1959-P Franklin Half Dollar
Common dateA common Philadelphia date.
Mintage
- Business strikes
- 6,200,000
- Mint
- Philadelphia (no mintmark)
- Mintage rank
- 15 of 35
- Proofs struck
- 1,149,291
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 16 Philadelphia issues in the series it is the 9th smallest. Of the 19,253,750 struck across all mints in 1959, this issue accounts for 32%. Denver struck 2.1 times as many that year. The 1959 split ran Denver 13,053,750 and Philadelphia 6,200,000. In 1959 the coin was struck at Philadelphia and Denver; San Francisco struck none.
Every sentence above is computed from the mintage table on this page, not asserted separately.
About this figure
Some published tables add that year's proofs into the Philadelphia figure. This catalog reports business strikes only, consistent with every other entry, and shows proofs 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
Nothing about this date calls for a check beyond the ones that apply to any certified coin.
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 1959-Pcertification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.
Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.
Find a 1959-P 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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Common questions
How many 1959-P Franklin half dollars were minted?
The Philadelphia Mint struck 6,200,000 1959-P Franklin half dollars for circulation. That is the 15th lowest business-strike mintage of the 35 date and mintmark combinations in the series.
Is the 1959-P 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 common Philadelphia date.
What should I check before buying a 1959-P 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.
Why do sources give different mintage figures for the 1959-P?
Some published tables add that year's proofs into the Philadelphia figure. This catalog reports business strikes only, consistent with every other entry, and shows proofs separately.
Related dates
Guides for this coin
All guides →Junk Silver vs Graded Silver: Which Is the Better Hold?
Pre-1965 US silver coins (junk silver) trade on melt value plus a small premium. Graded examples of the same coins trade on numismatics. Which strategy actually wins long-term?
1 min readPractical GuideBuilding 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.
2 min readBuying GuideMS-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.
1 min readEducationPCGS vs NGC vs ANACS: Which Grading Service for Coins?
Compare PCGS, NGC, and ANACS by current service terms, holder and guarantee limitations, verification tools, and the needs of the particular coin.
1 min readMintage 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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