Heritage’s Sept. 8 auction of a 1964 Kennedy half dollar with a Special Mint set finish, graded SMS Mint State 67 by Professional Coin Grading Service, for $47,000 has shined a spotlight on the Kennedy half dollar series.

Today, few people handle Kennedy half dollars daily in their pocket change, but collectors covet rare examples in top grades and spend substantial sums to acquire the finest examples.

Here is one of three we're profiling in this week's Market Analysis that have sold at recent auctions that show the current strength for grading-service registry-set quality coins.  

The Lot:

1983-D Kennedy half dollar, PCGS MS-68

The Price:

$4,230

The Story:

Kennedy copper-nickel clad half dollars occasionally show gorgeous multicolored toning that one would expect on 1964 90 percent silver issues or 1965 to 1969 40 percent silver half dollars. This clad 1983-D Kennedy half dollar graded PCGS MS-68 sold for a strong $4,230 earlier this year at Heritage’s Florida United Numismatists auctions in Tampa.

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Although PCGS has recorded 33 submissions in MS-67 and 18 as MS-67+ in its population report, this is the sole survivor graded MS-68 with none finer. Heritage describes it as a “Registry collector’s dream coin,” adding, “The obverse displays soft powder-blue and lavender hues over the interior and brighter lemon-gold and sun-orange around the peripheries, while the reverse shows a crescent of similar hues along the right-hand border with pale champagne elsewhere.”

Kennedy half dollar: The shot heard around the world in 1963, a bullet from an assassin's weapon that ended the life of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, is still remembered on the annually produced half dollar struck in his honor since 1964. How much are Kennedy half dollars worth?

Keep reading this Kennedy half dollar Market Analysis:
		Nearly 2 million 2012-D Kennedy half dollars were struck, so why did this one sell for $1,116.25?: Lest one think that four-figure Kennedy half dollars are only early issues struck prior to the popularity of third-party grading, this 2012-D half dollar recently sold for a high price.
		This Kennedy half dollar sold for $2,485 because it’s missing something few others are: Though this Kennedy half dollar variety was discovered in the 1980s, relatively few have surfaced.