1949-D Franklin Half Dollar

Common date

A Denver issue that is common circulated and genuinely scarce with Full Bell Lines.

Mintage

Business strikes: 4,120,600
Mint: Denver (D)
Mintage rank: 8 of 35

Rank 1 is the lowest business-strike mintage in the series. Mintage is what the Mint produced, not what survives. These circulated as money into the 1960s and were pulled out and melted in quantity once silver rose above face value, none of it recorded by date. On this series, strike quality separates the difficult coins entirely; mintage does not.

Reading the figure

Among the 14 Denver issues in the series it is the 2nd smallest. Of the 13,478,600 struck across all mints in 1949, this issue accounts for 31%. The 1949 split ran Philadelphia 5,614,000, Denver 4,120,600 and San Francisco 3,744,000. The series median is 8,290,000, so fewer than half as many of these were struck as a typical date. Series-wide output rose sharply that year: 13,478,600 against 7,035,414 in 1948.

Every sentence above is computed from the mintage table on this page, not asserted separately.

Scarcity tier

Common date

Assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 is a key date, under 2,500,000 is a semi-key.

This is a reproducible label derived from the mintage column, not a market valuation and not a Coin Curator price opinion. The same thresholds apply to every series on this site. Several dates are far harder or far easier to obtain than their mintage implies; where that is true, it is stated above.

Full Bell Lines is a strike designation, not a grade. The reverse shows the Liberty Bell, and the horizontal lines across its lower rim are the last detail to strike up. Read the full note on the series page.

What to check before buying

Specific to the 1949-D:

1This is one of the dates where Full Bell Lines are genuinely difficult. Judge the lower bell lines from the photographs rather than the description, and expect most examples not to have them.

And for any certified coin

Verify the certification number on the grading service’s own lookup rather than from a photograph of the label, match the listing images to the certification record including grade and any variety attribution, look for cleaning, compare the mintmark against published photographs of the genuine issue, and read the return policy before buying. The grading guide covers each of these in full.

Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and publishes no price or population data. These are verification steps, not a valuation.

Verify a certification number

Look a 1949-Dcertification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.

PCGS cert lookup NGC cert lookup ANACS cert lookup

Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.

Find a 1949-D for sale

Opens an eBay search for this exact date and mint. Coin Curator does not list inventory, hold stock, or quote prices; verify each listing, seller, and return policy directly.

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Search eBay for 1949-D

Common questions

How many 1949-D Franklin half dollars were minted?

The Denver Mint struck 4,120,600 1949-D Franklin half dollars for circulation. That is the 8th lowest business-strike mintage of the 35 date and mintmark combinations in the series.

Is the 1949-D Franklin half dollar a key date?

Coin Curator labels it a common date, assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 struck is a key date and under 2,500,000 is a semi-key. The same thresholds are used for every series on this site, so the tiers are comparable between them. That label describes production, not market value or how hard the coin is to find today. A Denver issue that is common circulated and genuinely scarce with Full Bell Lines.

What should I check before buying a 1949-D Franklin half dollar?

Verify the certification number on the grading service's own lookup page, match the listing photographs to the certification record, check for cleaning, and compare the mintmark shape and position against published photographs of the genuine issue. This is one of the dates where Full Bell Lines are genuinely difficult. Judge the lower bell lines from the photographs rather than the description, and expect most examples not to have them.

Guides for this coin

All guides →

Market Context

Junk Silver vs Graded Silver: Which Is the Better Hold?

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Building a US Type Set

Build a U.S. type set by defining the included designs, grade targets, verification rules, and a current coin-by-coin budget.

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How to Spot a Counterfeit or Doctored Coin

Use weight, dimensions, surfaces, mintmark details, holder inspection, and certification records as screening checks. Learn the warning signs of altered coins and fake slabs.

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MS-63 vs MS-65 vs MS-67: Which Grade to Actually Buy

Adjacent grades can carry very different market evidence. Learn how to compare surfaces, eye appeal, population data, and current records before choosing a grade.

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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.

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