1976-D Kennedy Half Dollar GEM BU 1976 Kennedy Half

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We are pleased to offer for sale this 1976-D Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar Gem BU.  This Kennedy Half Dollar is in Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) condition.  All of our BU Kennedy Half Dollars have nice eye appeal and no major marks or visible problems, representing a great value for the price.  This 1976-D Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar is of great worth to the collector or numismatist that needs to fill a hole in their BU Kennedy Half Dollar set.  These Kennedy Half Dollars are taken from either original BU Rolls or Mint Sets.

A special reverse was made for the Kennedy Half Dollar to commemorate the Bicentennial of the United States.  The design was selected through an open contest, and Seth G. Huntington's image of Independence Hall in Philadelphia was the winning entry.  The obverse of the Kennedy Half Dollar remained unchanged, except for the dual dating 1776-1976.  Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollars were struck during 1975 and 1976, which meant that no Kennedy Half Dollars bearing the date 1975 were ever minted.

The Kennedy Half Dollar was first struck in 1964 as a memorial to the recently assassinated American President, John F. Kennedy.  The U.S. Mint and Congress moved very quickly to make the coin a reality, and the coin was authorized by Congress only a month after Kennedy's death.   Initially, consideration was being given to depicting Kennedy on one of the larger silver coins, the silver dollar, half dollar, or quarter dollar.  The president's widow Jaqueline Kennedy preferred that he be depicted on the half, as she did not want him to replace George Washington on the quarter.

The Kennedy Half Dollar was jointly designed by Gilroy Roberts, the Chief Engraver, and Frank Gasparro.  Both men based their Kennedy Half Dollar designs on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Medal.  This was necessitated by the time constraints involved.  Roberts was responsible for the obverse of both the medal and the Kennedy Half Dollar, and made some minor changes to his previous design, including altering Kennedy's hair at the request of Jaqueline Kennedy, as well as the addition of the words LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST.  The reverse of the coin features the Presidential Seal, adapted by Gasparro from the seal on the Presidential Medal.

The 1976-D Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar BU is comprised of an outer layer of .750 (75%) copper and .250 (25%) nickel bonded to a core of pure copper.  This Kennedy Half Dollar has a diameter of 30.6mm and a mass of 11.34 grams. 

Check out all of our Kennedy Half Dollars in Gem Uncirculated (BU) Condition!