Half dollar coins have been produced nearly every year since the inception of the United States Mint in 1794. Sometimes referred to as the fifty-cent piece, the only U.S. coin that has been minted more consistently is the cent.
Half dollar coins saw heavy use, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century. For many years, they were commonly used in casinos. Rolls of half dollars may still be kept on hand in cardrooms for games requiring...
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Half dollar coins have been produced nearly every year since the inception of the United States Mint in 1794. Sometimes referred to as the fifty-cent piece, the only U.S. coin that has been minted more consistently is the cent.
Half dollar coins saw heavy use, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century. For many years, they were commonly used in casinos. Rolls of half dollars may still be kept on hand in cardrooms for games requiring 50-cent antes or bring-in bets, for dealers to pay winning naturals in blackjack, or where the house collects a rake in increments of 50 cents (usually in low-limit seven-card stud and its variants). Some slot machines also took in, and paid out in, 50-cent pieces; however, casinos in recent years have phased in "coinless" slots for all denominations, taking in paper dollars, and paying winners through vouchers.
By the early 1960s the rising price of silver was nearing the point where the bullion value of United States silver coins would...
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