This listing is for one Proof Strike 1962 Benjamin Franklin Half Dollar, as pictured.
What is a proof strike?
The U.S. Mint defines the proof strike type as “a specially produced coin made from highly polished planchets and dies and often struck more than once to accent the design. Proof coins receive the highest quality strike possible and can be distinguished by their sharpness of detail and brilliant, mirror-like surface.”
A business strike, by contrast, sometimes referred to as a "circulation strike", refers to coins produced with the intent that they will circulate in everyday commerce (as opposed to a proof coin specially made for collectors).
Franklin Half Dollar History:
The Franklin half dollar was struck by the United States Mint from 1948 to 1963. The fifty-cent piece pictures Founding Father Benjamin Franklin on the obverse and the Liberty Bell on the reverse. A small eagle was placed to the right of the bell to fulfill the legal requirement that half dollars depict the figure of an eagle.
Mint director Nellie Tayloe Ross had admired Franklin, and wanted him to be depicted on a coin. In 1947, she instructed her chief engraver, John R. Sinnock, to prepare designs for a Franklin half dollar. Sinnock's designs were based on his earlier work, but he died before their completion. The designs were completed by Sinnock's successor, Gilroy Roberts. The Mint submitted the new designs to the Commission of Fine Arts ("Commission") for its advisory opinion. The Commission disliked the small eagle and felt that depicting the crack in the Liberty Bell would expose the coinage to jokes and ridicule. Despite the Commission's disapproval, the Mint proceeded with Sinnock's designs.
After the coins were released in April 1948, the Mint received accusations that Sinnock's initials "JRS" on the cutoff at Franklin's shoulder were a tribute to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (Stalin did not have a middle name that began with an 'R'). No change was made, with the Mint responding that the letters were simply the artist's initials. The coin was struck regularly until 1963. Beginning in 1964 it was replaced by the Kennedy half dollar, issued in honor of the assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
Proof 1962 Franklin Half Dollar - Proof Strike 1962-P Silver Half Dollar - Philadelphia Mint -