a washing machine. Similar to the washing machine process you might have in your home, the blanks go through a series of cycles that soak and shake the blanks in various chemicals. This is to remove any oxides, tarnish, discoloration or contamination that remains after annealing.
