A 2005-P Kennedy half dollar is not a rare coin by any stretch of the imagination, but examples were only made available to collectors. A footnote in A Guide Book of United States Coins (the “Red Book”) explains, “The U.S. Mint produces circulation-quality half dollar coins at its Philadelphia and Denver facilities each year. Since 2002, these coins have been made available to the public only through direct purchase from the Mint in Mint sets and rolls of 20 coins or bags of 200 coins. They are not available through banks for general distribution, and are sold by the Mint for approximately 1.5 to 2 times their face value.”

The 2005-P Kennedy half dollar has a mintage of 3,800,000 and the Denver Mint counterpart’s mintage is 3,500,000.

PCGS grades half dollars struck for circulation during this era as Mint State, and calls those released in Uncirculated Coin sets “Specimen” strikings. The bulk of the certified Mint State population for the 2005 issue hovers at the MS-65 to MS-66 level, with PCGS grading 16 in MS-67, eight in MS-68 and two in MS-69 that are tied as the finest-known. One of these top-graded circulation strike 2005-P Kennedy half dollars sold at a June 21 GreatCollections auction for $1,915.86.

In contrast to the rarity of the finest-graded circulation strikes, PCGS has certified, of the Specimen strikes in top grades, 580 2005-P half dollars as Specimen 69, and seven as a perfect Specimen 70.

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