Franklin Half Dollar Melt Value

A Franklin half dollar contains 0.3617 troy ounces of pure silver, and every coin in the series (1948 to 1963) has that same content. Multiply 0.3617 by the current spot price for the melt value: at $50 silver, about $18.09 per coin.

The math: 12.50 grams gross weight at 90 percent fineness gives 11.25 grams, or 0.3617 troy ounces, of pure silver. Because the entire series predates the 1965 clad changeover, the Franklin is the only 20th-century half dollar design where every single coin is 90 percent silver, which makes it a favorite of junk silver buyers who want zero sorting risk. Two coins equal $1 face value with 0.7234 ounces of silver. Compare all US silver coins on the silver coin melt values table, or value a roll with the junk silver calculator.

Franklin is one of the very few non-presidents ever honored on regular US coinage, and the choice was intentional: Mint Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock, who had designed the Roosevelt dime two years earlier, prepared a Franklin portrait paired with the Liberty Bell on the reverse, and the coin entered circulation in 1948. The small eagle beside the bell exists only because law required an eagle on the half dollar; Franklin himself had famously joked in a private letter that the turkey was the more respectable bird. The series had a short life. When President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, Congress authorized a memorial half dollar within weeks, and the Kennedy design displaced the Franklin in 1964, well short of the 25-year minimum a design normally runs. That abrupt ending capped the series at just 16 years, all in 90 percent silver. Collectors grade Franklins by the sharpness of the Liberty Bell's lines (Full Bell Lines), but for bullion purposes every circulated example is identical: 0.3617 ounces of silver per coin.

Each row multiplies the Franklin's 0.3617 ounces by a round spot price, bracketing its melt value across a range of markets.

These specifications match the Walking Liberty half before it and the 1964 Kennedy half after it; all three trade at identical melt values.

The Franklin series has no rarity remotely comparable to a 1916-D dime or 1932-D quarter: mintages were healthy in every year, so circulated common dates trade as junk silver at melt plus a modest premium, typically between dime/quarter pricing and Walking Liberty pricing. Collector value lives almost entirely in condition. Uncirculated coins with Full Bell Lines, especially from the early 1950s, and cameo proof issues bring strong premiums, while the 1948 and 1949 dates run somewhat above common-date pricing in better grades. For anyone valuing an inherited accumulation, the workflow is simple: circulated Franklins are silver, priced off the live melt figure above; anything that looks brand new is worth a second opinion before it goes in the melt pile. Typical dealer premiums for 90 percent halves are tracked on our coin premium page.