What is the most valuable US half dollar?

Answer 1

That's a VERY broad question because half dollars have been minted since 1794 and there are a lot of them that are quite valuable.

However, just about anything you're likely to find today will not be worth a significant amount of money. For starters all half dollars made for circulation since 1971 don't have any silver so they're only worth 50 cents. Ones made from 1965 to 1969 are only 40% silver so as of early 2012 they're only worth about $4 for their metal content. Even those dating from the 1940s to 1964 are only worth about $10 to $11 for their 90% silver content.

You have to work your way back to the 1930s and earlier to find any halves that will make peoples' eyebrows go up. Here are a few, but by no means all:

> 1938-D : $80-$7,000 depending on condition

> Any walking Liberty half dated 1916 through 1923. Depending on condition and mint mark, values can be anywhere from $10 to over $15,000

> 1897-O and 1897-S : $150-$35,000

> 1892-O : $330-$117,000

> 1892-S : $270-$19,000

Anything older than that becomes very difficult to summarize because of the large number of varieties and different levels of scarcity.