Washington State collector Daryl Anderson was pleasantly surprised in mid-June when he stopped at his local bank to acquire any rolls of U.S. half dollars he could search and was offered a $500 face value box of circulation-quality 2021-D Kennedy half dollars.

The U.S. Mint has not intentionally issued any Kennedy half dollars into general circulation through the Federal Reserve since 2001. So how did the coins make their way into circulation?

Anderson said the teller at Banner Bank in Anacortes, Washington, from whom he obtained the half dollars said the bank had inadvertently placed an order for half dollars when they actually needed quarter dollars for customer transactions.

The 1,000 half dollars Anderson obtained were boxed in a cardboard container marked $500 / HALVES holding 25 20-coin rolls. The white paper wrappers are not the same that the Mint uses for an outside contractor to roll its coins for numismatic sales. The wrappers read $10 HALVES. The U.S. Mint wrappers are printed with U.S. MINT.

Commercial banks in Washington are served through the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, with coins delivered to armored carriers for delivery. Anderson said Anacortes Bank officials declined to identify which armored carrier delivered the half dollars to the facility.

Beginning in 2002, collectors seeking circulation quality Kennedy half dollars from production at the Philadelphia and Denver Mints have had to purchase 20-coin paper-wrapped rolls directly from the U.S. Mint, as numismatic products at premiums above face value.

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