Franklin Half Dollar Dates & Mintmarks
All 35 issues of the series, 1948 through 1963, designed by John R. Sinnock. The shortest date/mint catalog on the site, and the only one with no key dates at all: not one Franklin half was struck below the 750,000 threshold that applies across every series here.
No prices, price guides, or population counts appear anywhere in this catalog. Coin Curator does not hold licensed data for any of those, so it publishes none. How we work.
35
Date/mint combinations
0
Key dates
under 750k struck
1
Semi-keys
under 2.5M struck
3
Mints
P, D, S
| Date | Mint | Mintage | Rank | Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948-D | Denver | 4,028,600 | 5 | Common date | — |
| 1948-P | Philadelphia | 3,006,814 | 3 | Common date | — |
| 1949-D | Denver | 4,120,600 | 8 | Common date | — |
| 1949-P | Philadelphia | 5,614,000 | 13 | Common date | — |
| 1949-S | San Francisco | 3,744,000 | 4 | Common date | — |
| 1950-D | Denver | 8,031,600 | 17 | Common date | — |
| 1950-P | Philadelphia | 7,742,123 | 16 | Common date | 51,386 proofs · see note |
| 1951-D | Denver | 9,475,200 | 19 | Common date | — |
| 1951-P | Philadelphia | 16,802,102 | 24 | Common date | 57,500 proofs · see note |
| 1951-S | San Francisco | 13,696,000 | 23 | Common date | — |
| 1952-D | Denver | 25,395,600 | 32 | Common date | — |
| 1952-P | Philadelphia | 21,192,093 | 29 | Common date | 81,980 proofs · see note |
| 1952-S | San Francisco | 5,526,000 | 12 | Common date | — |
| 1953-D | Denver | 20,900,400 | 28 | Common date | — |
| 1953-P | Philadelphia | 2,668,120 | 2 | Common date | 128,800 proofs · see note |
| 1953-S | San Francisco | 4,148,000 | 9 | Common date | — |
| 1954-D | Denver | 25,445,580 | 33 | Common date | — |
| 1954-P | Philadelphia | 13,188,202 | 22 | Common date | 233,300 proofs · see note |
| 1954-S | San Francisco | 4,993,400 | 10 | Common date | — |
| 1955-P | Philadelphia | 2,498,181 | 1 | Semi-key | 1 documented variety · 378,200 proofs · see note |
| 1956-P | Philadelphia | 4,032,000 | 6 | Common date | 669,384 proofs · see note |
| 1957-D | Denver | 19,966,850 | 26 | Common date | — |
| 1957-P | Philadelphia | 5,114,000 | 11 | Common date | 1,247,952 proofs · see note |
| 1958-D | Denver | 23,962,412 | 31 | Common date | — |
| 1958-P | Philadelphia | 4,042,000 | 7 | Common date | 875,652 proofs · see note |
| 1959-D | Denver | 13,053,750 | 21 | Common date | — |
| 1959-P | Philadelphia | 6,200,000 | 15 | Common date | 1,149,291 proofs · see note |
| 1960-D | Denver | 18,215,812 | 25 | Common date | — |
| 1960-P | Philadelphia | 6,024,000 | 14 | Common date | 1,691,602 proofs · see note |
| 1961-D | Denver | 20,276,442 | 27 | Common date | — |
| 1961-P | Philadelphia | 8,290,000 | 18 | Common date | 1 documented variety · 3,028,244 proofs · see note |
| 1962-D | Denver | 35,473,281 | 34 | Common date | — |
| 1962-P | Philadelphia | 9,714,000 | 20 | Common date | 3,218,019 proofs · see note |
| 1963-D | Denver | 67,069,292 | 35 | Common date | — |
| 1963-P | Philadelphia | 22,164,000 | 30 | Common date | 3,075,645 proofs · see note |
Rank 1 is the lowest business-strike mintage in the series. Tiers are assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 struck is a key date, under 2,500,000 a semi-key. The same thresholds apply to every series on this site, so tiers are comparable between them. That is a production measure, not a market judgement, and not a statement about how many survive.
Shopping the series
Individual date pages open a search for that exact date and mint. This one covers the series. Verify every listing, seller, and return policy directly.
Affiliate link: Coin Curator may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Disclosure.
Common questions
How many Franklin half dollar dates and mintmarks are there?
35: 16 from Philadelphia, 14 from Denver and 5 from San Francisco. Half dollars were struck every year of the run, but Denver produced none in 1955 or 1956, and San Francisco struck them only in 1949 and from 1951 to 1954. That makes it the shortest and most compact series catalogued here.
Why does this catalog show no key dates for the Franklin series?
Because there genuinely are none by mintage. Coin Curator assigns tiers from reported mintage alone, using the same thresholds for every series so they stay comparable: under 750,000 struck is a key date, under 2,500,000 a semi-key. The lowest Franklin mintage is the 1955 at 2,498,181, which just clears the semi-key line, and everything else was struck in the millions or tens of millions. This is a short, modern, high-mintage series, and the tier column reflects that honestly rather than manufacturing scarcity that is not there.
What actually makes a Franklin half hard to find, then?
The reverse shows the Liberty Bell, and the horizontal lines across its lower rim are the last detail to strike up. When they are complete and unbroken, the grading services add a Full Bell Lines designation. It is a strike designation, not a grade, and a Full Bell Lines coin can grade lower than one without. It matters more here than a mintage figure ever does: no Franklin half is scarce by mintage, but on dates such as the 1953-S the bell lines almost never came up fully, and that, not how many were made, is what separates an ordinary coin from a difficult one.
Which Franklin half is the hardest?
The 1953-S, and not for any reason its mintage shows. Ordinary examples are inexpensive, but San Francisco's dies that year almost never brought up the lower bell lines, and a genuine Full Bell Lines 1953-S is among the hardest strike designations in modern U.S. numismatics. The 1949-D, 1952-S, 1959-D and 1960-D are the next most difficult on the same measure.
What is the 1955 "Bugs Bunny" half dollar?
A die clash left marks across Franklin's mouth that read as protruding front teeth, which is where the nickname comes from. It was caused by the dies striking each other rather than by any change to the design, it appears in varying strength on many 1955 halves, and it is common enough to collect. 1955 is also the lowest mintage of the series and the only issue struck that year.
Why did the series end in 1963?
It was cut short. A U.S. coin design is normally protected from change for twenty-five years, but after President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963 Congress authorised the Kennedy half dollar for 1964, ending the Franklin series after only sixteen years.
Why are the Philadelphia figures here lower than in some other tables?
Because some tables add that year's proofs into the Philadelphia business-strike figure. On all fourteen years proofs were struck, the difference between the two published tables consulted is exactly the proof mintage, from 51,386 in 1950 to over three million in the early 1960s. This catalog reports business strikes everywhere and shows proofs in their own field, consistent with every other series on the site.
Does Coin Curator publish Franklin half dollar values?
No. This catalog carries U.S. Mint production figures, historical context, and documented varieties. It does not publish prices, valuations, price guides, or population and census counts, because Coin Curator does not hold licensed data for any of those. Pages link to the grading services' own certification lookups and to marketplace searches so you can check current evidence yourself.
Mintage sources
Mintage figures are U.S. Mint production records, cross-checked against the published tables below on 2026-08-01. Where those tables disagree, the disagreement is disclosed on the affected page rather than resolved silently.
- CoinMintages.com, Franklin half dollar mintages — Business strikes and proofs listed separately. Used as the business-strike figures here.
- USA Coin Book, Franklin half dollar — Independent table. Agrees on every branch-mint issue; its Philadelphia figures from 1950 on include that year's proofs.
Spotted an error? Submit a correction.